Emeli Sande - Heaven

Emeli Sande – “Heaven”

·       The song “Heaven” by Emeli Sande was released on August 14, 2011.

·       The video was shot in East London, where Sande lives this is because she wanted to capture the social realism of London.

CAMERA ANGLES OF THE MOVING IMAGE – “Heaven”

·       The extreme close-up of Sande’s eyes shows direct eye contact with the target audience – “us”.

·       The locking of the eyes connotes interest of the audience engaging with the artist in the music video. It helps to get the message across as she sings the lyrics “will you recognise me”.

THE MISE-EN-SCENE OF THE MUSIC VIDEO

·       “Fear your only God” is written on the stained window connoting Gods fear isn’t fully visible but he can show them through an action of events.

·       “God” has the infinite power. “God” gives connotations of the superior one in which makes “Heaven” fully cherished with love and goodness. “God” is the reason in which many people distinguish that everything happens for a reason – he is worshipped.

·       Another interpretation is that anything in the world that controls you is false like money, jealousy, anger and power.

·       The feeling of “fear” is motivating a person and pointing them in the right direction, the direction of “God” – encouraging them to reach success.

·       This image shows somebody standing under a tunnel, the background is lighter than the foreground however the sky looks grey and gloomy. This gives connotations of wherever this person goes darkness will follow them in their footsteps.

·       Stereotypically tunnels give connotations of death, hatred, a pathway to afterlife linking to the book by Stephan King’s “The Stand”. Tunnels connote doom as each side of the tunnel has graffiti on it – it gives negative connotations such like gangs.

·       The person is standing in the centre of the tunnel connoting there are two options either “Heaven” (the background) or hell (the darkness of the foreground/ stepping into the misery – linking back to the last image “fear your only God”.

COSTUME

·       Sande is wearing a black dress connoting that she doesn’t want to stand out from anyone and she wants to be treated on the same level as others as she believes everyone has the same right as one another.

·       The black dress connotes dominance of women, elegance and formality as it is a prestige colour.  She is also wearing this dress to express all the damage and disruption she has had in her life.

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS ANS BODY LANGUAGE

·       She is holding her hands out connoting her worship to God and asking for help in her dark and difficult situations.

SETTING AND PROPS USED

·       The music video used religious imagery and the black coloured wings painted on the wall connoting angels. The East London street connoting poverty and the tunnel with graffiti connoting people’s emotions by expressing themselves by spray painting on the brick walls.

SOCIAL, HISTORICAL AND CULTRUAL CONTEXTS

·       Emeli Sande doesn’t follow any religion however she believes that God exists and so should “Heaven” as people should be free to follow their own belief and values that had been made.

·       As the video was shot in the city, the stereotype it falls under is that black artists are mainly located in urban areas and that this is where their music is based on, the stereotypes in their city.

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