Progress Report 2

WWW - The group has shot the entire sequence and are ready to begin editing. We are well ahead of schedule which is also very good.

EBI - We may have to re-shoot some scenes to ensure that our production is perfect and begin to edit as soon as possible.

The next step - The group needs to organise a date to re-shot all of our scenes. To do this we must also book the camera and begin editing together on the current footage we have to know what shots we have to do again.

Photoshop videos

Video 1 showed how to add gradient to text and pictures on the magazine cover. It has also taught me how to find a variety of different texts and fonts including glow text and how to add text to shapes and make shapes look 3D along with overshadow. The video also shows how to edit text and change the shape and format of pictures and text.This is done by clicking select, colour range, and then clicking the parts that need to be removed. Another thing the video shows is how to remove the background without affecting the image by clicking the quick mask mode and painting it black. 

The second video shows how to make different combinations of layers and add effects to make the image look more realistic. I have learnt to link layers and how to use layers on photo shop, which is essential when using photoshop. To choose a layer you must click it and unlock any other layers. If you want one layer to overlap another one you should drag that layer over the other layer. 

Ill Manors: TEDx Lecture

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

Plan B is of the belief that the youths of today are not solely responsible for their negative actions and stereotypes. He believes strongly that these youths are a "product of their environment", the slogan of Ill Manors, and that the media are also to blame for negative stereotypes. 

He suggests that the first cause of these youths choosing the wrong paths are the absence of a clear role model, as these children have been brought up in a hostile environment with no one looking after them and parents that are drug addicts themselves. They then feel as if they have to provide for themselves and the easiest way to do that is to join a gang and sell drugs however they have never been educated about the consequences of doing this because they have no role model. Plan B states that this is accentuated by the media who immediately portray youths in a negative way. The word "chav" was used over 100 times in newspapers over the last year, without them even knowing what it's like living in poverty. This then makes urban youths feel as though they are outcasts in society, and therefore they choose to rebel against it and break the law; as shown by the London riots of 2011. Plan B also states that the government are partly to blame. He claims that the constant cutting of funds towards youth centres and social workers give youths nothing to do but roam the streets. Without youth centres and social workers these kids have no role model or aspirations but to be in a gang, and therefore the cycle continues. Plan B uses his own experience as an example as a youth centre and social workers helped him change his life and focus his talent on music as opposed to breaking the law. He used the quote 'Find out what kids are good at. It will change their lives'.

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?

I that the main target audience for is not youths, but instead reformers that do not understand urban youths, and Plan B has used the lecture as a way of educating them about the hardship of life on an urban estate and give an insight into why youths end up in gangs and make bad choices, such as the London riots. The demographic of this audience would be A, B and C1 and the psychographic of reformers. This target audience is not likely to listen to Plan B's music

The other target audience may be youths themselves that may see Plan B as a role model and use the lecture as an inspiration and motivation to make better choices and do the right thing. The demographic of these youths are likely to be E and D and the psychographic of aspirers. This target audience is similar to the one that would listen to Plan B's music.

3)What does Plan B say about the media? Explain how this can be linked to Cohen's media theory of moral panics? Read this summary of moral panics and the definition from Wikipedia and use them in your answer.

1.  Occurrence and signification	An event occurs and, because of its nature, the media decide it is worthy of dramatic coverage ("Full Colour Pics of Satanic Abuse Site", "Razorblade Found In Babyfood", "Terrorist Cell plot attack" etc) and the event is signified as a violent, worrying one.
2. Wider social implications (fanning the flames)	Connections are made between one event and the wider malaise of society as a whole. After the initial event, the life of the story is extended through the contributions of 'expert' opinionmakers, who establish that this one event is just the tip of the iceberg, and that it is part of an overall pattern which constitutes a major social menace ("Child abuse figures on the up" "Safety concerns at babyfood packing plants","Youth Groups targeted by Extremists" etc etc). Thus public attention is focused on the issues
3. Social Control	Moral panics seek some sort of resolution and this often comes with a change in the law, designed to further penalise those established as the threatening deviants at the source of the panic ("New clampdown on devil-worshippers". "Strict New Safety Controls on Babyfood", "Hate Groups Banned"). This satisfies the public who feel they are empowered politically by the media.

