How is it typical of a music video?
Most of the music video represents the gritty, hardships of the underground of London. Especially with the Ill Manors music video, it can be seen as a typical music video however has some elements that express his originality. Interestingly, the director including scenes of Plan B (who is the director) overlooking a block of council houses with the inclusion of controversial moments in Politics; this is emphasise the detachment that council houses owners feel. This is important in terms of the making of the music video. It brings out the expression that the visuals are usually meant to bring out. Additionally, these events and how it is expressed can also be thought to link into Andy Medhurst's theory about stereotypes in that they're used almost as a way to tell the audience a lot in a short space of time (shorthand). With this the audience understands the youths feelings of animosity towards the police and the upper class due to the fact that it affects their interactions with them throughout their lives.
The rap music is mainly seen as urban in terms of the outlook of the genre. Rap music usually having street terminologies, the music video can also be related to Tessa Perkins theory in that stereotypes of rap music mainly representing the life of the streets.
How does it represent the London riots/rioters?
Plan B believes that due to politics having a damaging effect on the lower classes, there is a belief that people feel neglected by the government. The video ultimately represents the London rioters as being menaces to society and rebels however feel like the government casted them as outsiders. In the video, there are extracts taken out of news broadcasts of the riots as they progressed with participants throwing things at the police and burning cars. This representation presented them as being criminals, only reinforcing the stereotype that young, particularly lower-class people are damaging towards the community. However at the same time, it could be said that this is only a 'closed-outlook' on the rioters and the complexity in the aspects that mean they're doing what they're doing, is reduced to a much more simpler picture as suggested by Richard Dyer. This being said, it's made a bit more unclear as to whether the rioters are just rioting for the sake of it or have a set of different reasons as to why they're doing it. This is why there are questions regarding the music video.
Media Audiences
What audience pleasures does the music video offer?
There are multiple examples of audience pleasures inside this music video. The video provides a sense of diversion for its intended audience. Although the audience are predominantly people who enjoy or are fans of Plan B's music, the video can definitely be identified to be targeted towards people from a much more lower class background and living in council estates and express their predicaments towards the middle/upper class. This also links in with the personal identification aspect of Blumler and Katz' Uses and Gratifications theory, with the people in the audience that do live in that environment, seeing parts of their own life possibly reflected in it such as the range of blocks in their community.
Another pleasure that the video provides possibly lies in the fact that the video has some things related to politics in it. With multiple references to politicians, the video gives people interested in that kind of thing a sense of nostalgia as they look back on things that have taken place in the political world, giving a sense of diversion (Blumler and Katz) to them or just a general sense of entertainment.
Media Institutions
How does the music video help to promote the film of the same name?
The video helps promote Ill Manors by actually having actors from the film make appearances in the video. At different points in the video appearances are made from actors in the film such as Riz Ahmed and Ed Skrein who both star as main characters in it.
Additionally the video helps promote the film by using things that were used in the promotion of the film in the video. The most notable aspect of this is with the fact that the actual audio track, was used in the trailer towards the end of it. This again adds to this idea of synergy, with a link being established with the film and the music video here, but not only in the sense that it's the same song, but also that the video gives them an idea of what to actually expect when watching the film whether this is the council estate environment or just the life of teenagers as a whole.
Ill Manors soundtrack research task
The record companies/institutions behind Plan BLabels:
679
Atlantic
Mercury
Pet Cemetery
Warner Bros.
Asylum
Sales/downloads for the soundtrack
| Chart (2012) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgium (Ultratip Flanders) | 89 |
| Scotland (Official Charts Company) | 9 |
| UK R&B (Official Charts Company) | 3 |
| UK Singles (Official Charts Company) | 6 |
| UK Official Streaming Chart Top 100 | 89 |
Music reviews
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 83/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Drowned in Sound | 8/10 |
| The Guardian | |
| MusicOMH | |
| NME | 8/10[ |
| The Observer | |
| Spin | 8/10[ |
| The Telegraph | [ |
The Guardian comments:
"Drew's a talent and a polymath, and while I admire his desire to represent, I don't think he's bringing any clarity to the issues he wants to highlight"
"Genuinely a great album. Fits right in with The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers and Dead Kennedys records I have. Genre is stripped away, more obvious as ever on the title track (The Prodigy remix isn't too bad either), and we have the desperate poetry and hard-hitting social commentary of the man. Simply a great album. To paraphrase one of the best lyrics, "We're not in broken Britain, we're just Broke in Britain".
NME.com Review:
http://www.nme.com/reviews/album/reviews-plan-b-13466
The Guardian Review:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/jul/22/plan-b-ill-manors-review
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