Friday 20 June 2014

Textual analysis of Music Videos (Number Two)



Plan B - Writing's on the wall


The genre of the video is pop, which is also the genre of the artist. The typical narrative shown within this music video is a 'love story' which is falling apart, and what can be expected to be shown within this music video is one party (the woman) trying to resolve the situation, whereas the other party (the man) cheats on the woman, and shows no urge to fix the relationship. What is unexpected from this video is the man cheating on the woman, and the showing of another woman.

There is intersexual reference to artist Stevie Wonder with the title of the song by Plan B, being 'Writing's on the wall' and Stevie Wonder’s song being 'Very superstitious writing's on the wall'

The narrative shows the male preforming at a gig whilst his wife is at home waiting for him to get home, and whilst she is waiting, he cheats on her with a girl he met at a bar. The theme presented within this music video is ‘love gone wrong’ and also trust, and how there seems to be none left within their relationship. There are recognisable characters, such as the male artist, the female protagonist and the female antagonist. The lyrics are reflected by the video very well, for instance with the lyric ‘we both know we are hanging on here but no one’s gonna’ say it’ is shown within the narrative of the phone call when both parties end the conversation with ‘I love you’ however the male artist is planning to cheat on his wife, and the wife is getting drunk by herself.








The representation shown within this music video clip shows a stereotypical view on gender. This is a stereotypical view as the male is seen to be successful, popular and also dominant over his band and also the crowd, whilst the woman is seen cooking within the kitchen as well as preforming domestic and stereotypical actions, such as dressing up to impress her husband, as well as many shots of her cooking. This is also to be seen as a stereotypical view due to the fact the music video is set within a period piece, which the period it is set in, which is around ‘1960-1970’ men were seen as the dominant characters, and the women domestic.
The male artist has been constructed to be a fictional celebrity who is very popular, as he is shown to have a very big crowd who are enjoying themselves. The artist also does not have an anonymous role within the music video, and is seen to be always involved with the focus directly on him.


When looking at visual codes, the first location of the music video is set within a big venue (the nightclub) and is also a period piece, as the mise-en-scene shows some of the male crowd members in bow ties which is not very modern, the piece can also be identified as period, in the way the language is used, for instance the male artist calls him wife ‘doll’ which is not of the modern language, but is mostly associated with era’s ranging from the 1960-1980’s. The location can also been shown to be in England, and pin pointed in London, due to the English accent the male and female protagonists speak with, we can also gather that we are located within London, as later on into the music video the male artist and a few others are seen to be dining and also walking around China town, which is located in London.




A dominant colour used within this music video is grey, which shows connotations of negativity, and also seeing how the male artist is shown within grey, it shows connotations of the artist not wanting to fix the problem with his wife, and that he does not feel the same about her as he did once before. However another colour which is shown to be dominant is that of white, which is shown with the female protagonist, which shows connotations of positivity, and also her wanting to fix the marriage and to not just ignore the problem. The idea that the man is shown within grey, and the woman in white can also be shown as a foretelling the future, for example, within the end of the narrative the male artist cheats on his wife which is a dark act, which shows connotations of how the artist has lost the purity in his marriage, meaning that the woman stays In the dominant colour white, as she has stayed loyal and pure to the marriage, however the artist has not, and therefore is shown in grey as he gave into temptation, therefore poisoning the purity, or the dominant colour white therefore showing the guilty party in grey throughout the music video.  



The artist name is also written is lights on a billboard, which allows audience members to identify who the artist is, the fact the artist’s name is in big and lights, it shows connotations of how the artist is successful and also popular. The use of shot composition allow the narrative to make sense and to continue, for example, a shot is blurred , which shows connotations of  the artist filled with confusion, and also the effect of alcohol, which allows audience members to understand what is happening to the male artist within the narrative.  

The use of an extreme close up on the pan bubbling over, shows connotations of the how the female protagonist feels about the actions her husband shows towards her, for example deciding to go out for a drink instead of coming home to her. The pan bubbling over can be shown to demonstrate how, she herself is bubbling over the top in regards to emotion, and cannot conceal her emotions, and in a result, just as the pan bubbles over, she her-self bubbles over, and turns to alcohol to numb the emotional damage of the realisation that her marriage is ending, and that there is nothing she can do to stop it. The use of a hand held camera on the artist and his group helps to tell the narrative as it shows the connotations of the party to be drunk and therefore un able to think straight, so therefore the shot is shaky so audience members can understand that the artist's mind-set is like the shot and sharp and straight.

The editing is fast cut, which reflects on the song being fast paced, the cuts also help tell the story, as for instance when the artist is preforming, there are many cuts indicating that the crowd are energetic and excited about the performance and the artist himself.

I would place the target audience to this music video to be young adult (15-18) because although the target audience are unlikely to be married, the music video shows a narrative that people can relate to, for instance the aspect of cheating, or trying to sort the relationship out, and the other party not meeting them half way. The target audience is then also able to link themselves to the characters emotionally, which engaged the audience more with the song and also music video, meaning that in regards to marketing, the artist and record label are more likely to be popular because of the link the audience make emotional to this song, can be marketed with other songs the artist produced and/or is producing.


By doing this analysis, it has been able to ease me into how much detail can be hidden within a music video, and it has also taught me that I should pay attention to that detail, because it can contain certain messages to the narrative that I would had missed otherwise

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