Email to Plan B

To Plan B,

For media me and my class have been watching and analysing your movie and the promotion you done around it such as your music videos. Personally I loved the movie and it was an eye opener and sort of made me grateful for what I have in life. Before you even made the movie I had been a fan of your music. I loved your lyrics and the narration you did over the Ill Manors movie. I think you’re an underrated artist and that you can go far not just in the music scene in the movie scene to. We were wondering as a class if you could come into our school one day and come talk to us about the movie as well as other stuff. It would benefit us in a way that we would be learning more about you and how and why you decided to make the movie and also I would love to meet you as you are a big artist in the rap game.

Thanks Manraj

Ill manors soundtrack reviews

"Ill Manors" was released as the album's lead single on 25 March 2012. The track was premiered by Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 on 27 February 2012. The music video was made available on 4 March 2012. The single was officially made available on 25 March 2012. Ill Manors peaked at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart on 1 April 2012.  The official music video contains footage of Plan B's spring forest tour, inter cut with footage of Jake's story from the ill Manors movie. After the release of the album, "Lost My Way" charted at number 121 on the UK Singles Chart from download sales.

"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.

Ill Manors song exam question

How is gender/ethnicity/age represented in the video?

Gender ethnicity and age are represented in the video in many ways and through theories too. First of all from the gender we do not see many females in the video, but when we do see them we see them causing chaos like all the males are. This could show that women are the more clever race in that they do not want to get involved in the craziness in which is going on or to a more stereotypical point of view in that men are the more superior race and goes onto the quote of Berger in that ‘men act women appear’. In that men have all the power and that in most music videos women are objectified and are sort of like one of the props and don’t really have a say. But at the same time relating it back to Plan B’s video it could also show that males are the more stupid race and crazy race as they are causing all this harm and chaos around the cities and that they are in gangs. There are different ethnicities involved within the video but the main are black and white people. Which brings me on to my next point of Medhurst theory in that stereotyping is shorthand for to identify something and more than likely is a negative point. Such as young teenagers who wear hoodies are in gangs and have nothing in life going for them which is highlighted in the music video in that everything bad is their fault and in the video sort of helps the stereotype go along but the lyrics differ to what the stereotype is of them. Cohen’s theory is also represented within the video in that these youths and people in so called gangs are folk devils in that they are good for nothing and that they more than likely cause chaos, in which Plan B tries to show, is not true. Finally the theory of Dyer shows to us that stereotypes can be exaggerated and target those with the least power and you could say that these people do have the least power due to the fact they are always picked on and are so called chavs.

In what way is the video typical of music videos and what values does it promote?

From the video you can see dominant features of music videos. You can see a dominant feature of a music video straight away in that a setting is introduced, but this could also be an alternative view in that the setting is not a good looking setting but a setting which is sort of like an estate and somewhere which wouldn’t appeal to many viewers. Another feature in where we can see that it is typical of music videos is that the editing is fast paced and switches from shot to shot a lot of times. There is no really narrative being shown within the video in which you would normally associate with music videos. It is a montage of editing due to this. Also like all videos the video as a meaning and a purpose behind it, like most videos it would be to entertain but in this video I also believe it is to inform people. I say this because I believe Plan B wants to inform the viewers of the stereotype these people come under and how hard it is for them to live under these stereotypes and not getting a chance like others would but also at the same time we can see that Plan B and the people within the video are sort of like celebrating the riots in some sort of sarcastic way. From the video you could say that it promotes negativity and violence due to the way the people are acting within the video but if you listen to the lyrics it is sort of contrapuntal to what we are watching apart from the main chorus in which I believe is parallel to the music. The contrapuntal sound is the lyrics in where Plan B raps about other stuff apart from negativity and saying how hard it is for them to be accepted by society.

Who does this text/artist appeal to and why?

I believe the text and video could appeal to a much wider target audience than many would believe. I believe the demographic group it would appeal to would be C1, C2, D, E as the D and E group could relate to this type of music video as it may be the life they are living so they can associate themselves with this type of video. However it also may look at groups such as B, C1 and C2 as it could show these viewers about their side (Plan B’s) of the story and how hard it is for them to actually live. By getting the viewpoint of someone like Plan B’s the viewers would believe he is trustworthy as Plan B is a music artist and has sold many singles and has a group of fans that are there for him. So obviously with Plan B being a big name artist people would want to watch his video and see what he has to say on this topic and how hard it is for them to live in these areas. Another reason would be that Plan B would show his side of the so called riots and stuff and not the views of newspapers that would make them to be seen as the so called folk devils and show a biased account of what has been happening. The psychographic group I believe the video would target are explorers, reformers and aspirers. I say explorers as they seek discovery and what an instant affect and this video would give you that as it is sort of like in your face especially the main lyrics with words such as ‘oi’ being said. They are also a more typically younger audience. I also say reformers as I believe they could relate to the video and the situations happening inside of it as they seek enlightenment. I would also say aspirers as they are materialistic and would like to see something different and this video shows that and again a more typically younger group. I also believe the video is an alternative to normal music videos in that is not glamorous and how normal videos would be set out.