Plan B states that the negative stereotype or moral panic to do with teenagers and urban youths is accentuated by the media who immediately portray youths in a negative way. The word "chav" was used over 100 times in newspapers over the last year, without them even knowing what it's like living in poverty. This then makes urban youths feel as though they are outcasts in society, and therefore they choose to rebel against it and break the law; as shown by the London riots of 2011. One case of misconduct or violence by a youth may have started the initial moral panic, stage 1, and this is then widely publicised by the media and soon all youths are viewed and stereotyped as the same, as shown by the constant negative depictions in newspapers.

Magazine Covers

Ill Manors Broadcast - Trailer

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

 There are many typical codes and conventions in a film trailer. First of all there is a small amount of typography, introducing aspects of the film such as lead actors, director and production company. This is because large blocks of text would bore the viewer, especially as a large part of the films target audience is uneducated. The trailer then uses the typical feature of showing positive reviews at the start of the trailer with short quotes from each review praising the film, making people want to watch the film due to the high reviews. The trailer then does the typical convention of showing various interesting scenes from the film to draw the reader in. These scenes gradually increase in pace until they are extremely quick, under 1 second, and are in sync with the non diegetic fast paced music in the background to exhilarate the viewer with the fast paced action on screen, exciting them and making them want to see the film. The trailer then typically gives the name of the film in a bold font to make it clear to the audience what film trailer they are watching and the release date of the film is also placed at the end of the trailer.

2.How are trailers distributed?

 Film trailers can be distributed through: Cinema trailer, Radio interviews, TV trailers      Chat shows, Social media sites and Websites.

3.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?

The main target audience for Ill Manor's is most likely to be youths, aged 16 - 30, predominantly males and living in very urban areas. The target audience is also likely to not have gone to university or further education and can use the film to relate to their life. Plan B's fan base from his music career is also a wide target audience that the film will appeal to as he has purposely released and embedded a whole album specifically for the film in order to draw fans of his music and is a unique selling point to them. Overall the psychographic E, D and possible C; and the demographic of reformers.
 
The main stars of the film are not placed in bold lettering as is often done in Hollywood trailers as the actors are largely unknown and are not a unique selling point of the film in that they do not have any star names to place in the trailer. However a different interpretation may be that the use of unknown actors is a unique selling point to some viewers and may attract them to view it. The only obvious name shown in the trailer was star name Plan B, the director, who will use his name in the trailer to attract viewers and his music fan base to watch the film, as well as offering the unique selling point of his music in the film.

Ill Manors Review

Ill Manor's is a hard hitting, gritty multi stranded tale that follows the lives of a range of youths and inhabitants of the unforgiving streets of urban London. The debut feature film from Ben Drew, otherwise known as singer-song writer Plan B. Developed from his widely acclaimed song of the same name inspired by the 2011 London riots, Drew uses a plethora of unknown actors such as Ed Skrein as Ed, Anouska Mond as Michelle, Keith Coggins as Kirby, Lee Allen as Chris and Natalie Press as Katya. 

The paths of these various characters are followed individually and eventually cross in an explosive finale. Stolen objects change hands between them, including drugs, money, a gun, a mobile phone containing incriminating numbers, and even a baby! Everything leads up to a wild, hard hitting, dramatic climax to what must be labelled a success as Ben Drew's first delve into cinematography. Ill Manors also capitalises on Drew's musical talents as he seamlessly embeds his powerful and emotional raps into the film as a unique narration for the viewer; effectively capturing the emotion of the rough, brutal scenes taking place on screen.

His success is not necessarily in the brilliance of the storyline or the conviction of the actors, which are both accomplished; however had I been watching the latest Hollywood blockbuster I would have been slightly disappointed. That comment is in relation to the fact that the film was produced on a budget of £100,000, which is absolutely remarkable. The editing and cinematography of the film is reminiscent of a Hollywood film with fantastic camera work and visuals that seem incompatible with such a budget, taking into consideration that Hollywood cameras cost millions alone.

