Textual Analysis - Plan B

Plan B – Writings on the wall

The music video for Plan B ‘writings on the wall’ has been clearly thought out, in the sense that some of the stuff they do is rather intelligent.  The typical music is pop and rap and this song fits in with those genres. The whole narrative of this video is quite basic and is not hard to understand. It begins with a man and his wife and he is having an affair and therefore does not spend a lot of time with her. There is a reference to Stevie Wonder 'Superstitious' in this video. In the music video the wife cooks a meal or her husband whilst he is out with other women and having affairs from this we get the theme of love/ heartbreak. The video reflects the lyrics of the song as when she says about putting the phone down she also put her phone down within the video. Due to the fact she put the phone down and her facial expressions it is clearly shown that their relationship isn’t as healthy as it should be.

Within the video we see a variety of different shots, these are used to show the power of characters, there are low angles on the man which shows that he is the dominant figure within the clip whereas with the women there are a number of high angles to make her seem small/vulnerable. This is also stereotypical as in society men are seen to be the powerful gender and women are seen to be the less powerful ones. Moreover, there are also long shots within the video, this is shown when the women burns her hand on the saucepan, this could symbolise she is being burned by love for example.

The music video is set within a nightclub where 'Strickland Bank' is performing. This shows us that there are connotations of rock and celebrities. The text shown on the nightclub outlines his name and shows the camera highlighting the fact it is sold out, this gives connotations that he is popular. Moreover, the lighting within the clip is varied throughout, we see low key lighting a lot which shows that he doesn’t want to be seen/recognised because maybe he has done something wrong and it also shows he’s sinister/secretive.

Gender is shown within this music video as there are men and they are not seen in a positive light due to cheating and lying. Whereas the females are seen as naïve and all they are capable of is caring for children and staying at home making the house look presentable whilst the man is out at work earning the money. The most stereotypical representation of gender in this is when the woman is in the kitchen cooking for her husband. The artist 'Plan B' has been presented as a star, he is playing a character called 'Strickland Banks' who is a singer that is similar Plan B. he is shown to be a successful man however he’s being held back by the woman which is very sexist and unfair.

Furthermore, I think that the target audience for this music video is 15 – 25 as this is the gender gap that are most affiliated with rap/pop. Also, the video itself is what this age group like to do, it is set in a club where this age group are most seen and some of what is happening in the video relates to their current relationship.