Media Forms
This is typical for a music video since this looks visually similar to a montage. This is due to the fast editing and the choice of scenes that would depict this of a sort of music video to do this sort of thing. This can be seen as a symbolic element of the video in the sense that this music video presents scenes based on the London riots however the lyrics that are in the music video contradict the scenery in the film. The singer is also shown with the performance element that is present in a majority of the video. This performance element strikes a resemblance to the actions that occur which relate to the London Riots since he is presented near the end with the Other visuals would also include the use of photography and images. This would also make the music video visually interesting. Especially considering that there is the use of newspaper covers which is parallel to the lyrics which give it a sense of synergy.
This could arguably be a mix of both diegetic and non-diegetic since Plan B's singing is also used as narration to explain some of the scenes that are in the music video. The use of diegetic can be used to explain the scenes this might be parallel to the lyrics. Other sections of diegtic sounds would be when he shouts "Oi" which is enforced with a performance element. This could suggest to an audience that he is actually shouting out these words rather than having a voice-over behind the footage that would be played. Besides that, the majority of the lyrics that are performed by Plan B are contrapuntal to the footage most of the time. This can be due to the use of lyrics that are against what is shown in the video as this could give a binary opposition in the video since the perception of teenagers and violence are contradictory to the lyrics perception. The video shows the teenagers as violent criminals which could be used for an audience to identify who they are which supports Medhurst's theory of simplified stereotypes to help an audience identify who is on screen.
The music video is also thematic. This would suit the theme of a crime drama due to the iconography of the police used in various clips. In addition to this, there is also the feature of violence and theft that surrounds an urban area. This could present a strong thematic element in the music video since urban areas are mainly seen as a dangerous area to go around.
Media Representations
The representation of the location in the music video shows that it is a grim area. This is due to the use of estates and local areas that are mainly run by young ASBOs who are seen as quite dangerous. In addition to this, there is the scenery of destruction that is used is to enforce the young people as a dangerous threat that might make London seem dangerous rather than a very safe area. Another piece of evidence that would present this urban side of London as a dangerous threat would be the amount of ASBOs in the area. This could also present that urban London is run or controlled by a young force that isn't controlled by authority such as Police.
The representation of people in the video presents the majority of the population to be black in most of the mobs who are seen as black which could present them as criminals. As previously mentioned Medhurst mentioned shorthand stereotypes that would be used to try and distinguish to an audience between people who are seen as bad or evil in comparison to the Police. This would enforce the ideas that teenagers are seen as trouble makers since Plan B uses young people as a choice in his music video. There is also the costume choice that also makes a stereotypical representation of troublesome crimnals that would support Medhurst's shorthand stereotypes. The main use of hoodies, caps, and bandanas could suggest the sense of danger that makes London look dangerous due to the people that are present in the video.
Age is one last factor that creates a bad image for the people who are of a similar age group. This would be evidenced with the scenes of young teenagers committing crimes and causing destruction in the streets of London. They are seen as dangerous due to the way that they are shown in the clip. The use of age had also depicted that young people are easily influenced into these gangs since a majority of the people who have appeared are mainly young in the gangs that surround Ben Drew.
Media Audiences
An audience might be interested in the different aspects that would relate to them. One of them would be the location. The use of the urban area could be used to relate to the audience that it is marketed at. There are locations such as the Olympics Stadium which is a signification that this is London. Medhurst's shorthand stereotypes can also present to the audience that the location that they are at is London so that the audience who come from London would recognise the location since they might be familiar with the area that this music video was filmed in.
The urban lifestyle which would be evidenced by the clothing can be seen as quite familiar since they might recognise the clothing that they are wearing. This could also help them understand who they are since shorthand stereotypes present the people who wear hoodies as bad people since a majority of the people who would be affiliated with gangs would wear that sort of clothing which gives it a sense of iconography since this is a common appearance for those who would live in deprived areas.
And finally the violence and action codes that are present in the music video could be seen as an audience pleasure. This would be due to the fact that a majority of Plan B's fan base could be seen as male and of low social class. The use of violence would depict that the audience would mainly consist of teenagers since they would be attracted to the action that would be present in the film.
Media Institutions
The music video help promote the video by using synergy with the title of the track and the movie. Those who would like the track might want to purchase the track or research about the track and others that are includes in the soundtrack for Ill Manors. In addition to this, the use of the title would also make it so that those who are interested in the film via trailer might want to check out the music. The track might potentially also promote the track that was developed by Plan b since those who liked this track might be interested in more tracks familiar to the current track. In convenience since the Ill Manors soundtrack was developed by the music artist, they might also be interested in how the movie could be interesting to them.
In addition to the topic of synergy, there were appearances of the actors who were present in the Ill Manors film. This could also promote the film because viewers might be familiar with the character in the trailer and to see that they are also seen in the music video could leave them intrigued. This could link with Barthes' enigma code in the sense that the viewers may want to know what role that character plays in the film as well as the significance in the music video. The use of the characters could also make a direct link between both film and music video in a narrative sense.
Finally the next factor that would promote the film via the music video would be the setting and locations that were used. A majority of the scenes used were quite reminiscent to the London Riots of 2011 which might be the message that Plan B is trying to deliver. The overall destroyed scenery of London which is run by young teenagers in an urban area could also bring synergy to the narrative that is present in the film. To add to this, the locations used could also present the genre that the film is about which could promote the film to a young teenager audience who would be interested in a film that would be related to crime.
Ill Manors soundtrack research task
The record companies and institutions behind Plan B- Ill Manors is Edge Recording Studio at "The Sanctuary". Plan B, who is the director of the movie, is the main producer of the film. This is especially evident with the Ill Manors music video since he seen most of the time performing in the video. The sales and downloads of the soundtrack are that i iTunes it has sales of around 37,455 copies for its physical format. The ratings of the soundtrack were quite fair. For instance, Metacritic gave the soundtrack a rating of 83/100. Meanwhile other reviews such as the Almusic gave it a rating of four stars. Another review which came from "Drowned in Sound" gave it an 8/10. The Guardian had also given it a similar rating of four stars and same applies with MusicOMH who also gave a rating of four stars. NME and Spin had both given it an 8/10 while The Observer rated it four stars. And finally the Telegraph gave a rating of five stars. So overall rated at 80% or more which could depict that this was a good soundtrack.The comments that were seen below the video had suggested that this music was "incredibly relevant today" and this was posted three weeks ago from today which would make it posted at approximately 14/01/2016. In addition t the possitive views that the critics have on the video, the music video has likes of 38,749 likes in comparison to the 1,797 dislikes that are seen in the music video. Overall the coments are mainly positive and supportive about the views that plan B presents in the music video. There are also some who are praising Plan B for presenting how the poor are suffering which could explain why this music video received quite a high up vote. This could show that Plan B does support his community by representing the minority that is his audience is. Therefore this would then be seen as an important overview fo the positive feedback. There are also some political views in the comments. A majority of the comments that i have looked over seem to support a left-wing party such as Labour.
No comments:
Post a Comment