Class in Emeli Sande Heaven Heaven Emeli Sande

Class in Emeli Sande ‘Heaven’

Heaven – Emeli Sande The music video reflects different classes however focuses mostly on what is seen as the working class. The video includes a lot of street and urban life and many homeless and poor people can be seen. The sad expression on his face and the scenery gives you an insight into the situation that person is in and how he might have got there. The medium shot shows his surroundings and is just as powerful as a close up. The dark lighting presents a sad and mellow tone, and reflects another reasoning as to why people may turn to religion/heaven when they are helpless. However, there many features that do not look as though they are short of money or a home, very much middle class, they just turn to religion for an escape and for a sense of belonging possibly. This shows a sense of cohesion as it reflects every class as equal. The lighting of this image is significant as it looks very much like a polaroid, and a moment in time. The wings are also important as they reflect the need of freedom and heaven as an escape from reality. The mid shot shows the girls facial expression however also shows her surroundings and gives more reference to heaven. This video contrasts from other music videos as it is more down to earth and more realistic, in this image it is a poor man, whereas in other videos you would only see glamorous people. These people are the type of people that may be looking for heaven as a place to turn to for help or support. The close up shot enables the viewers to empathise with the man as we can see his expression and how he may feel. As a close up, you can see the untidy facial hair which gives more evidence he may be in a bad place/with little money. The blur in the background also focuses more on his desperate looking face. A lot of the images seen are poor people looking up the sky, these images are powerful as it shows them looking for hope. This is why this ‘class’ is more commonly shown as it is the type of people that may turn to religion. The scene is very down to earth as in the background you can see the street and the shops and it seems unedited. This makes the ‘Heaven’ theme even more significant as the whole video is very grounded. The dark tones surrounding them shows the dullness of life without religion.