Ill Manors Trailer Analysis

What are the typical codes and conventions of film trailers - what information is usually provided? 

The Ill Manors film trailer is very important to the target audience as it has important details and information about the film, as the trailer is two minutes there is essential time to fit all the information in for the audience to be attracted to the film. As a trailer there should be intuitions such as the characters/stars names, distributor, director, editors, release date etc., all these key codes and conventions are very important to the audience as they would like to know what type of film they are going to watch, furthermore to have a small idea of what the film is going to be about giving them enigma codes about the film, making them want to watch it. The institutions are normally screened at the end of a trailer so that the audience remember the information such as the release date. At the end of the trailer they provide the audience a website address for the audience to explore information about the film 'Ill Manors' as they would like to see if the film is worthy to watch in cinemas, moreover they website promotes the film by extra information such as Ben Drew's soundtrack which relates to the film, this could create a larger audience involving music.

How are trailers distributed?

Trailers are usually distributed by studios that help companies making films fund for the film, so that they can make a film successful. An example of a distributed studio would be Revolver Entertainment, this distributor was used to help make Ill Manors, although this film is a low budget project, the distributor has worked with many low budget films which have become successful therefore worked with Plan B (Ben Drew). Trailers are normally seen in cinemas before a film starts this is to entertain and inform audiences of what other films are possibly on and they are interested in. Furthermore social websites and websites that entertain audiences such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Daily-motion are all websites that information is very crucial as it gets passed around very quickly making it more noticeable. So for an example if Ill Manors was to be posted up on Twitter people would start sharing the post making it more popular therefore an larger audience would be aware of the film so they would watch it in cinemas.

How does Ill Manors use trailer conventions?

Throughout the whole trailer non diegetic sound is used which is the voice over by Plan B (Ben Drew), the voice over used in the trailer is very effective as the audience don't see who is talking however would know it is the director which is Ben Drew. The trailer shows multi strand narrative as there are number of characters introduced, as the trailer continues the pace of the edits increase as tension and enigma codes are created by the audience as they would want to know what is going to happen and conveying excitement for the audience. The non diegetic music used in the background clearly represents the urban genre which appeals to young youths which is the intended audience for this film, the soundtrack is also featured in the film which is produced by Plan B himself the director to Ill Manors therefore they would have an large audience to appeal to the film. The title Ill Manors and release date is shown towards the end of the trailer as it is important information to the audience so they remember. The title is hard hitting bold which is hard to miss as it is the main focus in the screen, it also reflects the genre of the film suggesting it is about serious crime and drama, the title hooks the audiences attention and keeps them engaged by the typography.

Who is the target audience? Does it have a unique selling point or use particular techniques to appeal to the audience? Consider the way the scenes are edited together – does the trailer give away any clues about the narrative? Are the main stars visible in the trailer? Is there information about the director of the film? Is there information about the release date? Is a narrator’s voice-over used?

I think Ill Manors target audience is aimed at young youths and adults from 18-32 as the film contains elements of strong violence, drug use and sexual scenes which would be appropriate for audiences over 18 of age. Moreover I think the film would be engaged to males more due to the extreme content of sex, violence, language and drugs which would appeal more to males than females additionally the urban soundtrack also relates to the male audience more than females as they would listen to that type of genre more whereas females would like to listen to RnB, soul, hip hop etc. Watching the trailer I think the psychographic group would be appropriate for this film would be strugglers, hence strugglers seek escape which totally relates to the film as the characters in the film are living in a hard life style seeking for escape since childhood. Furthermore the narrative portrayed in the trailer reflects to the directors live who is Plan B, he shows the audiences giving them an understanding of how young youths are portrayed in the world as 'chavs' who live in council estates however show the negative representation towards young adults and their behaviour of living in a rough neighbour hood. The fast pace of the edits towards the end of the trailer suggests the fast paced lives of the characters in the trailer shower how each of them have problems in life and are trying to sort it out, this is effective as the audience see these characters in an multi strand narrative making them have enigma codes of what's going to happen to them. Lastly the title Ill Manors and release date is shown towards the end of the trailer as it is important information to the audience so they remember. The title is hard hitting bold which is hard to miss as it is the main focus in the screen, it also reflects the genre of the film suggesting it is about serious crime and drama, the title hooks the audiences attention and keeps them engaged by the typography.

How has the genre of the film been represented through characters, settings, lighting, colour, music, camera shots/movements/angles and editing?
The genre of Ill Manors is a teen urban crime drama, the audience can see this by the representation of the characters, setting and camera works used. The setting of the film is based around a council estate in London  which shows the characters are a low demographic class of D and E audiences, the characters are portrayed wearing hoodies, track suit bottoms, caps, these types of clothing gives the audience that the film is associated with urban drama and young adults. The lighting is mostly dim/bright to show the characters, also to keep the scenes mysterious as the characters are up to something bad such as the drug use. The camera movement focuses on the different characters and their problems in multi stranded narratives as the audience need to be engaged and follow what is happening to each main character. 