Oscar winning performances are not to be expected from debutant actors. However as a whole the acting was a success with some sparkling individual performances. Riz Ahmed may not be unknown but he certainly isn't a household name. He effectively portrays the character of Aaron, adding a clear sense of morality and emotional awareness that the other spineless characters do not possess. Unknown Ed Skrein plays ruthless hard man Ed with aplomb, effectively building a favourable relationship with the viewer despite his antics that makes the ending so much more powerful. Playing such a character whilst being able to gain sympathy and a fondness from the audience deserves merit for such an inexperienced actor. Ryan de la Cruz, is also a successful debutant made by the film. The 15 year old, who is in fact too young to watch the film, is a brilliant embodiment of being succumb to his surroundings and the motto of the film, "a product of your environment". Brought up on a grim, unforgiving urban estate he is forced to join a gang to gain a sense of authority and survive in such a hostile environment for an impressionable child. An actor so young, able to illustrate such a strong message while also adding a powerful sense of sympathy from the audience has excelled his tender years.

Other performances include Lee Allen as Chris. While I feel that he effectively portrays the authoritve character of Chris, I think that he often exaggerates certain emotions in various scenes whilst also putting too much emphasis on slang in his dialogue, making it often difficult to interpret what he's saying if you're not familiar with London's urban slang, though this was his acting debut and therefore can be handed some leeway. Natalie Press however must also come under some scrutiny. Unable to rely on the excuse of being a debutant to film, Press is an experienced actor who has appeared in many productions such as; The Jury, Island and The Pit to name a few. Considering this, her portrayal of Russian sex trafficked Katya is very tame. In her defence the character speaks no English and has very little dialogue, but her body language could have brought far more dynamism and emotion to the character, instead of looking like a mere crying Russian woman for the entirety of the film.

Plan B justified his choice of unknown actors by claiming they have experienced the grim realities seen in Ill Manors and they would capture the urban feel of the film; I believe he has for the most part achieved this. However, his other aim of this complex film was to shed light on the London Riots of 2011. He has tried to give an insight into why youths of today are so negatively stereotyped and make the choices they make, the slogan "you are a product of your environment" is certainly portrayed through characters such as Jake and Michelle.

Though, while he has embedded the motto into his film I don't see Ill Manors in anyway enlightening David Cameron about the hardship of life in urban Britain any time soon. However, it effectively places the Olympic stadium in the background of scenes constantly to represent the irony of government spending on lavish architecture, yet down the road the gritty estates of the real Britain lurk, not the multi cultural, opportunistic and hospitable London the Olympics tried to elude.

In spite of this the film fails to do the impossible task of justifying the dark actions and events that take place on the estate. The character of Jake may gain some sense of sympathy, but surely viewers must ask why young boys, barely even teenagers are asking for drugs and out alone in the first place? Surely there is then the question of poor parenting, schools and a whole range of other issues are brought up without effectively portraying the characters as having no choice but to succumb to the criminality surrounding them. Despite watching the film I still feel that it is the characters choice to join a gang, to take drugs, to involve your self in criminal activity in any way.

Perhaps because I have had the privilege of growing up in an area not plagued by drug dealers and gangs I can't possibly understand the position these characters are in, but the fact that I still share this view suggests that the film has ultimately failed in its moral objective. However Ill Manor's is an enticing and gripping film that effectively shocks and hits the audience hard with its dramatic scenes and mainly convincing actors. I would certainly advise anyone fancying a hard hitting urban thriller to watch.

My rating: 8/10

Magazine front cover analysis

 Title of Publication

The title of the magazine has been placed in the top third of the cover so that it is easily visible to the reader and catches the eye from distance. The typography and font of the title is a very bold, immediately allowing the viewer to read it from distance and catch the viewers eye. The silver colour of the masthead also connotes a futuristic, Sci/Fi feel which links to the plot in the Dr.Who series.

Slogan

The slogan of the cover is placed above the masthead in the top third. The slogan effectively accentuates Dr Who's long lasting success as the gold typography used in the text "50 years" connotes an award winning series which will attract the reader. The placement of the slogan also allows the reader to immediately read about the franchise's success immediately after they look at the title which therefore purposely drawing attention to it. 

Central Image

The central image of the cover is an image of Dr Who. This use of celebrity endorsement alone is a way of attracting readers as the readers of the magazine are largely going to be fans of the Dr Who franchise, and therefore the main protagonist of the franchise on the cover will immediately attract Dr Who fans. The use of direct address not only from the main protagonist but the former Dr Who's as well engages the viewer of the cover making them feel intimate with the characters and drawing them in to read the magazine. The serious look on all three character's faces also creates an enigma code as to why they are so serious, which makes us want to read the magazine to find out why they all look so tense. As well as this the viewer will wonder why three Doctors have been used in the front cover, will we possible see former Doctor's return in the latest series? The image makes us curious and want to buy the magazine to find out the answers.

