The music video begins with a wide shot of a boy who resembles the artist of the track, Ed Sheeran, which could imply he is the main character we should be following throughout. It then transitions into a medium close up, giving us more details of the male characters features. At 0.09, we are shown an establishing shot of a wet field full of mist with a group quite far back into the distance.

At this point the audience has not heard any lyrics or instrumental but just the background noises of the things you’d hear if you were at the place. The camera begins a very slow pan as the group walk along the fields, and members of the group begin running on the beat the music begins. At 0.24 we meet the same boy using a wide shot where in zooms into him very unsteadily potentially showing it was his friend’s videoing. Another wide shot is used to show what we can only assume to be the main character and his friend running from the camera during a very short, but fast paced instrumental. We return to an establishing shot whilst the camera tracks the same two boys seen running in the previously shot. At 0.44 we finally get a clear shot of the main protagonist using a close up where it then cuts to a side shot of the artist who he is meant to be resembling in younger years.

To further demonstrate the individual weve seen so far is Ed Sheeran’s ‘younger’ self lookalike, Ed sings “I was younger then” after the transition seen above. Even though an Ed Sheeran fan would tell from the beginning of the video he was meant to resemeble Ed, someone who only listens on occasion has now been reassured that. Still using a side shot we are focused on the artist, until we are cut to a flashback of his younger self and friends in the pub using a wide shot. Numerous cuts are then used to show the groups hanging out.

The camera starts tracking from behind the younger self, where it changes infront of him using matching on action and follows his direction. In both shots he is positioned in the centre with a subtle blurred back ground implying our eyes should solely be focused on him. We get many contrasting places during the flashbacks, e.g. we see them in a pub/races where it then cuts back to the countryside setting where we originally seen the group. The shots always refer back to the young group socialising in the field implying that’s where they spent a lot of their time and its important.

During this shot the camera is almost following the car driving along the road whilst mildly panning upwards as it drives further away. Referring to my previous point, the car is surrounded by fields/countryside similar to the ones where we witness the group. At 1.10, we see Ed’s younger self driving along the roads however its not too noticable but in the screenshot to the left is the car the artist was driving and the wide

shot we cut to is his ‘younger’ self hinting he’s back in the place he grew up and that’s why the flashbacks are occuring. At 1.14, we are shown a close up of the two front seats with the main character being in focus and his friend in the background out of focus again showing who Ed wants the audience to be looking at. We cut to a midshot of younger ed walking along with his group where the camera pans from the front of them, around them so we see them from behind, however a very quick cut is used to show the main character with another individual walking beside a fire. We are shown them using a side shot, and the camera tracking them.

At 1:44, we first see the artist out of the car which could show he is back to the place he grew up. We track him as he walks along the road where it then cuts to another flashback of them “rolling handmade cigarettes”. With the lyrics matching what we see in the flashbacks we can definitely say he’s singing about teenage years growing up. At 2:09, we are shown a mid close up of the artist walking along the same road seen on the right.

At 2.27, a high angle shot is used down onto two individuals walking through the same fields we have seen a lot of. Where it then cuts to a a party scene where a range of midshots are used of the different characters within the group using flash strobes of different colours. A lot of the flashbacks now have tracking shots of the artists walking along the same road which can represent him walking home as there are numerous lyrics saying “im on my way”.

At 3:03, we see the same two boys who we can assume of them is the younger version of Ed walking around a rundown, old house/farmhouse.

At 3:13, for the first time since the start of the song there is a long pause with no lyrics but filled with a subtle guitar tune as a burning couch is shown in the centre of a field, implying that’s the end of the happy memories as he begins to describe his friends now in the present.

As he begins to describe the individual friends and what they’re getting up to now we are shown each one with a different shot. It begins with a mid close up, transitioning to a low shot, to a close up again, back to a subtle low angle etc.

After seeing them individual with differeing angles/shots showing how some have gone off to be successful whilst others havent, we are shown the group using a wide shot on the same level which could demonstrate even though they’re at different places now back then they were all equal and on the same level.

At 2:24, we see the younger version of Ed sat round drinking with his friends. We are shown this using a pan around the back of him, where it cuts to a side shot if him drinking an alcoholic beverage. As he pulls the can down, we cut to a wide shot of the artist Ed Sheeran taking the can down. This is a very important shot because it clarifies that it was Ed singing about the past and its clever transition to use. We then see Ed sat around with the friends also grown up using a zoom out

The typical genre of Ed Sheerans music is singer-songwriter. Usually, a singer songwriter has slow paced filming that fits with the vibe of the music and there is no rapid/fast editing as it distracts the audience from the meaning of the song however with this video Ed doesn’t follow the conventions of a typical singer songwriter genre. However, in certain parts of the song, generally the slow singing, he doesn’t use slow editing and the filming is quite neautral although the majority is quite fast. A convention he does follow is that he set the video in an isolated area, which typially conveys peace and harmony which does follow the theme of this song. Also, the songs tend to have a senstimental and personal value to the artist for it and tells a story throughout.

Uses and gratificationsThis theory presumes that the audience seek out specific types of media to satisfty their needs. There are four main categories; information, identity,integration and social interactionm entertainment and escapism. I think Ed’s video represents the category escapism as people watching tend to forget about their life during it and are focused on his as we are shown his past and teenage years. As we are shown the different aspects and emotions so thorougly we almost feel the same thing he was feeling during that time.

Andrew Goodwins theory This music video follows the idea of a relationship between the music and visuals. From analysing this video I would say its illustrative because the music video uses certain images and shots to explain the meaning of the lyrics.It also follows the demand of the record company for lots of close ups as we are shown the younger version of Ed very thorougly through the use of close ups and mid shots.