Textual analysis of Plan B music video: Writings On The Wall

GENRE:

The genre of this music video is pop whereas the genre of Plan B is more rap/pop/soul. Like most music videos there is a typical narrative to this video; we think there is a husband and wife, we know that he has an affair with a younger girl which leads to problems in their marriage. The music video as a whole is linked to Strickland Banks and his story. Strickland Banks is a fictional character that Plan B made up and wrote an album about, each of the songs on the album coming together to complete a story. From reading the title of the song 'Writing on the Wall' we know that the video is expected to show something clear and obvious whilst showing many shots of the artist. However the fact that Strickland Banks calls home to inform his wife that he is going out with friends is unexpected as well as the fact that he doesn't come home at all and ends up cheating on her.

NARRATIVE

The narrative of this music video is basically, a wife spends the whole day preparing and cooking a romantic meal for her husband and during this he is out performing and then has an affair. There is a running theme of love; you can tell that the wife truly loves her husband, Strickland Banks, and is trying to fix the troubles that they are going through at the moment. There is another theme of heartbreak which we can see whilst the affair is happening and when the wife realises that he is not coming home. There is a recognisable structure from Toderov's 5 narrative theories;

• EQUALIBRIUM - The man and wife are both doing their separate things, everything at the moment is calm.
• DISTRUPTION - when Strickland Banks meets the one night stand it unsettles the calm.
• RECOGNITION - when the wife puts the phone down after being told that he will be coming home later, she recognises that something has happened.

There are some recognisable characters in this music video; there is a male artist that is collecting the fame, there is a female protagonist (wife) who is a main part of the narrative and finally there is a female antagonist (one night stand) who creates trouble between the man and wife. The lyrics of this song reflect what we see and understand from the music video. "We ain't over but the writing's on the wall" suggests that they are still married but its obvious that things aren't how they use to be.

REPRESENTATION

There is a representation of gender in this music video, the male (Strickland Banks) is not seen in a positive light which is stereotypical for a man in his late 20s. The woman is also stereotypical because she is playing domestic in the kitchen and getting upset over a man whilst he is out not caring about her. The artist, Plan B, who plays Strickland Banks ha
s been portrayed as a successful, poplar artist that is being held back by his wife.

VISUAL CODES

The location for this video is set in a nightclub (Motown) in the 80's. Strickland Banks is performing to an audience and their are small things like the tables being propped with chairs that indicate the era. This shows connotations of rock/popular lifestyle. He is also wearing dark clothing and the nightclub is relatively dark which connotes sinister actions. However the house looks like it is set in the 70's décor. There is colour throughout the house which connotes happiness even though their relationship is anything but happy. One of the earlier scenes is of the wife in her bedroom which is all white and connotes innocence. The only writing in the music video is 'Strickland Banks' written on the front of the venue. You can tell he is popular due to the fact he is doing a performance and it says 'sold out' underneath. There are shot compositions that stand out in this video, an extreme close up is show of the meal which connotes that this could be their last chance as a married couple to try and sort out their problems. There are low angles of Strickland Banks to show his power in the situation and high angles on his wife to show that she is vulnerable.

TECHNICAL CODES

There is an extreme close-up of the guitar which connotes the use of the fictional band. There is also a close-up of the pan in the kitchen bubbling and rising which connotes their love rising and then later on after she gets the call that he will not be home until

later there is a long shot of the pan and it burns her. This shows connotations of her relationship being burnt. There are POV shots which help to tell the narrative; these are of Strickland Banks and his POV. In addition there are many fast cuts to different shot types which helps keep the pace of the video and the tension between both man and wife.

AUDIENCE

The target audience for this video is teenagers - early 20s. This is because young characters are used to tell the narrative and one of the main locations is a club which is a popular location for that age group. It specifically targets this audience because of the storyline, it is about a relationship draining and an affair which teenagers and young adults can relate to heavily.

INSTITUTION

The record company for Plan B is 679 Warner Music Group. They help to promote the fication character (Strickland Banks). He is promoted as a celebrity within the video who gets everything that he wants.

Analysing this music video will help me with creating my own because I can see what works well for this type of genre. I can take the different elements of this music video and use them to give me ideas for my own music video.