Ill Manors Film Research

Research all the institutions involved in the production of Ill Manors. List them with a summary of what their contribution to the film was. 

Ill Manors was filmed in Forest Gate, London directed and written by Ben Drew and was distributed by Revolver Entertainment. Ill Manors was funded by three studios the Film London Microwave, BBC Films, and Aimimage, Drew was only 21 years old when started writing his first script. The film Ill Manors took three years prior to filming, it is based upon actual events and stories that Drew heard when he was young who also used to live in an estate. Drew struggled at first to secure finance for the film and eventually his film was at production in 2009.The production involved producer Atif Ghani, cinematography by Gary Shaw, and editors for the film by David Freeman, Hugh Williams, Sortira Kyriacou, and Farah Drabu. The man characters of the film were Riz Ahmed, Ed Skrein, Keith Coggins, Lee Allen, Nick Sagar, Ryan De La Cruz, Anouska Mond and Nathalie Press, who each play a core role in the film and their violence, as they struggle to survive on the streets. 

How much Ill Manors cost to produce (its budget).
Ill Manors was produced with a budget of £100,000, the film raised £453,570 in the UK box office.

How was Ill Manors Funded?
The film was funded by three studios called Film London Microwave, BBC Films and Aimimage. Film London Microwave was part of the Ill Manors production in 2009. The BBC films and Aimimage studios were known for the low budget British film making companies.

What is the targeted audience for Ill Manors?
The certificate of Ill Manors is 18 therefore the film would have swearing, violence, sexual content, hence the audience that would be suitable for this film would be young adults (18-34). The film focuses on eight main characters who have problems in life, living in a rough estate however the audien
ce targeted would relate to the characters as the characters are young adults too (dominent).

Who is the main distributor for Ill Manors?
The main distributor of Ill Manors is by Revolver Entertainment. In order to raise funds for Ben Drew's fil. the distribution rights to Ill Manors were sold to Revolver Entertainment in April 2011. Revolver Entertainment is located in both London and Los Angeles, the company was founded in 1997 and has released independent films also documentaires.

How was Ill Manors promoted?
Ill Manors was promoted on The Guardian's website on 3rd May 2012 for its firat trailer and unveiled by Empire Magazine's website on 8th May 2012 for the first Ill Manors film poster. Furthermore Digital Spy also promoted Drew's film by two other film posters on the 18th May and 7th June 2012. The premiere of Ill Manors was on the 30th May 2012 in London and wide released to 191cinemas in the UK and Republic of Ireland. 

Compare this with a big budge blockbuster. What are the main similarities and differences?

I have chosen ‘Skyfall’ a big budget blockbuster to compare ‘Ill Manors’ which is a low budget film. ‘Skyfall’ is the twenty-third James Bond film to be very successful and known worldwide, alongside theme songs by famous artists such as Adele, Alicia Keys and many more. The film is an action packed adventure film with a budget of $150 - $200 million which raised in the Box office to $951,323,067, whereas ‘Ill Manors’ budget was much less £100,00 which raised to £453,570 in the Box office. 

The similarities between ‘Skyfall’ and ‘Ill manors’ are that they both contain violence and some of the same props such as a gun, both films connotes danger and realism however ‘Ill Manors’ is a film that highlights lives of individuals who have been brought up in dangerous neglected areas during childhood. Both films create enigma codes which engage the audience and make them think what is going to happen next as they are curious and want to find out. Moreover there are differences between these films firstly by the budget of the films are very different, ‘Ill Manors’ was produced with a low budget funding as it was an project by Ben Drew who is a music artist therefore companies didn't want to fund him, as they thought the film would not be successful however ‘Skyfall’ has a big budget due to the props, settings, characters and many more (mise en scene) as companies know that a James Bond film will be successful they funded a lot of money to the film to be very attractive to the audience therefore they would watch it. Furthermore the characters featured in ‘Skyfall’ are much more popular known actors well known to the industry, the audience are aware of these characters as they have see them before in other blockbusters, however ‘Ill Manors’ have new characters who are new to the film industry giving them an opportunity to show their skills of acting therefore the audience don’t know these characters very well and would not be aware of the film as much as ‘Skyfall’. Lastly ‘Ill Manors’ have strong content of drug use, swearing and sexual scenes whereas ‘Skyfall’ has much more action packed scenes such as car chases, explosions etc.

How does the trailer for Ill Manors hook audiences into the narrative and pose questions that the film will answer? Identify 3 ways/techniques?

