Music video research

The film Ill Manors was written as a "hip hop musical for the twenty-first century” merging elements of both crime drama in a music video. Plan B had always intended to narrate the film with a different song for each the six stories however some songs were written later, such as "Ill Manors." As a result of his success of "The Defamation of Strickland Banks," Plan B went on tour for two years  after the production of the film and the recording of the album was not completed until 2012.

"Ill Manors" was released as the album's lead single on 25 March 2012. The music video was made available on 4 March 2012. The single was officially made available on 25 March 2012 Ill Manors hit the charts at number 6.  The track was also made available as a free download on pre-order of the deluxe edition of the album.  "Deepest Shame" was released as the third single from the album, on 9 September 2012. The video for the track premiered on 6 August 2012. The video features Anouska Mond, who plays Michelle in ill Manors. The track has thus far peaked on the UK Singles Chart at No. 17, following the release of an EP of remixes. "Playing with Fire" was released as the fourth single from the album, on 3 December 2012. The track features vocals from producer and vocalist Labrinth. An animated video for the track premiered in July 2012, prior to the release of the album. The official video will reportedly premiere towards the end of September. The track's release as a single was confirmed by Labrinth at T4 on the Beach.

Progress report 30th Jan

Group WWW:-
Started planning our films
EBI:-
We need to start filming and editing
Individual WWW:-
I have finished my pre production and planned my double paged spread.
EBI:-
We need to start filming by the weekend.
Next Steps:-
Start filming and finish the double page spread

Filming dates are:
2nd 3rd 4th of Feb

Plan B TEDx

1.      Plan B’s beliefs are beliefs of disappointment of the main people in England like the government and influential people in England. He thinks that those people haven’t put any effort in trying to transform the youths of today and haven’t given them any outlets of their bad lives they are living in. He believes that we can all give back to the youth of today, whether it is a skill set or just another outlook on life. His values are doing well for yourselves but also help other people that are less fortunate than yourself.  He also believes that the using the word “CHAV” is as bad as using racist abuse as it is a derogatory term used for working classed white youth, which is unfair as they were born into that lifestyle. 

The target audience for the TEDx lecture is white middle classed people in business that are able to give the youth a chance. This would be C2 and B category because C2 are blue collared workers who can give chances like pluming to the youth of England, also C1 type people have qualifications which brings in opportunity and opportunity to give to youth. I think the psychographic groups he is relating to are succeeders, mainstreamers and reformers. This is because succeeders would give something for them to aspire to; the mainstreamers are “normal people” which the youths may aspire to be like. Reformers would relish this opportunity to do something different.

3.      Plan B says the media twist the words of people and just care about the story that will get them money and not the truth. This is shown when he tells the audience the situation that happened when he nearly got turfed from a place he was filming. 
This can be linked back to Cohen’s media theory of moral panic because the media through their negativity have made the public scared and nervous and they see the youth as a threat 

Trailer Ill manors

Trailers are used to persuade people to watch a film. It gives the audience a look into the characters playing what roles and it also gives a bit if action to keep us wanting more. It also shows the credits of the people who have had a part to play in the film. Lastly it shows the day its out in the cinema.

Normally trailers are distributed by the studio that made the film. Like “Revolver” distributed “Ill Manors.” It can been shown on websites like “youtube.com” or been shown on adverts. Normally the long versions are on the websites.

Ill manors use conventions such as voice overs via rapping during the film, it also gives a plot summary of the film, the drugs money and power are all shown in the trailer which again makes the audience intrigued by the movie and makes them want to watch it.

 The audience is for youth from about 15- 35 even though the age rating was an 18. It is about the life that a lot of youth find interesting so they would watch it also it is targeted at C1-E psychographs as that is low middle and working class people. The unique selling point is the gritty raw personality of London as an area. Also the jargon used by Plan B makes it appeal to youth. The actors in it are not really people we know like Idris Alba or Asher D due to the low budget of the film.  The narrator’s voice is over-used to make us realise it is his film and he made it. The director is Ben Drew or known to us as Plan B and once the trailers shows that it brings an increase demand for the people wanting to watch the film.

The genre of the film is a British urban drama based in London, so I thought it could maybe be about something like Adulthood, Top Boy, and Bullet Boy etc. I was expecting fighting, war, drugs and money. I think I was right because Ill Manors was just like the other films made by Noel Clarke. The mood was an eerie mood because it always seemed dark. The slow rapping kind of like poetry made the tension increase throughout the movie.  The characters show that known proper actors can’t play the role of street boys when they are not from the street.

Progress report 2

Things completed in the last 7 days:-

•  Script 
• Mise- En-Scene
• Story board 
• Project schedule

Next steps:

• Shot List 
• Filming 
• Editing 

Responsibilities:

• Filming 
• Editing
• Acting 
• Print work. 

ILL Manors- the making

1. Plan B's intentions of making the film was to showcase how London is to youth growing up on the streets, to other people such as middle class people.

2. The production was a very long process due to the lack of funds available to Ben Drew and the cast. it started out as a music video and then went to a short film, it got enough recognition for Drew to make it into a movie that was 2 hours long.

3. Possible target audience varies, some may say the target audience is youth and teens that are quite violent and criminals, but another representation is that middle class people need to see the real side of youth in London and not a cartoonised version of it which is often shown.

4. The film is successful in showing what it is wanted, such as the place London is and how drugs,money and power does to people in London. The film is authentic, personal and imaginative. Also, as a low budget film, it made it more real as they did not have enough money to pay for actors which meant they used real people, that are growing up in modern day London.

