This music video for "Heaven" by Emeli Sande uses symbolism and camera techniques to portray themes of struggle, vulnerability, and danger faced by young people. Red imagery represents the risks of street life, poverty, and vulnerability. Close-up shots of the artist's distressed face emphasize her pain and struggle. High angle shots make characters seem small and vulnerable against their environments.

1. Music Video
Heaven By Emeli Sande

3.  This shot is a close up shot which emphasises the expression of the characters face, which
looks distorted and drained. This could further refer to the struggle of young people on the
streets.
Representation:
 The image of the girl placed in the middle of the two graffiti angel wings suggest that she is
referred to as an angel. In addition to this the graffiti drawing this shows the troublesome
behaviour of the young people.
 Intertextuality is also presented throughout the music video where it is mainly related to
religion ( Christianity in particular). For example, the angel wings are shown twice throughout
the music video, firstly on the wall highlighting purity but also shows rebellious behaviour.
 The image of the white girl in an rural environment subverts the idea of stereotyping woman
of colour as “urban.”
 The editing technique of the red coloured filter suggests that she is bathed in danger as she
surrounded by the colour red. In addition to this the girls jacket is also red which further
represents her vulnerability of her being a teenager in the real world.

5.  This image is taken by a high angle shot of a women walking in a red dress. The image
of the red dress could make the audience think that the woman is a prostitute. The high
angle shot therefore indicates that she is heading out in the real world where she could
be highly vulnerable as she is surrounded by risk of death ( this is connoted by the
colour of the dress.)
Representation:
 The colour of the red is a recurring colour throughout the music video highlighting the
dangers of “street life” and the issues of poverty, class and race.
 The image almost contradicts the real meaning of the song. The song is called “heaven”
but this woman is dressed in a red dress going down the stairs which could be
representing “hell.” The colour red is usually associated with the devil, death, and
danger. These negative connotations are a parallelism to the idea of “heaven” ( the
name of the song). The contrast within the video of binary opposites for example, good
and evil (Levi Strauss.)
 The idea of the woman going down the stairs could give the idea that she is going down
stairs to hell.
 Low – key lighting is used in this image to emphasise darkness and the unknown.
 The notion of looking is used in this shot to pleasure the audience of her body in the
tight red dress.

7.  The star image of the extreme close up shot emphasises her expressions of
pain and stress.
 The extreme close up shot of her eyes is taken when she says the lyric line
“will you recognise me.” This further adds importance to her features of her
eyes, especially as the eyes are most recognisable by most people. Therefore,
the extreme close up shot signifies that she is valuable and worthiest human.
Representation:
 The image of Emeli Sande’s eyes conforms to the stereotyping woman of colour
as “urban” as the full image is taken in an urban environment. This could
further suggest that maybe Emeli Sande used to live in an urban environment in
poverty and that she revisiting the past. This is further shown as the editing of
the music video (mainly fade to black) from the artist to the other characters is
portrayed as a flash back. Often people with colour are usually shot against a
back drop of an urban environment; this can reinforce the stereotype of people
of colour inhabiting urban areas.
 High – key lighting on the artists face enhances the terror in her eyes.