Plan B Ted Talks

I believe Plan B’s believes and ideologies are that you should try and make a better life for yourself but do not forget where you came from. He shows this when he is talking about his movie in which he goes back to where he lived when he was younger and also by going to schools within that area to show that he hasn’t forgotten about them. He also believes that the word ‘chav’ has many different meanings and changed depending on how you have  been bought up, he doesn’t say this but the message I believe he tries to get across is don’t judge a book by its cover.

The demographic group I believe his Ted Talk was targeted at was more C1 and B. I say this as when they showed the crowd the crowd looked like they were mainly older and that they were part of the upper class and were mainly white too. I also believe the psychographic groups the ted talk was targeted at was mainly succeeders whose main skills are having strong goals and being confident and Plan B is trying to make these people believe and have strong goals in what they are trying to achieve. The other group I believe would be explorers who have energy as well as many other skills and this is another thing Plan B said in his ted talks.

Plan B basically said about the media in that they twist the truth and only tell the part of the story in which they would want to tell. He says this because he told a story from when he was filming and that the media only showed the bad parts and not the best part which was the good part. Which makes those people like him and that area seem bad and linking this to Cohen’s theory it shows them as the folk devil and that they are stereotyped as being no good and being a disturbance. He also says that people should give these people chances has no one has even tried with them, for e.g. a boy who tried out for his movie didn’t get the role but further on got a role in Top Boy successful TV show which shows that these people are talented.

Progress report

Work completed in last 7 days:
Shot list
Mis en scene
Story board
Script

Next steps:
Complete project schedule
Start filming by the 23/01/14

Responsibilities:
To complete the project schedule

Making of Ill Manors analysis

1) What does this tell us about Plan B's intentions in making the film?
From the making of Ill Manors I can see that Plan B's intentions on making the film were to show an unique view of East London. We see in many movies the glamorous and cartoonised views of London but Plan B wanted to show the other side of East London. He had his own clear vision on what he wanted to do and by doing so would express his own views which is called an Auteur. He also wanted to show that the storyline is similar to his own life in where it started off tough for him but then he became successful and wants to get this message across to the viewers. 

2) What do we learn about the production process for Ill Manors?
From the production process I found out that at first Ill Manors was set to be made as a song type of thing. Plan B then wanted to make a short movie out of it but got told not to as it wouldn't target a wide enough audience and that no one really watches short movies any more. So instead Plan B decided to make a documentary type of movie out of it and within 6 weeks sent a draft to a producer. The production of the movie was also very low budget in where they had to use real life people who weren't actors but were people who had experience of the street life. Also using places which were actual places for e.g. crack dens which were actually real crack dens.

3) What can you tell about the possible target audience from this short documentary?
From the short documentary I learnt that the possible target audience was wider than what most people thought it would be. Ed who was one of the actors within the movie believed that the target audience were not people who were involved in the riots but those who were not involved in the riots and they would get an insight to why these teenagers did riot in the first place. But then again it could also be targeted at those teenagers within the riots and these teenagers could then relate to the storyline. The storyline could be like some sort of message to the viewers and also like a lesson. They could be targeted at even the middle class and reformers who would want to see change. 

4) Does the film successfully do what director Ben Drew (Plan B) set out to achieve? Explain your answer with reference to both the film and the making of documentary.
I believe that Plan B achieved successfully what he wanted to achieve in that he got his message across which a representation of what he believed how East London should be set out and also within this got a good experience out of it. He got to show where he lived in Forrest Green. Within the making of the movie Plan B said that he didn't really know the right media terminology but his passion of wanting to direct got him through it and it did work off it in the end. This was proven by other people within the making of the movie as they believed Plan B's approach to making the movie was that he had a clear view of what he wanted and that nothing would get in his way. 'Not always black and white, they're in that position for a reason' is something else Plan B said within the making of Ill Manors in showing that there are different ways in which things can be shown and that is what Plan B tried to show by showing the rougher parts of London. 

Codes and conventions of ill manors trailer

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

·         Production logo/distribution logo

·         Plot summary

·         Voice over

·         Cast/credit/studio/information

·         Titles of movie

·         Stars shown often

2)      How are trailers distributed?

From what I have researched on how trailers are distributed I have found out that usually trailers are distributed by the same studios that produced them i.e. Warner Bros distributes Harry Potter films

3)      Ill manors uses trailer convention as they show a plot summary where many of the characters are introduced and there is also a suspense that is being built up. It also has a voice over which is also a song which is telling a story which is kind of different but still is a convention. The titles of the movie are also shown at the end of the sequence as well as quotes from newspapers which give a second hand opinion on the film which could persuade viewers to go watch the movie.

4)      I believe the target audience of this movie would be mainly teenagers but also a much wider audience. There is many USP’s in the trailer, one of them being in London so that many of the viewers can relate to it and is sort of like a lesson for them. Also another USP would be that Plan B who is a famous rapper is the narrator and by him having fans these fans who have a liking of his music would want to watch the movie, another fact being that he produced the movie.

5)      The genre has been presented in a kind of dull way in which you don’t see many colourful and happy things. The setting is in mainly rural parts of London which is mainly not in the city and places where you would find it hard to live. The music also adds something to it as the narrator’s voice is deep and it gives that edgy feeling of something going to happen. There are many different types of editing where you see shots being editing quickly so we don’t see something for longer than at least 5 seconds, this could be done to keep up the suspense within the trailer and not wanting to give so much away.