Ill Manors: Research ..

Ill Manors: TEDx Lecture and Website ..

1) What are Plan B's beliefs/politics? What are his values/ideologies? Explain.

Plan B (Ben Drew), shows in his interview that he actually is a really nice man, he stand up for whats right and hates politics. Plan B had strong beliefs, he believes all youths aren't actually bad, they've just had a really bad life, they haven't been brought up the right way with the right support and guidance. He believes the youths are really just mis-understood and that they can be nice kids once given a try. Plan B himself was neglected when he was a teenager, kicked out of school's and wasn't accepted in any other school thus becoming negative towards people and not listening to adults. He had no guidance as a young teen and raised himself through music, hence the reason why he values music so much because they guided him with  the lyrics of rappers that he liked and looked up to, the rappers he didn't know were his role models.  

2) Who is the target audience of the TEDx lecture? Demographics? Psychographics? How do you know? How does this compare to the audience for his music/films?

Considering the TEDx lecture was shown on "The Guardian" as they claim to have an audience of financially aware individuals with high income which is reflected in his articles about the economy and current finances. Thus connotes that the target audience would be more of the upper class, for demographics it's more of the A/B social economic group as it's higher management such as banker, lawyers, doctors and etc. Also, B contains teachers, creative and media people etc. Psychographics, more of the Aspirers as they seek status and Mainstreamers as they seem more of the rich group. With an audience that supposedly has an income double the amount of a normal payed person they try advertising their news papers in expensive shopping malls, near expensive and well known stores. 

From the audience of the music video and film which are more low class, for demographics they would fit in the D/E group as they are unskilled manual workers or unemployed. Psychographics, they would fit in the Strugglers and Reformers as they seek escapism or enlightenment, freedom of restriction and personal growth. The audience of the music video is completely different to the audience of The Guardian because as I mentioned above, the audience for the music video and film are of a lower status, they don't have the same goals as people who are of a higher class. Each group view society differently, the audience for the film are anti government as they hate the government, they feel alienated from society whereas the higher class are happy with the government as long as everything works for them at the end of the day, they're the ones who make up the society.  

3) What does Plan B say about the media? Explain how this can be linked to Cohen's media theory of moral panics?

Plan B says the media demonized the youth, because the media portrays the youth in a negative way, a lot of the elderly and adults have a mis-conception about teenagers and young adults. The media called teenagers "chavs", December 2004 in national newspapers the word "chav" was used 114 times by many people, the word "chav" used to have a different meaning however now because the media use it in a negative way so often its become a word of insult. The government and police also treat teenagers in a negative way but the media create moral panic which is an intense feeling made by a group of people about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. Stanley Cohen (theorist) came up with this theory after the incidents in the 1960. Stanley Cohen believes the media makes the problems sound even worse than it actually is which is called amplification.

Ill Manors Website ..

Ill Manors Website

On the top of the website it's written "ON BLU-RAY, DVD, DOWNLOAD AND ON-DEMAND NOW” in big bold white letters underneath a plain black back ground which I think is a really good way to attract the audience into buying the products. It's placed on the top which means the producers want that to be the first thing the audience see which all makes scene because buying the product means making more money. Also, a variety of ways to watch the film also attracts the audience because not everyone can buy the film so maybe downloading it would work better for them thus creating a selection of choices for the audience, therefore creating a much world wide audience. 

On the side of the website they've made a banner which the title of the film and the directors name Ben Drew, but they've also put the name "Plan B" which is cross promoting (synergy) using his music career to promote the film and using the film to promote his music career. Underneath are the buttons that you can click on which will then take you through the website. I think having the buttons on the side works really well because it doesn't distract the audience from the main attraction which is the images and titles as mentioned above. The buttons have the same font with the thick bold white lettering. The first button named "Trailer" once clicked on takes you to the trailer of the film thus attracting the audience to come watch the film. Underneath that button it's the "Synopsis" which basically gives you the plot of the film, it also mentions Ben Drew and his music career with again is cross promoting this music and film career. It says "Narratively linked through original music from Plan B himself" which again shows that Ben Drew used his film to promote his music album. 