The way in which the main protagonist and central image overlaps and obscures a small section of the title also brings attention to the image, which is the main selling point to viewers as the main target audience is Dr Who fans, and the magazine has purposely made him overlap the title to give more attention to the image of the Doctor, the person the readers want to read about. 

Flash/Cover lines
  The main flash line of the cover is the text "the day of the doctor!". This has been placed on the lower section of the cover to not take any emphasis away from the title or the central image which will be the main "pull" features of the cover. However the large font gives a clear indication as to what the magazine is about. The larger font used for the word "doctor" again emphasises him as a selling point of the magazine and the cover is clearly trying to appeal to the target audience of Dr Who fans.

Free Offer

A whole column of the right side of the page is dedicated to free items within the magazine. This will attract readers and buyers as society likes to make the most of their money and take advantage of free things, therefore adding free prizes to a magazine makes it seem a more worthwhile purchase. The column is also a gold colour which accentuates the feeling that the prizes are valuable and an expensive item whereas in reality it is a small book. The Red font on the column makes it stand out on the front cover and therefore again draws attention to the free items.

Competitions

Competitions are used on the magazine cover as it offers the chance to win a selection of Blu-rays, DVD’s, and CD’s. The text ‘WIN’ is large, capital, and a bold white in a red box to emphasise the competition and draws attention to it, causing people to think that they have a chance of winning a valuable prize and causing them to want to buy the magazine. It also offers the chance to collect anniversary art cards, which could have significant value to Dr. Who fanatics and therefore publicises the magazine further.

Barcode, Date and Price

 The bar code on the magazine front page is placed at the bottom right side of the page ina small font to draw as little attention to it as possible. This has been done to also hide the price in a small font as the magazine producers are aware that the price is likely to be off putting to potential buyers. Therefore by keeping the price out of the way and not drawing attention to it a viewer may chose to buy the magazine because they were attracted to it and the price only becomes an issue later when at a counter, when it is usually too late to put it back.

Target Audience

The main target audience of the magazine is Doctor Who fans that passionately follow the franchise. It is mainly aimed at people aged 12 - 25 as this is the predominant age group of Dr Who viewers. Also, males are more likely to purchase the magazine due to the more manly approach of the characters in the images and the colour scheme being dark and mysterious that won't appeal to females and Dr Who viewers are predominantly male. However there are only males in the image so it could be argued that there is a female gaze and that due to these men on the front females would be attracted to the magazine.

Ill Manors: the making of

1) What does this tell us about Plan B's intentions in making the film?

The making of extra of Ill Manor's tells us that Plan B's intentions for the film was to allow the audience to see why many youths of today are painted in such a negative light. Ben Drew attempts to allow the audience to see the hardship these people are put through and the reasons they make their decisions. Inspired by the recent London Riots in 2011, he wants people who look down upon youths to see life from their perspective, and that they do not simply chose this way of life, but use it as their only means of survival.

2) What do we learn about the production process for Ill Manors?

We learn that throughout the production process due to the urban settings used, filming was often disrupted by real life gangs and disruptive youths on the estates shot. The documentary named specific cases of gangs demanding production to be moved else where as they were on the gangs turf, and also that youths from estates used in the film disrupted filming by throwing items out of the window.

3) What can you tell about the possible target audience from this short documentary?

From this documentary we learn that the main target audience for Ill Manor's is most likely to be youths, aged 16 - 30, predominantly males and living in very urban areas. The target audience is also likely to not have gone to university or further education and can use the film to relate to their life. Plan B's fan base from his music career is also a wide target audience that the film will appeal to as he has purposely released and embedded a whole album specifically for the film in order to draw fans of his music. Overall the psychographic E, D and possible C; and the demographic of reformers.

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.

One of Ben Drew's aims was to give an insight into why youths of today are so negatively stereotyped and make the choices they make, the slogan "you are a product of your environment" is certainly portrayed through characters such as Jake and Michelle. However while he has embedded the motto into his film I don't see Ill Manors as enlightening David Cameron about the hardship of life in urban Britain any time soon. While it effectively places the Olympic stadium in the background of scenes constantly to represent government spending on a lavish stadium, yet down the road the gritty estates of the real Britain lurk, not the multi cultural ,opportunistic and hospitable London the Olympics tried to elude.

