videoPlan B 'First Past The Post' by BlokWith the UK general election in a matter of days, Paul Casey and Richard Jobson - aka Blok - have created the music video for Plan B’s First Past the Post, to get the message across in a track that aims to explain a part of the voting system that few fully understand, and ram home the point that every vote counts - if you vote tactically.Ben Drew (aka Plan B) wrote and recorded the track in a matter of days just a few weeks ago, to talk about a voting system that he himself has only recently investigated (see below) and what he thinks this election is really about - Brexit, of course. Drew wants to mobilise young voters into participating in the general election on December 12th and having their voice heard.But that gave Casey and Jobson just a week to take the concept - and visualize the various discussion points in Drew's lyrics - through production, post and delivery. Remarkably, they have achieved their goal with a video that illustrates those points through a rapidfire mix of fake newscasts, dramatic sequences, political satire (where Drew plays a cynical politico of undetermined affiliation), info-graphics, and Plan B's own raw and hard-hitting performance. One of Drew's main themes - that's arguably been underreported in mainstream media - is that Brexit has made this election a conflict between generations, with Britain's older generation looking to the past, and thereby jeopardizing the younger generation's future. Blok make this a crucial part of the video, with symbolism of a domestic argument over dinner where a dining room table splits apart - Paul Casey says he has drawn that from personal experience - and Drew's preferred solution out of our national mess comes through loud and clear. It ends on perhaps the most incendiary image of all - an old lady holding a Your Vote Matters mug sticking two fingers at the camera. Expect to see that a few times between now and Thursday.Blok have a history of working directly with artists, with their recent films for Novelist No Weapons, as well as Meridian Dan's Vegan Chat. But they have achieved something really special here - a video with a short lifespan but with the potential to have a real, longterm impact.
David Knight - 9th Dec 2019