Ill Manors music video

1) Media forms

How is it typical of a music video?

Immediately from this video we can apply Medhursts theory of stereotyping with people in the video being from council estates and causing damage to peoples property. This video just reinforces peoples negative stereotypes against people from council estates. Also the use of montage editing fits the profile for a music video as it is typically fast paced and includes various different shots to help establish some sort of narrative. Moreover, the props and costumes are appropriate for the type of genre and medhursts theory can also be applied here because of the costumes worn here the audience may think that young people or people who dress like this are going to exhibit antisocial behaviour. 

Furthermore, this is typical of a music video because it features the artist who wrote the song and the film as well as featuring characters from the film. Also the song and video was inspired by the London riots and actual footage was taken from that as well as politicians in the news for various but usually negative reasons. This links to levi Straus's theory on representation and ideologies as the people in the video and in reality from council estates tend to share the dominant ideology that all politicians are bad, however the middle class and beyond have the opposite dominant ideology and that is that 'chavs' are bad and disrespectful.

2)Media representation

How does it represent London riots/rioters?

In this music video we see scenes from the real London riots and staged ones. The use of establishing shots in the beginning of the music video (to show London "burning") makes you see the full scale of violence that was caused. This music video therefore shows a negative representation of London as it is not what the rest of the world and un-informed domestic audiences see London as, they see it as a place of wealth and tourism and are unaware that it is surrounded by these council estates which are all assumed to be bad because of shorthand stereotypes linked to Medhursts theory.

The rioters are also represented in this music video but as the way most people would expect to see them as you wouldn't expect to see a middle class white man joining in in the London riots and this reinforces that. The reason why we see the rioters as "chavs" and people on "council estates" is because these representations are formed from the ideologies that have been passed down form the opinion leaders which are usually the government and higher class white people. This links to Levi Strauss's theory on representation and ideology. Strauss also wrote about the producer of the text holding the set of values and beliefs but this doesn't link well with what Plan B may have been trying to communicate as his views of the politicians in the music video are overshadowed by the erratic violence caused by the rioters which he is saying is the government's fault. As a result we may see Plan B being hypocritical as what he is trying to resolve may cause further violence as he is showing what fun could be had of looting and rioting.

In this music video we see two types of people being represented in their own way by one opinion leader; Plan B. He states that on the one hand the politicians are the blame for the behaviour of the misguided youth which was a big factor in the riots but on the other hand the music video also portrays the group of people he is standing up for and representing as negative. Although true what he says about politicians never listening it contradicts himself and the people represented in the video as it shows stereotypes that are true about them. All together the way London is represented and the way the rioters were represented is done in a way to scapegoat the government as multiple people were to blame for the riots but the rioters were unable to accept responsibility.This idea of binary opposition is featured in music video but the audience will be split on who is good and who is evil between the politicians and the rioters which are frequently shown throughout the video. 

3) Media audiences 

What audience pleasures does the video offer?

The gratification that can be seen the most is personal identity as Plan b's audience would consist mainly of people in the c1/2 and lower bracket of social classes. With personal identity many people in the social class brackets can see themselves represented in the video and agree with the lyrics. Also the behaviour in the video can be similar to what some of the people in real life do and this just reinforces bad behaviour. This also links to the two-step flow model in which people will tend to listen to opinion leaders and a major one would be Plan B and his audience will often take in what he says without really thinking about it.

Because of this specific audience different groups of people will get different feelings about this music video. For example the groups in the lower part of the socio-economic classifications would get different pleasures out of this video than middle/higher class citizens. For example an 18 year old male may feel like Plan B is communicating with him directly due to the direct address and because he may idolise him as an artist making him and his loyal fan audience followers from an opinion leader. This is based on the two step flow model which also suggests that the opinion leader (Plan B) is influenced by the mass media but in this case we see it being subverted as Plan B doesn't seem to follow what the media says, especially about the working and lower classes.

Media institutions 

How does the music video help to promote the film?

Firstly, there is lots of evidence of synergy between the video and the film including the use of characters from the film in the music video for example Chris is featured in both as a kingpin. Moreover, As an act of moral panic, the way that the news companies portray the youth is a way to create moral panic. The London Riots was a form of moral panic as there was a lot of rebellious actions and a lot of injured people which cause the streets of London to call for serious action on penalties and precautions for those that tried to harm and those who were innocent. A moral panic that much of society is afraid of is that youths and youngsters will run the streets of London making it less safe and becoming more out of control however, this hasn't and is less likely to happen.