Emeli Sande-Heaven

                                 Background info

This music video is a very creative video that also gets a story put across. The story of this music video is showing the daily struggles for some people, for example it features the homeless, people battling illnesses and mistreated children. This is a very sad topic to link a music video to but it is also very realistic as thousands of people are going through one of those problems daily. This music video and song are both religious as it is talking about the afterlife known as 'Heaven' which is the title of the song. The music video features religious symbols such as a tattoo of wings on a mans back to represent angels wings, statues of Mary and a church which is the place of worship.
Location

The music video was shot in a urban area to show the daily struggles of peoples lives realistically, this is to make the viewers aware of what life is really like for some people and people can see what people mean by the term 'street life'. This video does this well without trying to hide reality. Most of the video was shot in the streets of the urban area to show what a ordinary life is to some. There are a few shots taken in housing to show what some people live in and there are some shots of people in a park to show what most teenagers get up to when they live in a perhaps poorer area with more poverty. These areas tend to influence more drug use as a teenager, this is also shown in the video to imply that younger people are using drugs as they may not have much else so they feel the need to take drugs instead.
Expressions 

The expressions of the people featured in the music videos are mostly the same throughout the song, people look sad because of their struggle through life. As well as the other people featuring in the music video the artist also has this expression on her face as she may had perhaps once been affected the same as the other people so she wants to share this. Most of the shots of the people are close ups shots of their face to properly show the expression on their faces, the people also look right into the camera lens which has an impact on the viewers feelings. This makes the viewer feel sympathetic and sorry for the people that are going through these life struggles, this is the kind of impact that the artist may have wanted as she may have wanted people to understand what life is like for some and then some people might be more appreciative of their life, it could also make people want to help others who perhaps need the help.
There is one shot of two children in a park giggling together which is the main shot showing happiness and is perhaps the only shot showing this.This suggest that these children have a hard life but they are use to it so they have to make their life the best they can and just enjoy it for what they have as they cant change it. Therefore they are trying to make the best out of a bad or not the best situation which could be poverty.
Editing 

The music video has an very dark lighting which may be to imply the hard life as it is seen as negative and that can be represented through the use of dull dark colours. Throughout the music video the camera catches rays of sunshine which links in with the concept of Heaven. This may also represent that although life is hard that there are some good things from life, this may be the rays of sunshine showing this as it brightens up the video and mood. This tends to happen as the chorus of the song begins 'Then I'm gone'. Once the chorus has ended the mood goes back down and the colours go darker in the video to show the life struggles again and then when the chorus approaches again sunshine bursts out from the clouds which could also represent that you have to make the best out of the worst times and some good things happen from the bad things.
Camera work

The camera angels are mostly close up or mid shots of the person included in the music video, there is also a lot of short clips of the scenery making it a montage, most of the montage is on the clouds and the sun shining through it and there are some of the light shining through windows, This is linking in to the title of the song 'Heaven'.
The artist appears in the music video a lot as she is miming the lyrics to the song, this is another example that may mean she might have had gone through something similar when she was younger so she feels strongly about this topic which is why she is basing her song and music video on it. In the music video the artists tends to look up at the sky and sings whilst she is looking up.