Ill Manors

The artist (rapper) Plan B released an album know as "Ill Manors" in April 2011. Earlier this year; along with this album; a film was also made which portrays the lives of different characters living in council estate flats. The film is written and directed by Ben Drew; also known as Plan B; and is set in Forest Gate(London). The film Ill Manors is a Multi-character based story and follows 8 main characters. The film follows their lives and the fact that they fight for survival and respect where they've grown up. Each of the separate main characters lives are linked in some way and each of their stories are represented by a different song by Plan B and Al Shux.

The film "Ill Manors" cost £100,000 to produce and made £453, 570 from box office alone. In order for Plan B to raise the funds for post-production, he went on tour in 2010 and 2011 performing "The Defamation of Strickland Banks Tour". The rights to Ill Manors were sold to Revolver Entertainment in April 2011. The Studios producing the film "Ill Manors" were Film London Microwave, BBC Films and Aimimage.

The record labels for the sound track "Ill Manors" are 679 and Atlantic Records which are quite big record labels; especially Atlantic Records therefore showing how big of a hit it must of been.

"The Ill Manors project – a movie and soundtrack album – was trailed by the phenomenal, Shostakovich-sampling title track, and its mind-blowing video. "Ill Manors" flipped hug-a-hoodie logic around 180 degrees, its message: "you're RIGHT to fear the poor; here's WHY...". A thrilling response to the riots, it was an icicle down the spine, menacing George Osborne & co from across the street." This is a sample from the review of the newspaper The Independent and their response in correlation to the music video.


Media forms:
In the music video for "Ill Manors" the media forms used are there and input in order to engage the audience in the song and furthermore, into watching the film. The types of shots used such as long shots were used in the music video in order for the audience to see the background and allow them to notice the setting which the characters are in. This therefore hints and gives away the setting based around the film "Ill Manors" and draws in the teenage demographic due to the fact that the scenes in the background involve a lot of violence. The editing used in the music video is fast paced which shows a lot more and emphasizes the violence which appeals to it's audience. Also, the pace of editing follows the stereotypical/ usual music video therefore appealing to it's target audience. The Lyrics in the rap songs challenge stereotypical views and opinions which results in a controversial debate on whether or not these views are correct or just plain biast.

Media representations:
The representations of the music video and the lyrics portrays a dominant ideology in terms of what people think of council estate kids. The lyrics challenge these interpretations and tells people that not all kids who live on council estates are violent criminals that don't have a heart, nor brain. By challenging these dominant opinions, this forces people listening to think about their own views on the matter and reinforces the ideas which people have.

Media institutions:
The music video has a counter-hegemonic approach in terms of poor people and states that poor people; who live on council estates; should be listened to more instead of just being pushed to one side and ignored. Plan B produced the music video in order to create tension between two types of people, the upper-class (usually in categories A and B) and the working class citizens (usually in classes D and E) and challenges both of the classes stereotypical ideologies in order to protest against the government. The song is a protest song which allows council estate livers voices to be heard. The song states that if people are afraid of council estate kids with hoodie and that they are all as violent as each other, then why don't we continue to scare you until you listen.

Media audiences:
The demographic class audience which this is aimed at is the class groups D and E as they are the working class people who don't have very many skill and agree with what the song is saying. They want to be heard and want their opinions to matter. The psychographics groups which it's aimed at is the strugglers  reformers and explorers to a certain extent. The stugglers would be attracted to a song like this as it shows their lives and emphasizes what they don't have compared to others.