Textual Analysis of Plan B Music Video

The Plan B music video for Writing's on the Wall belongs to the genre of Pop, the artist also belongs to the pop/rap/soul genre.
The video has a narrative which is part of a larger narrative that links across Plan B's videos, telling the story of the fictional character Strickland Banks. This is relevant to Goodwin's theory as the artist has a recurring theme/symbol across a range of his videos.
The narrative of this video tells the story of Strickland Banks and the relationship with his wife, it shows him as having an affair whilst his wife is at home waiting for him, cooking their dinner.
This video has quite a predictable narrative that links with the song lyrics and genre of the music although some parts of the narrative could be unexpected like the outcome of the video/narrative.
There are inter-textual links to Stevie Wonder's Superstition video:

Narrative and representation:

The storyline shows a wife cooking dinner whilst her husband is having an affair, there are certain elements of the video that represent stereotypical features of symbols. The woman in the kitchen presents a stereotypical view of women and gender stereotypes, this is also reflected in the narrative parts surrounding the male character as he is a celebrity earning money to bring home to his wife in the domestic environment. It presents the character of Strickland Banks as the dominant figure in the relationship but also as an unfaithful partner.

The visual codes of the framing has connotations to help the audience understand the narrative for example the dark clothing and low key lighting connotes a sinister feeling over the narrative; this foreshadows the disruption stage of Toderov's narrative theory:

The narrative of the video is relevant to Toderov's theory is relevant to the structure of the music video for example the equilibrium stage begins at the beginning where the audience are not aware of anything wrong, the disruption stage includes the character of Strickland Banks cheating on his wife with another woman. The wife puts the phone down after repeatedly ringing her husband to call him home for dinner, this is where the recognition stage is present. In this video the attempt to repair is unsuccessful and this is where the music video contradicts Toderov's theory. However, it could be argued that the new equilibrium is the husband and wife alone.

Goodwin's Theory of Music Videos

Goodwin's Theory

 

In 1982, Andrew Goodwin published a book that explained codes and conventions of music videos after years of research, this was called 'Dancing In The Distraction Factory'

 

Goodwin's Theory identified these key features:

 

1. Music Videos demonstrate certain genre characteristics e.g. hard rock: performance, girl/boy band: dance routines, rap/hiphop: women and expensive jewellery and cars etc.
2. There is always a relationship between lyrics and visuals, often this is illustrative but it could contradict.
3. There is a relationships between music and visuals e.g. the mood which could also be contradictory or illustrative.
4. The demands of the record labels will be for lots of close ups of the artist.
5. The artist may develop motifs or iconography that recur across their work.
6. There is a frequent reference to the notion of 'looking',filming and cameras.
7. There are often a lot of intertexual references to film, television and popular culture.

 

Why Re-make A Music Video?

We are re-making Britney Spears' Music Video for Hit Me Baby One More Time, this will help us to see how music videos are filmed and edited. By practising filming a music video we can understand the preparation involved when planning and making a music video which we can apply to our coursework when making our own music video.

Music Videos often include lots of different camera shots and angles and re-making this video will help us to practise and understand this. We can practise working with short and quick shots and learn how to edit this effectively and professionally.

The editing will be more difficult with a music video as there will be more shots and angles to work with. Lip syncing in music videos is also an important aspect, the lip syncing will need to mat up with the song; this will impact both the filming and editing stages of creating a music video and the practice that we will have by re-making this video will help us to achieve a more accurate and professional music video of our own at a later stage.

By doing this project as a class it means we will be able to practise all the aspects of making a music video but without the pressure of making the whole thing. This means it wont take as long and it will be easier for us to focus on making a short section of it really good but still gaining practice in all the necessary skills for making a music video.

History of Music Videos

The first Music Video?

• The first music video came from a film where 'Bessie Smith' sang along to her song in the film 'St Louis Blues'. This was considered the first ever music video and was shown in theatres until 1932.
• The earliest music videos, filmed with a camera to specifically accompany a song, were filmed in the 1950s however before this dating back to the 1920s videos were put to music e.g. Bessie Smith in St Louis Blues.
• Walt Disney released fantasia which included the Disney characters on screen but written to famous classical pieces of music.
• The term visual music came about when film animators such as Oskar Fischinger, accompanied their cartoons with classical music.
• Warner Brothers also released short films to music which were released to theatres, these were among Loony Tunes, Merry Melodies and Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies.

Music Video Development

• In 1956 Tony Bennett released his song 'Stranger In Paradise' accompanied by a film of him walking along The Serpentine in Hyde Park in London. Television stations in the UK and US distributed and played this song and music video. This was arguably the first music video including film that was made for the purpose of running alongside a song/music.
• A Visual Jukebox called the Scopitone came around in the 60s which was invented by a French Artist. This played songs as well as showing a range of short films produced by many French artists. This then became popular in other countries.
• Between 1964 and 1968 there were a series of music videos created that lead the way for future music videos and their development for example The Beatles' A Hard Days Night' in 1964 directed by Richard Lester. The Monkees influenced the music video genre as well with their popular American TV series where each episode featured film to accompany their songs. The Beatles took thinks further with 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane' which were made in 1967. The influence of the psychedelic music era was reflected in their music videos.

The Beatles' A Hard Days Night:

Music Videos in the 70s

• Top of The Pops became very important with regards to promoting artists and showing music videos to a wide audience on mainstream. The music videos were shown on top of the pops then leading to an increase in sales of the song/album.
• Another milestone for the Music Video industry was Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody which was arguable the first music video that was filmed separately on film to accompany a song for promotional purposes. Before this entertainment had been the focus on Music Videos.

Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody:

1980s and Modern Music Videos

• MTV was launched in 1981 which became a platform for a range of music videos. Quite fittingly, the first music video to be aired on MTV was 'Video Killed The Radio Star'.
• During the 80s it became more popular, in music videos, to use more sophisticated effects.
• Michael Jackson was the first artist to create a short film which was a music video with a narrative, Billie Jean was seen to do this but it was in 1984 when Thriller was released which really raised the standards if music videos.
• Michael Jackson was responsible for the most expensive music video with 'Scream' that he sang with his sister Janet Jackson which was recently topped by Taylor Swift's Music Video for 'Bad Blood'.

The Buggles' Video Killed The Radio Star:

Michael Jackson's Billie Jean:

• Music Videos today are very important for the promotion of the artist, their songs and their albums as well as entertaining the audience of their music and possibly drawing in a wider audience for their videos.

Taylor Swift's Bad Blood:

What to include in music videos

What Makes a Good Music Video?