Textual Analysis: Ellie Goulding Beating Heart

‘Beating Heart’ is a song recorded by English recording artist Ellie Goulding for the soundtrack to the film Divergent (2014). The song was written by Goulding and Joe Janiak, and produced by Greg Kurstin. It was released on 9 May 2014 as the second single from the album.

‘Divergent’ (2014) was directed by Neil Burger based on the novel of the same name by Veronica Roth The story takes place in a dystopian post-apocalyptic version of Chicago where people are divided into  factions based on human virtues. Beatrice Prior is warned that she is Divergent and thus will never fit into any one of the factions and soon learns that a sinister plot is brewing in her seemingly perfect society.

The music video for "Beating Heart" was directed by Ben Newbury and shows Goulding in her fear landscape (an original idea based on the stimulation of fears from the film, Divergent.) The video begins with Goulding standing in a dark room drinking the simulation serum like the serum in the film and sees herself in a simulation, where she is in a misty forest. She meets a mysterious boy in the forest, and as she turns to walk away, she is pulled closer to him. The simulation ends and Goulding is seen standing in the same dark room.

The video opens with a focusing in of the wide shot containing Goulding in the middle of a dark room. The musical breeze sound that acts as an introduction to the song moves in sync to the focusing of Goulding in the centre of the room holding a stimulation serum. The black on black mise en scene which has the purpose to provide viewers with the sense of Goulding’s reality and the close up shot of her drinking the stimulation

serum portrays intertextual reference towards ‘Divergent’ scene where Tris drinks the same stimulation serum. Also, during Goulding’s process of drinking the serum, a transition occurs with the use of dissolve. This is used to show viewers Goulding in her fear landscape of the misty woods. Again this idea originates from the Divergent, using this as a form of advertisement for the film.

The mid shot displaying Goulding in the centre looking back to the camera begins with the shot slightly blurred, before it starts to clear. However, before it changes to the close up of her shoes, viewers are not exposed to a clear resolution of Goulding herself. It may be that the use of mist and the blurred lense combine to create a heavy headed image, like something one would experience when they were to wake up from anaesthetics for example. This shows a steady transfer from the previous shot to this shot and highlighting the dream- like state that is required of this scene, especially since Goulding is supposedly in her fear landscape. Also, the close up of Goulding’s shoes and the blurred lens shot could be considered as shots that gradually reveal the landscape that she is in and provide an illusion as to the landscape, allowing viewers to distinguish between reality and dream.

During this shot, Goulding does not sing. This could correlate to the idea that as well as her being the singer within the video she is also a part of the narrative the video creates. The camera moving in some sort of 180 degrees rotation creates the effect in centralising Goulding as she is in her thoughts could suggest the idea of watching and perhaps a predatory like manner.

The video also features videos and small clips from the film ‘Divergent’. This could be considered as a promotional music video for the film itself as well as juxtaposing the two concepts relevant in these two different types of media. This shows how relevant the music video is to the film and how the two complement.

I also thought, it would be quite interesting to see the behind the scenes of this music video. The different ways the camera movements were accomplished and Goulding's view on the concept of this music video, it was also nice to see her commentary on the things they were doing.