Ill Manors hooks the audience attention into the narrative and pose questions that the film will answer is because the Ill Manors trailer uses many techniques to keep the audience assumed and to create enigma codes for them to watch it. The trailer strongly portrays lives of young youths living in council estate whose lives are hard due to living and growing up around violence and drugs. This film relates to normal people lives which connects to the audience making them realise and feel sympathy for young youths also it creates realism of the daily events that happen. Ill Manors trailer uses effective non-diegetic and diegetic music to engage the audience the voice over of Ben Drew (Plan B) is very effective as he explains the narrative of the story by rapping the words, Drew is an artist known for his rapping therefore the audience will be aware it is him and he is promoting the film by his soundtrack, furthermore it lets the audience know that Drew’s life also reflects to him and the film as he was growing up. The rapping of Plan B relates to a much younger audience as they would listen to grime music therefore the target audience I think are teenagers and adults. The text used in the trailer attracts the audience’s attention as it is hard bold, stands out which suggests it is the main focus therefore we would read it. The text also explains the narrative of the film alongside with Plan B’s lyrics, the non-diegetic music matches the fast past edits towards the end creating tension and enigma code to the audience as there are events from the film cut into quick edits into the trailer to make the audience also have an idea of the film would e about. Overall at the end of the trailer the release date was shown in a large white font with a black background to make the audience remember the date it would be coming out and to watch it.

Think about the certificate of Ill Manors (18 certificate). Research film certification and outline what is deemed acceptable for this certificate. What is the difference between a 15 certificate and an 18 certificate?

A 15 certificate involves strong violence and language but not a lot is shown, drug use is allowed however it must not be promoted or encourage drug to be taken. Any sexual context is allowed but if sexual violence is involved it must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification. An 18 certificate film would have very strong violence and language which is likely to be continuous in an 18 certificate film, also strong sexual activity/context is likely to be shown. Gruesome, strong blood scenes and real sex, crude and explicit sex references are permitted. Overall Ill Manors would be an 18 certificate as it contains context from an 18 certificate such as violence, strong language and real sex references therefore would be suitable for audiences who are 18 and above.

Preliminary Exercise (Murder) Evaluation

My preliminary exercise was to produce a short opening of a character opening a door who sits on a chair opposite to another character who then have a conversation. Furthermore, enable to do this brief we had to involve three main shots/edits for our opening to be successful, which were match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule. I worked with Gagan and Navneet who both were committed to the brief, as well as working in a group sharing amazing ideas. We planned ideas which were interesting and brought 'Murder' as our exercise which I think was excellent, hence we followed the brief and was suitable for our first piece of media coursework. 

Gagan, Navneet and I, did lots of planning such as our roles, what the narrative could be about?, characters involved, setting and many more. As a group we managed to share out the work efficiently  it also gave us gain new skills from one another.The narrative to 'Murder' is about a teenage girl who is played by Gagan, and her best friend who is played by me (Anita). The setting of the short opening is in a school canteen were Gagan walks down the stairs and enters the canteen to talk to me (this is when we used the match on action shot and the continuous editing). She walks over to me in shock and is very scared this scene would create enigma code to cause tension and make the audience focus on Gagan's facial and body expression using long and medium shots. Gagan and I then share conversation (180 degree rule) but do not reveal what is happening leaving the audience with a cliff-hanger. 

The title is established at the ending with a fade out transition for effect also started the opening with a fade in transition. Furthermore we recorded many shots and scenes possible so we have a variety of ideas to choose from when we could edit which was useful although camera shots/movement wasn't mentioned in the brief we decided these techniques were important for effect and for the audiences entertainment. Navneet played the role of the camera, capturing our scenes which we did about three times for each scene. Navneet did a great job as it was her first time and learnt new skills from me and Gagan. Before filming our exercise Navneet created a storyboard about the narrative which was very useful as it gave us a clear understanding of our idea. Moreover I completed a shots list of all the possible shots involved in our opening, this was also useful as it helped us make sure we included all the important shots such as close ups and more.

The weaknesses about our short opening was mainly the audio which became a huge problem to some of the other groups, this was because the setting of our scene which was the canteen was very noisy as care takers were cleaning up which made the Dialogue very hard to hear throughout the whole opening. Also one of our shots of the door closing behind Gagan after she walks into the canteen, was quite long, this was spotted when the class shared their opinions about our work, therefore to make it better we could cut some of the scene to make it shorter and look better. Moreover about the audio we could next time work at a quieter setting or timing to make our coursework better.

