Ed Sheeran - Give Me Love analysis

The video begins with the typical convention of an extended narrative where we hear a police siren and see a policeman walking into a building. This is followed by a shot of a girl lying on a bed with angel wings and an arrow in her neck. Her death and the way she is pictured with wings creates an enigmatic start to the music video and makes you want to continue watching. It also allows the flashback to begin so we can understand how this character got to this state. We see a long shot of the same girl but without wings and alive sitting on the bed in her room on her own. This is very similar to Bastille’s music video of Overjoyed because that began with a flashback of a girl lying alone on her bed. Both Bastille and Ed Sheeran are in the same genre, indie/pop. The only difference is that in this video the girl is sitting rather than lying and the mise en scene. The room is reasonably empty and very monotone, making the scene dull and depressing. We immediately sense that this girl is unhappy but we aren't yet aware why. We are shown this through shots of couples in love and shots of photographs of couples. They are crossed with shot of the girl sitting on her bed which emphasises her loneliness and possibly her desire for love.

 

We see a close up of tools which indicates they will become significant to the narrative. This is similar to the close ups of the objects in the childish bedroom in Overjoyed, but it is different because this close up is pointing out their significance whereas in Overjoyed the focus was on them to set the scene and give information about the main character. Next we see a shot of two wooden human body figures which appear to be holding one another. This shot replicates the lyrics at that moment, “No, I just wanna hold ya.” This connection makes the song seem more personal and connects the song to the story. The girl soon begins to scratch at her back and we see shots with fast edits of her from different angles scratching at her back. The fast editing illustrates her frustration and she eventually pulls out a feather covered in blood. The contrast of the white feather and the red blood is effective because not only is it enigmatic but the colour contrast makes it dramatic and intense. From Barthes narrative code we could infer that the white represents goodness and the red foreshadows an oncoming danger.

 

Next we see blurred shots of the girl now with angel wings. The shots are not in focus which is similar to Overjoyed where a dreamlike effect is created. It makes us think of fantasy which is true since there is an intertextual reference to Cupid in this video. The close ups of the tools had been included because this is what the girl used to make her bow and arrow for her role as Cupid. Shortly after this, we see shots of the girl looking into a cafe where Ed Sheeran himself is sitting. He does this in a lot of his other music videos, appearing but not as a central character. This convention of a bit part player is important because it reminds the viewer that this video is about promoting him and his song. However, because he doesn’t have a significant role in the piece and we don’t see him singing at any point, the video is still narrative based.

 

The girl appears to have these supernatural powers as we see small explosions of light when she shoots the arrows at people, binding them together with love. This theme of the supernatural is supported by a low angle shot of the clock tower at night time which has the clouds moving very fast in the background. The moon is out and it connotes all sorts of mythical stories like those about werewolves and creatures that emerge when there is a full moon. This all adds to the fantasy of this narrative.

There is a long shot of the girl/Cupid standing in an alleyway in front of a bright light. This means we can only see her silhouette and it emphasises her confidence and power. This change in body language, from hunched over at the start to standing strong also shows the strength that these powers have given her. However, her face remains solemn throughout the entire video and this indicates that she still feels unhappy and alone.

Once the song has finished, the video returns to the extended narrative and we see the policeman moving towards the girl. Now that we understand the narrative we can understand that she has an arrow in her neck because she shot herself in hope that she will find a partner for herself. We see the same explosion of light and Cupid then opens her eyes when the policeman is near. She has found her love and we see a blurred close up of the man, as if we are in the eyes of Cupid and this is her vision. This is effective because although the music has finished, the extended narrative puts an emphasis on the story and concludes it with that final message of love which is exactly what the song is about.