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STYLES

Ed Sheeran - Small Bump


This is a narrative based music video, as it tells the
story of an individual who has to face the unfortunate
reality of the death of his unborn baby.
In terms of mise-en-scene, the music video is located
within the waiting room of a hospital - quite
unconventional of a music video of this particular
genre (Folk/Indie Pop) as I would have associated with
this genre with a less formal and dismal setting. Folk
in particular is affiliated with spending memorable
times in scenic places with relations - groups of
people, as opposed to sitting in a hospital waiting
room. In this way, this music video is already an
atypical text.
In the first number of shots - which cut to the beat of
the song - there is already a sense of foreboding. The
medium shot of the transplanting container; the tub
which has the words 'DANGER DESTROY BY INCINERATION';
the hospital ward bed which is noticeably empty all
emphasise a cold, isolating and unwelcoming artificial
feeling which generally sets the mood for the rest of
the video.

Within the opening long


shot, the viewer can instantly familiarise themselves
and relate to this hospital scene. One doctor is
wearing a long, white medical coat, standing by the
desk. This sets the scene to be very formal and
serious, and the fact that this character represents a
sense of authority may intimidate the protagonist of
this music video - he feels out of his depth. Within
this long shot, too, the open corridor is also very
symbolic of 'the unknown'; the singer/performer no
longer knows where his plans are, or where his future
lies. The path leads almost to am empty wall and from
there, there is the feeling that his journey is stunted
- much like his unborn baby.
Typically, however, the singer/performer is wearing
casual clothing as he is wearing a hoodie, jeans and
trainers. This suggests that the singer does not care
for looking fashionable or dressing with the latest
trends; he is not so materialistic. The hoodie in
particular connotes how he wants to hide away from
society and from the realities he now faces in this
story. Alternatively, the hoodie may indicate a sense
of rebellion and disorder. This is justified by Stanley
Cohen's theory in which he links the images and
representations of young people as 'moral panic' for
society.
The fact that the singer/performer isn't shown to be
holding anything shows that he is broken; the passing
patients - specifically the one in the wheelchair
indicates vulnerability and ill-health - connote a
sense of brokenness and in fractured state. This may be

typical of the folk and indie pop genre as the music


video captures a very intricate and specific mood as
being emotionally fractured and a sense of not knowing
what to do with one's self.

The editing has also been employed carefully within


this music video to piece together this unfortunate
story. To begin with, the first number of shots which
help to set the scene for the viewer that the video is
set in a hospital cut to the beat of the song. This is
a very neat technique which is achieved during postproduction. When I start to produce my own music video,
this is the technique that I want to use because it
looks flawless, and professionally made. More
importantly, it is aesthetically pleasing for the
viewer.
There is CGI used, too, when the patients come and go.
For example, when the patient is being pushed on the
wheelchair, his carer and he fade away past the singer.
The patients all seem to fade in and fade away which is
an interesting technique especially for the purpose of
this narrative. I suggest this because it is reflective
of the fact that life itself is very finite. Life comes
to an end at some point and people are frankly very
replaceable. Despite the physical, emotional,
metaphysical and mental pain that people go through
which makes us all human ultimately does not matter,
which may be a positive message to suggest that pain is
a very temporal feeling and will soon vanish, but at
the same time, everything comes to an end collectively
so things matter very little. The girl near the end of
the video who runs across from him may also be a
reflection of what could have been - a future
foreshadow of his child if she had survived, almost
like a fleeting thought or possible memory in his mind.

Thisisreinforcedbythecinematographyatthe
beginningofthevideoofamediumshotoftheclockon
thewallticking.Thissuggeststhattimeispassing
inevitably.
In terms of camera shots, movements and angles, one
iconic part of thismusicvideoisthefactthatitis
setinonelocation.Thesingersitsinoneplacefor
theentiretyofthevideo.Thecameramovesfromone
sideofthewaitingroom,graduallytothe
other,swivelingaroundhimintheprocess.It
indicatesasenseofhonestyandgenuineemotions,
whichisparticularlyreinforcedinacloseup.

Thewayinwhichthecameramovesclosertohimashe
beginstosingisalmostareflectionofthefactthat
realityisslowlyseepingclosertohim,butjustashe
triestocatchupwithit,itslowlyslipsthroughhis
grasponcemore.Thetwoareneverinsync,atleast
notanymore.

Thiscloseuprepresents
hopelessnessandpossiblyinjusticeforwhathas
happened.Theblankexpressionisveryhardhittingand
real.Thegreyscalewallbehindhiminthisframealso
emphasisesthescopeofthissombrestate.
The singer/performer also is captured to be performing
or at least sip syncing his song in the video. This
makes the video a hybrid of narrative and performance
and makes him both a part of the story as well as the
performance. It makes the story all the more believable
and genuine because it is him performing it himself.
The sound itself is therefore diegetic and non-diegetic
because the track will have been added during postproduction of the video. The singer would therefore
have been lip-syncing to the song during filming.

Despite the fact that this


is a narrative-based music video as it is telling the
audience the story of someone - very probably the
singer's own personal story of his unborn baby's death,
there is no dialogue. Generally, I would have expected
one convention of a narrative based music video to have
some sort of dialogue to introduce or retell a story so
it is clear for the audience what is happening in the

video. However, within the very last shot, which is a


close up of the singer in the foreground, and the woman
in the seat behind him in the background, the audience
can infer and interpret this frame as there being a
connection between the two figures - they share the
sadness of losing their baby. Whilst there is no
dialogue, it retrospectively indicates that there isn't
anything else left to be said, simply felt and
experienced, which could be their way of coping with
the death.
I believe the most realistic and hard-hitting part of
the video is the very end, when he stops singing and
the music itself comes to a halt because it is silent
for several seconds before the video ends. This allows
for the audience to feel solid sympathy for them and
almost emphathise in a human and naturally
compassionate way.

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