2. Mise en scene
The costumes worn by the people in the music video help to
represent social class. The video is mainly focused on the
homeless woman, and shows a day in her life before she died. In
the video she is seen wearing old, ripped clothes which are
stereotypically associated with a homeless person. When the shot
is shown of her begin in a busy street, you can see higher class
people just walking straight past her, you know that these people
are higher working class, as they are wearing suits and other work
attire. Also the use of make up helps to show that she is homeless,
as she has messy hair and her make up is very messy and looks
like it has been worn for a couple of days.
3. The use of props such as the sleeping bag shown, which the
homeless woman has used while she was sleeping on the
bench help to show that she was homeless. This fits in well
with the song and the lyrics as it follows a story of a girl, who
was homeless and sold her self for money in order to buy
drugs, and who had recently passed away due to her drug
addiction and the life she had lead. A lot of other props used
also helps to show the life the woman was living, such as
make up, drugs, money, and some others. The make up and
money show that she used to ‘dress up’ in order to get
money for the drugs, which was shown in the video.
4. The lighting tends to be low-key throughout the whole of the
video, which goes with the genre of the song, it also links in
with the meaning of the song and the message it is trying to
display. The video is also in black and white and acts as a
flash back of the girls last hours alive and the events that
took place during her last day. The low key lighting reflects
her life and how she feels. She isn't happy with her life and
she is a dark place, and the low key lighting helps show this.
5. Editing
At the end of the video a super imposition is used to show
that the girl had passed away and had now gone to ‘heaven’
as she is shown in the sky. This also links in with the lyrics of
the song as it says how angles will fly hoping for a better life.
Which suggests that she had died from the drug abuse and
now she is free and in search for a better life, as any life
would be better than the life she had been living.
6. The speed of the video has been sped up to make it seem as
though everyone one is walking past really quickly to show
how long the girl had been sitting there, and how much time
had gone by where she was waiting, and begging on the
street. This also shows that she is alone and isolated in her
life, which also fits in with the song. This creates a sense of
sympathy for the woman in the video. Which would make the
audience sympathize her due to the things that have
happened to her and how her last day had planned out.
Fade has also been used at the beginning of the music
video, this allows the video to show the transfer between
time, as it goes from the present time to the past. It also
allows a smooth transfer between the two scenes.
7. Camerawork
A long shot has been used near the beginning of the music
video, this allows the audience to see the location, it also
allows the us to see that the girl in the video is homeless as
she has spent the night sleeping on a park bench with an old
sleeping bag. This is a stereotypical view of a homeless
person and could create a sense of sympathy for the woman,
as she is young and homeless.
8. A mid-shot has been used to show the
woman in a bit more detail, the mid-shot
allows the audience to see that the woman
looks rough and is wearing dirty clothes and
is wrapped in a sleeping bag.
A close up has been used to show the woman's face,
this allows the audience to see the woman’s emotions,
and how she isn’t happy with her life. This could also
create sympathy for the character.
Tracking had been used in the video, the camera moved with the
woman to show the things she did. Tracking was also used to
show the woman walking to a house, where she was about to
take drugs.
9. Sound
At the beginning of the video there is some ambient sound
which is played before the main song, the ambient sound
includes birds singing and some background noise. The
ambient sound is played during the scene which shows the
two characters in the present time. The main song which is
played throughout the rest of the video is played whilst the
video shows the past, and how the woman’s day had been
before she died. The ambient sound which is played at the
beginning of the video is then played at the end of the video,
during the scene which shows the woman in the sky.
