Analyses of Music Videos (Plan B - She Said)

Analyses of Music Videos

Plan B - She Said - Pop/Soul

Location – There are two main locations, in a police interrogation room and outside and in the court where Strickland Banks (Plan B) is being trialled. In the interrogation room he is shown explaining to policemen that he is innocent, this is heard with the lyrics “on the day that I got arrested, I’m innocent I protested”. The other scene is in the court room where he is being trialled; there are other characters in this scene such as the accusing woman (Kaya Scodelario) and Strickland Bank’s girlfriend.

Lightning – Normal lighting has been used, no high key or artificial lightning is used, and this is done to make the video look more realistic.

Representation- There is a period setting style, depicting of the late 70’s due to mis en scene and clothing such as the tape recorder. This video could show the representation of how the penal system worked in that era as it is showed that the black man in the corner of the jury does not click along at the start and this could representing that he is not paying attention and not caring about the court case, this can also be showed when there are several shots of the jury looking unhappy or bored.

Story line – At the start it shows clip from the night before (which is from the last single) so that the audience can see why Plan B is in the court room. He is being trialled, even though it is not told, for rape as how the story line is being planned out and due to the lyrics. At the end of the video, there is a shot of Plan B’s face and expression which looks disappointed so this could show that is he had been found guilty and is going to prison.

Mise en scene – The video is looked to set in the 70’s/80’s as the characters clothing of the style of suits and dresses, and also due certain pieces of mis en scene such as the tape recorder.

Camera work - In the same way as the video for Drake – Find Your Love, they used filming methods to set traits about the characters; the use of low angled shots on Plan B to show that he is the protagonist. Commonly the shots used are close up or medium shots so they establish who is in the shot as they only last for about 3 seconds, which vary between Plan B singing along to the song and not.

Editing – As usual music videos, shots are straight cut and last no longer then a couple of seconds, this could be done to keep the audience interested with video and the story line.

Sound – The shots last for about 3 seconds, which differ between Plan B singing the song and not. It would not suit all of the shots as it is also a visual based media as well as the audio song.

Genre and narrative - This video doesn’t follow Todorov’s theory as it doesn’t start with an equilibrium and it is left on a cliff hanger, this could be due to being the second part of the story with one before and one following it up. This video also doesn’t follow Propp’s theory either as there are no standard characters as even though Plan B is seen as being portrayed as wrongly accused it didn’t doesn’t actually show this.

Audience theory: Dyer - They used Dyer’s Utopian Solutions Theory to inspire and connect the audience, offering the ‘solutions’ to ‘clarity’ by using the couple of shots at start explaining how Plan B got into that situation of being accused in court. Also uses ‘Isolation’ as they show to the audience that there are other people in the world who have been wrongly accused.
Maslow – They threatened the audience’s need of ‘Affiliation’ as the accusing woman is lying to everyone about what happened as there is also a clip where it shows one of Strickland Bank’s friends going against him as well due to jealously.

Institution – The music video for "She Said" shows Plan B as the soul singer Strickland Banks on the night after one of his concerts. He is in court following the night after one of his concerts. Like Stay Too Long, the video stars Skins actress Kaya Scodelario as the female lead. It is the second single and therefore the second part of a story with a third part afterwards.



Posted by Joe Lavigne