Ill Manors: Music Video ..

Ill Manors: Music Video ..

Research on The Ill Manors Tracks and Soundtrack Album .. 

Ill Manors is a soundtrack album by British musician and rapper Plan B it's a hip hop protest song. The sound track was released on 23rd July 2012 as the soundtrack to the film with the same name. Several songs were used in the film Ill Manors, some songs played on the film were actually completed after he release of the film. 

The record was mainly produced but Al Shux and Plan B and also features collaborations with Labrinth and others. Ill Manors debuted at number-one on the UK Album Charts and received positive reviews by critics. The album was then nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize. 

The film Ill manors was written as a "Hip hop protest song for the 21st century with mixed elements of both crime drama and music video sequences. Plan B from beginning wanted to narrate the film with a different song for each different story however some songs were written later such as Ill Manors.

The album would be released on May 7 through the American company Atlantic Records (a subsidiary of the Warner music group conglomerate). Ill Manor is a low budget film which was also directed by Plan B. 

The Telegraph says the soundtrack on a production level is "cutting edge" and on a lyrical level the lyrics are "brutally brilliant" and how it will melt your ears and your heart. Many other critics have good reviews but this one stood out because they say the lyrics will melt your ears and your heart, this all makes sense because a lot of the lryrics are strong such as "Get away with murder in the schools, use four letter swear words coz we're cool, w're all drinkers, drug takers every single on of us buns the herb, keep on believeing what you read in the papers council estate kids, scum of the earth". These lyrics are really strong and challenges dominant stereotypes, challenges what the media say about young kids who live in estates. 

The band made approximately 5,000 sales, According to the Official Charts Company Ill manors artist album has been placed on the top with the other really famous artist like Jennifer Lopez. So Plan B is on a maximum of 23k so far, hopefully looking at sales of 35k-40k.

Section A Styled Question ..

Media Forms: What techniques does the video use to establish the setting and engage the audience?

Ill Manors music video is really effective as a protest song, they use Mise-en-scene really well as the clothing they where are all hoodies and bandannas. You don't see them wearing suits, dressed smartly. The bandannas cover a lot of the persons face, the hoodies also cover their face but is baggy, this all connotes they want to cover their identify and might have something to hide. This all fit with how society see young teenagers. The setting which again is part of the Mise-en-scene is based in a east London estate, the fact that it's based in a estate and the songs based on the 2011 riots connotes the teenagers are to blame for the riots and all estate teenagers are bad. Also, the sound which in this case is the lyrics, they challenge stereotypes "Keep on believing what you read in the papers, council estate kids, scum of the earth" They challenge what the media think of them. As it's a protest song it would all make scene if they challenged society.

Media Representations: How is gender/ ethnicity/ age represented in the video?

Age is represented in this video because while your watching you only see teenagers and young kids who are the rebels, you don't see old wise men, or old ladies. This reinforces the dominant representation that all teenagers are trouble and cause problems. Then you see around two girls and the rest are boys which again reinforces the representations that the media create about teenage boys. The media over exaggerate which creates "moral panic" which basically means the society start to panic and fear the younger aged group and teenagers. Many of the teenagers are represented in hoodies whereas someone like David Cameron who is dressed in a suit and looks smart is a binary opposite of how different statuses and backgrounds are represented in society. You see all the drug dealers which are all men, this again shows how men are shown to be more involved and women just get dragged in. Then the ethnicity, when watching the video you see Plan B who is the main guy then lots of back people, mainly black people. This connotes the dominant representation of black people, Plan B use the black people really effectively to draw attention on the stereotypes about black people which is that they cause problems, he challenges those stereotypes by showing both black and white people causing the problems.

Media Institutions: In what ways is the video typical of music videos and what values does it promote?

This video is typical for a music video as it has the fast cuts which make it more live and entertaining, quick editing which cuts from the riots to them and Plan B singing, the actual content of the video shows it's a music video with the people going crazy, fighting and the two little boys dancing in the front, and obviously the main person who is Plan B who is a rapper. Also, in the beginning of the video it has that parental logo which used for many music video and at the end it has the copy right and says warner music which again shows it's a typical music video. The video values promote Anti-government as it;s a protest song and they don't like David Cameron as shown in the video, support for the working class as many people who live in estates would be from the working class and lower, they have counter hegemonic ideas that basically mean they're against the rich and need more equality in society. I think all this negativity comes from the reaction towards what the media say about them because, like I mentioned above the media does over exaggerate which makes the teenagers angry because it's not all true.  

Media Audience: Who does this text/ artist appeal to and why? 

The demographics of Ill Manors music video I think is around group D / E as it appeals to more of the working class and people who live on estates, ones who can't afford a better life. The age group would obviously be for teenagers as it's about the riots that many teenagers caused. The video it self shows teenagers and younger, not grown up men or women. As it's many boys in the video, you would think it appeals more to men however, many girls would be attracted because there is some girls but also because some boys in the video are attractive thus, pulling a womanly audience; especially girls who like the "bad boy" look. This video appeals to a wider audience, ethnicity wise it appeals to both black and white people because the video contains both races however it doesn't have Asians, but would still attract them as they might feel pressure from friends to be like that, they themselves might want to be like that. People who also desire, or dream about a different life they could live, a more exciting and entertaining life, escapism. They want to escape into a different life, away from theirs which might be overwhelming and too much to handle.