Heaven by Emeli Sande Analysis

Mise en Scene

Characters: Emeli Sande, Lady in the red dress, angel wings group, homeless people, black men, youths and children 

Lighting: Mixture between light for Emeli and dark for other characters

Colour: Primary colours for clothes, blurred circles of light

Props: Travel - bus, trains, walking, cross, swingset, baby bottle, angels, and smoking

Costume: Wears the same black dress throughout the video with the cross, mixture between upmarket clothes (red dress) and simple clothes (homeless men)

Setting: House window, street, bus, car, tunnel

Proxemics: She's always at the foreground of each frame, and each character fills the whole shot

Camerawork

• Extreme long shot: sky - establishes setting
• Full body long shot: woman
• Big close up: homeless man
• Low angle of Emeli - back and forth with close up of face - emphasises power
• Close up of girl with wings in tilt
• Camera handheld
• Dutch tilt
• Big close up of man
• Full body shot of children 
• Mid shot of kid

Editing

• Cuts
• Graphic match - woman carrying cross and angel on cross

Sound

• 'In those flashing lights?' - cars driving by (headlights), club?
• 'When I'm lying on my back?' - boy lying on floor, sex?, metaphorical?, drugs?
• 'Then I'm gone' - angels - going to heaven
• 'When I'm stealing from the poor?' - homeless people, desperate times, looked down upon
• 'Cause the day lasts too long' - continuously filming in daylight - shown in the same spot
• 'Oh heaven' - angels, cross
• Bad ways have lead to a change, desperate for another chance, knew her before, somethings gone wrong, try hard but can't succeed

Intertextuality

• Inspired by Nina Simone - sorrowful but uplifting lyrics
• Identified with Alicia Keys - mixed race
• Wanted people to see every side of her - connects with lyrics
• Face of Fashion Targets Breast Cancer and performed to support Elton Johns AIDs foundation - resonates as there was a HIV epidemic in her fathers home town of Zambia
• Started Community Clavinova, which gives children free instruments in partnership with Sande and Yamaha
• Joined Band Aid 30 in 2014 to raise money for Ebola
• Won Trevor Nelsons Urban Music competition and was offered a record deal and signed with EMI and Virgin records
• Studied medicine at the University of Glasgow and got a degree in Neuroscience 
• Inspired by Frida Kahlo (tattoo of her)