There's a button called "Videos" and "Stills" which is all about the characters, meeting the characters, getting to know who they are in the film. The last video shown is a music video by Plan B which is obvious cross promotion (synergy); he cleverly takes advantage of the film to promote his music career and vice-versa. The still images is really good as it shows facial expressions which hint the film isn't a joking fairy tale but is a serious, reality of teenagers and what they go through. The second image of the woman with the messed up nose shows that there is violence in the film and her facial expression shows that she doesn't want to be where she is; maybe she's been dragged into this life because of life circumstances. Also, throughout this film they have both White and Black people but also Asian people which are really effective as they don't stereotype races like the media and government do. They have one of the main stars who are Asian which is really effective as it attracts more people, people who can relate to the characters or even people from the upper class who want to view life from different perspectives. 

The next buttons "Buy Now" and "Links" are about buying the DVD as that's one of the options to watch the film. A box comes up which shows the DVD image and where to go to buy it, thus making it very helpful for the audience to buy the DVD. It shows two websites to go to in order to buy the DVD's therefore making the website really useful when wanting to find information about the film or the director’s music career and his albums. The links button is about following them on twitter or liking their page on facebook which again is an intellectual way to make the film known, especially as it's a low budget British Film and they didn't have enough money to promote the film. Then again as the films made for teenagers, promoting it online using social networking sites is a really effective way to attract the right audience. 

Second last button named "Reactions" when you click on the button a big poster comes up and everything else on the website gets dark so you can't see it thus forcing all your attention on the poster of the film which again promotes the film but this poster also had peoples reaction to the film and the ratings, on one side shows famous music artists opinions which would attract people because if a famous music artist says the film's a must see it would bribe the audience to watch it, especially if the person is a big fan of the artist that loved the film (star appeal). On the other side is the poster you see normal film reviews with all 4 or 5 stars. For someone who hasn't seen the film and wants professional opinions this website would be really useful. Overall the poster works really well as it not only cross promotes the film with his music career but also attracts many people into watching this "Absolute Must-See!" film.  

The last button says "Album" which is basically showing Plan B's album and where to go to buy it, if you click on the links it takes you to the websites to buy the album. The fact that this website is for the movie but still has a button just for the album highlights just how much they take advantage of synergy to promote both the film and Plan B’s music career.

The background images show the main characters ad what they’re about for example you see Kirby holding a gun to someone and if you've seen the film would understand that’s the type of character he is, showing the gun also connotes the genre of the film which is a British drama. The image with Kirby also shows Ben Drew in the background on a poster which is a type of identity to highlight who made the film. Also you see the fence full of blood which again is a dominant representation of what you would see in the violent genres. The image shows the main characters at the front and the others in the background thus helping the audience to see who the main stars are however as the actors aren’t famous I don’t think the producers could use star appeal to attract the audience. From their facial expressions and the man tied up on the pole you can see the film isn’t a joke, it looks serious and violent which again confirm the genre of the film, the colour of the image is black and white which adds to the dull and serious feel the film gives. Finally, when you open the website the first thing you see is the house, on the house is graffiti which says “Ill Manors Buy Now”, this I think is a really successful way to attract teenagers as that’s what a lot of teenagers can relate to. They also show Aaron which could connote that Aaron is one of the main characters in the film hence he’s the first to be seen buy the audience.

 

Lastly, on the bottom on the website shows all the institution information for example the distribution and production information which works really well as it’s not in the way of anything but is still placed somewhere everyone can see. The institutions are really important as it gives the background and making of the film, it shows the production company which is BBC Films, this shows that the film is a low cut budget British film. The distribution company is Revolver, this company also distributed well known popular films such as Anuverhood and Kidalthood which therefore might attract the right audience who are familiar with the type of films Revolver distribute. As the film’s a British low cut budget film they needed as many distribution and production companies to support them in order to make the film a complete success.