Heaven Essay

Explain how representations in music videos are chosen to promote the artist. Refer to Emeli Sande’s video of ‘Heaven’ in your answer.    (10 marks) 

The music video 'Heaven' by Emeli Sande from 2011 uses a number of representations to promote the artist. Emile Sande features in the video herself and is seen singing the song in different locations. She can be seen as an angel as the lighting effects are always brighter and 'heaven like' around her, this juxtaposes the other people in the video as they are primarily dirty, rugged and depressed showing that Sande could be trying to spread the word of religion to help these people reach the light.    

Heaven was released by Sande in 2011, at a time of unrest and violence as the brewing of the 2011 London riots began. Sande shows the message of peace in her video and is trying to promote the word of religion in a time of darkness and chaos. The video was interesting as it chose to represent Sande in a positive way as she is seen as a figure of light in a depressed and dismal world. It also considered some of her own influences in the video such as her religious views; Sande believes in God and Heaven but doesn’t believe fully in religion, instead she encourages to follow the message of religion but not take it literally. This message in shown in her video as she is seen to be encouraging people to live a better life and have a good heart which she believes is all you need to do to access heaven in later life. Also, the place where the music video is filmed is where Sande was living at the time which makes it closer to heart and has stronger meaning. This means that everything in the video is what she sees personally from living in that area and is the image she receives of her own area. This could be seen as positive or negative as the area is seen as dodgy and dark but what she is trying to show is that its also full of promise and hope for love and comfort. Sande also grew up in Glasgow with Zambian roots so may have had first hand experience with extreme poverty which is displayed in her video too through the symbols of homeless people and dirty streets. 

  

A number of representations are seen in the video including religion, drugs and poverty. Religion can be seen to promote the artist by showing her in an angelic way and a voice of hope and reason in a world of darkness and destruction. Sande is also seen as being affected by religion because of the use of camera on her as it is positioned to have her in a bright lighting behind her showing symbols of heaven and angels. This is part of Barthes theory as he focuses on semiology, Sande's angelic like portrayal in the video is a symbol of her positivity as an artist and what she wants her audience to see her as; a kind, loving person who is trying to make the world a better place. Also the camera is normally looking up to her suggesting she is risen by religion and above the rest of the people in the video, perhaps suggesting that she has found religion which makes her superior and everyone else needs to find it too to reach the top. The media language of the video highlights a number of stereotypes used, and these are used to promote Sande through representations of religious symbols. The editing and production is high quality and since Sande was an upcoming artist who wasn’t that well known at the time when the music video was released she needed to appear frequently in the video to promote herself in that way.  

To conclude, Emeli Sande's music video of 'heaven' promotes the artist in a positive way as she is seen as a religious and angelic figure who is promoting having a good heart to other people. This makes her an inspiring figure as she is trying to make the world a better place and spread the meaning of religion to help people get to heaven in the next life. This video promotes Sande to her fanbase and makes people look up to her as a respectable and good person.