The strengths of our short opening was mine ans Gagan's acting which I think we did impressively as we don't do drama, this would make the audience connect with our emotions. We created enigma code and attracted the audience attention as we don't tell them what has happened, the use of camera shot made was very effective as the audience are amused and would have many questions. We used close ups, medium shots and couple of long long shots and finally a tracking shot, we also managed to use the match on action and continuous edit which was presented very clearly and suited the narrative. Watching our exercise and comparing to other groups, I think we have all done well for our first brief and enables us to learn from our mistakes, also learn new ideas and skills.

Overall I think my group have worked exceptionally hard as we have followed the brief and communicated very hard to get it completed within one week. This exercise has given me an idea of how hard and time efficiency would be, hence you would need a good group to share out the planning and ideas. Furthermore doing this exercise makes me more confident as an individual, also as a group we can learn from the mistakes and learn better skills for our next Mest 2 coursework.

Ill Manors Music Video

Ill Manors is a low budget British crime drama film which was written and directed by Plan B (Ben Drew). The film was produced by Atif Ghani, it features Riz Ahmed, Ed Skrein, Keith Coggins, Lee Allen, Nick Sagar, Ryan De La Cruz, Ahouska Mond and Nathalie Press. The film was distributed by Revolver Entertainment and three studio's called Film London Microwave, BBC Films, and Aimimage. Ill Manors was released on the 6th June 2012, a budget of £100,000, which raised to £453,570 in the UK box office. The film is set in Forest Gate, London which focuses on the lives of eight characters mentioned above, the director Plan B (Ben Drew) has six original songs which connects with the narrative of the film.
Plan B's soundtrack album was recorded during 2011-2012 in the UK at Edge recording studio and the Sanctuary, the album was released after the film 'Ill Manors' on the 23rd July 2012. The producer of the album include Plan B, Al Shux, Eric Appapoulay, David McEwan, 16 Bit, Labrinth and Saul Milton. Some of the recordings were featured in the film which were called Ill Manors, Lost My Way, Deepest Shame and Playing With Fire. The album had debuted at number one in the UK album charts and received positive reviews by critics which promoted the actual film too.

Media Forms:
In the music video 'Ill Manors' establishes the setting and engages the target audience which are teenagers. The music video uses fast pace edits and intimidating scenes were you see young teenagers robbing from people, setting cars on fire and smoking, this representation gives teenagers a negative stereotype making other audiences such as the elderly think teenagers are bad and dangerous  Furthermore Plan B has used meaningful lyrics which relate to the teenage demographic audience, moreover it is more likely for this target audience to listen to this type of music which is called grime/rap genre. The shots used in the music video such as long/medium shots establish the setting of the music video which is a rough estate, the setting of the music video may also consider that Plan B has also used the same setting for his film too called 'Ill Manors' making the audience create an idea of the film.

Media Representations:
Gender, ethnicity and age are represented strongly in this music video, it shows a dominant reading to other age groups about the stereotypes towards young teenagers. The gender most represented in this video are young teenager boys/men they are shown as violent, dominant characters which give a negative stereotype to others making them think all teenage boys and men are dangerous. However there are some females used in the video but not shown as much as the males, they seem to be following the male characters which Plan B has intended to do by purpose, reminding the audience that the males are in control. I think the ethnicity and age shown in this music video are white, black, and mix who are young teenagers/adults (16-24), Plan B has used this target audience as the film is based upon the London riots which involved many young teenagers.

Media Institusions:
Plan B released this music video as a protest video to create awareness as estate people are never heard they are most known for thugs, violent and bad behaved people, this is a stereotype as class demographic A and B would think this as they are upper class, wealthy with a good job to keep their lives/families stable whereas the class demographics D and E are described negatively hence they live in a council estate, unemployed or still at school. Plan B himself grew up in a council estate before he became noticed in the music industry therefore he knows how these young people in council estates feel as they are not heard to the public but discriminated as negative people.

Media Audiences:
I think the demographic D and E group would relate to this music video as unemployed, young teenagers who go to school are portrayed in the video. The video shows us teenagers being violent and established in a council estate area making us think they are in the struggler, reformers group of the psycho-graphical group who are not very successful in life and struggle to be heard. Moreover I think this because this group is mostly targeted in the news and modern lives as there many incidents and crimes happening who seem to be young teenagers who can relate to the music video as it is about them overall wanting to be heard.

Mest 2 Initial Thoughts

Me, Navneet and Gagan N are working together for our media coursework to produce a fiction product and print ad campaign. We will be filming a two minute opening sequence of our Tv programme and it will be a hybrid of 'Waterloo Road' and 'Misfits'. This is because, Misfits is a E4 programme and the whole brief is about targeting E4's demographic (15-35) therefore Misfits would be appropiate when we are producing our final product.

Tv Programme Ideas

· Friends

· Misfits

· Waterloo Road

· One Tree Hill