MEST 2 Progress Report- 16th January

Work Completed since 6^th of January

I have found props and a location that we can use for the film and now we are trying to narrow down out of a few possibilities.

Also the costuming has been chosen for different scenes (smart casual for one scene and casual for another).

We have a selection of props like a gun, car, phones and music.

I have also started my first draft of the script which needs some more work.

Incomplete task

Final script

Project schedule

Finding the optimum location for our scenes

Next Steps/ Action Plans

Finish all pre-production on Monday 20^thof January.

Date filming will be done

3^rd of February

Date editing will be done

14^th of February 

Institution

E4 is a TV channel branched off channel 4 in 2001. The “E” stands for entertainment meaning the focus age group is 15-35 (youth). It broadcast shows like The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother. It shows a lot of comedies, sit coms, reality TV and drama aimed at youth. They show both US and UK programmes like Made in Chelsea and Misfits. In September 2012 E4 attracted more people in its history. It is watched by 9 million people a month more than BBC3 and Sky 1.

BBC 3 is another TV channel made by the BBC. Again, it is for 15-35 year olds. BBC normally broadcast UK TV, such as Russell Howards Good News and Eastenders repat. The type of genre of BBC3 varies as there is sport, drama, urban drama, comedy and more. This means it attracted most youth in the spectrum for one way or another. BBC thought that they needed another Channel to be a bit more “urban” and that’s where BBC3 came in. It was broadcasted in February 2003.

My target audience is 15- 30 year olds but I expect a majority viewing from 15-21 year olds. It would be broadcasted on a Thursday due to Champions League being on Tuesday and Wednesday. The groups I have targeted are C1, C2, and E. the physcographic group I am going to target are the strugglers, reformers and explorers. This is because the show is new and urban. It is pre-watershed, even though it has moderate violence and drug references and no use. I hope I can get a lot of the top boy and youngers viewers as they are quite alike although this show will be quite sophisticated.

During our focus group, we spoke about our narrative idea, which was a “sophisticated top boy” aimed at 15-21 year old boys and a few girls. The topics would be about money, violence and the opposite sex.

We based our programme on the streets of London town, and the things that happen in youth society in London. The drugs, the clothes, the girls, the fights, the love and the hate.  Although we do not have the names of the characters, we have the personalities they portray. One of them is a street smart sophisticated guy who is not into violence but is about his money the other one is a funny character to show a bit of light heartedness in the pre- watershed show.  Humera asked “how is the smart character “smart”?” This made me realise that out characters need to have an identity that allows the audience to understand who he is and what he stands for.

The location would be set in Ladbroke Grove area just to show a darker representation of London.  

ill manors review

Ill Manors Review

“Ill Manors” was directed by Ben Drew or Plan B to most of us. He is a rapper singer known by the track “She Said” he also played a part in Adulthood, Harry Brown, 4.3.2.1 and The Sweeny. Although he directed Ill Manors, he also played the role of the cab driver, which took the main character away from the hood which was a smart move on his part. Also Plan B was also rapping throughout the story line which made it seem like his own movie. For a low budget film the directing was top notch, which made us now look at Ben Drew as a serious director.

Riz Ahmed plays Aaron, a teen who has grown up in a care home, throughout the film it looked like he didn’t have his own mind until he found the baby on the train aborted by Kata, played by Natile Press, an eastern European who is forced to be a sex object and tries to run away from that life. Ed Skrein plays Ed another youth that comes out of a care home. He doesn’t use his brain a lot and is very rushed into making decisions. To be fair, they are all pretty decent actors, but not at the quality of Asher D and Kano and far Idris Alba.

The characters were in abundance and did their job, because Marcel’s gang looked like a proper gang that a lot of people on the road would think it was a real gang. Also the extras like the ones at the pub made the movie look more realistic and something that could happen in real life.

The plot is about 4 drug dealers who all get involved in their respective problems, but different dealers deal with it differently. There are also fiend’s who need their quick fix of crack and will go to any lengths to get it, whether it is killing, stealing or selling their bodies to men. Also, joining gangs to look good, until it all goes up in flames, literally. The plot is mainly what money drugs and power can do to people in a nut shell. The streets of London are also a major part in this film as it is based in London, Ghetto London.

The genre of the film is a British urban drama based in London, so I thought it could maybe be about something like Adulthood, Top Boy, and Bullet Boy etc. I was expecting fighting, war, drugs and money. I think I was right because Ill Manors was just like the other films made by Noel Clarke. The mood was an eerie mood because it always seemed dark. The slow rapping kind of like poetry made the tension increase throughout the movie.

The sound track was mostly Plan B rapping about the story and lives of the characters, this worked well due to crazy lives of every single one of the main characters, also there were no mainstream songs on the movie to show it is not a movie for the light hearted. The music was non diegetic for most of the movie if not all of it, but the music was parallel as it was dark music just like the movie. The music was also quite a bit of “gangsta” music due to the contents of the movie and the things the characters were embarking on. I was expecting this type of music because most of the British urban dramas have that type of sound track. Like Adulthood, Ill Manors have a sound track available to download and listen to.

The audience is for youth from about 15- 35 even though the age rating was an 18. It is about the life that a lot of youth find interesting so they would watch it also it is targeted at C1-E psychographs as that is low middle and working class people.

I would recommend it for people who understand how it is to be in the predicament of some of the people there or people who are interested about that life.  It could also be used as a deterrent for people who want to be in that life because they think it is cool.