In spite of this the film fails to do the impossible task of justifying the dark actions and events that take place on the estate. The character of Jake may gain some sense of sympathy but a viewer may ask, why was his friend, barely a teenager, asking for weed for his mum in the first place? Surely there is then the question of poor parenting, schools and a whole range of other issues are brought up without effectively portraying the characters as having no choice but to succumb to the criminality surround them. Despite watching the film I still feel that it is the characters choice to join a gang, to take drugs, to involve your self in criminal activity in anyway. Maybe because I have had the privilege of growing up in an area not plagued by drug dealers and gangs, but the fact that I still share this view suggests that the film has ultimately failed in its moral objective.

Production Progress Report

Individual progress 

Individually I have contributed to my group by creating the script on time and early which allowed the rest of my group to create the shot list and story board.

WWW- I've created an interesting and suitable script for my production which my group will use in he time permitted.

EBI - Possibly make the script even more exciting or interesting for the audience so the production dialogue is as good as possible.

The Next Step

The next step is to actually film the production with all of our actors and production team.

Group Progress

As a group we have managed to finish all of our pre production work and finalised our cast and location. We are ready to film when agreed on our production schedule now.

WWW- we were able to work cohesively as a group and manage to complete all of our work together and have as a group we have created a good idea for our production.  

EBI- Our communication skills need work and we need to show up after school to work together more.

Production Location

Pre-Production for Trill

Mise En Scene for 'Trill'

Location:
This production will be set in west london, as this is like the behind the scenes of the London that is perceived to foreigners by the government from advertising, we will film in isolated areas so it would provide an eerie and intense feeling to the audience.We wanted to represent the youth of London by using locations like this to provide a gritty, raw and urban feel.

Our production would consist of several locations however as we're film from in between the series we decided to focus on two the first location which in fact is the main location for this sequence is the White heart Roundabout this location is ideal for our production as this will allows us to achieve the composition/layout we set out to achieve as the centre of the roundabout has a 5 way split it would be perfect for the opening of out production we will also be using other area in this general area for a very short amount of time for a chase scene











The Second scene will be set in a house (mine) and this location will be introduced near the end of the sequence.



Costume:
Excluding the protagonist and the femme fatale everyone else (antagonist and gang) will be wearing black to connote danger and evil the type of clothing these charter would wear are typical urban outfits like trainers, hoodies and jeans/track suit bottoms.
The rest of the characters will be wearing casual clothing to portray their innocence.
No ones costume will change throughout.

Props:
-Phone
-False Gun (Water Pistol)
-Baseball Bat
-Bag

Timing:
The timing of this Production will be set around 05:00- 09:00 pm as this is when it is at it darkest, the reason we have chosen these timing is because it at these times that drug dealers robber etcetera will be prone to come out and proceed with their business.

Lighting:
The production will not use any studio lighting as natural background lighting is provided from street lamps and interior lighting.

Cast:
Armond - Big Chris
Kyle - Sunny
Antoine - Tyrone
Hasan - Nasir / Nas

Emily - Maria.

Production Shot List

Production Storyboard

Initial script

Scene 1 - [Previously] - Villain threatening hero to meet him.

[Jamal holding James against the wall and looking down on him]

Jamal: You better meet me down my ends or your guna get it!

Scene 2 - [set of short scenes from previous episode]

Scene 3 - [Jamal waiting anxiously for James at the meeting place, walking in circles]

Scene 4- [Maria in a sad almost crying tone telling James not to go.]

Maria: Please James you can't go!

James: I have to get out of this myself or they'll never leave me alone

Maria: You can't go you know how this is going to end they're not going to let you go, please!

James sighs.

Scene 5 - [Jamal looks at watch and walks away angrily]

TITLE SEQUENCE

Scene 6 - [James walking alone down road or ally]

Scene 7 - [James sees Tyrone - Tyrone seems agitated and anxious]

James: Hey man what you doing around here, long time no see

Tyrone: Err [looks around] I dunno I was just walking by

James: How've you been man?

Tyrone: Good

James: What's up with you, you couldn't stop talking shit back in the day

Tyrone: [Looking away] Nothing.

 [POV shot of Tyrone - Over shoulder shot of James - see people coming from behind]

[James turns around]

James: The hell is this!

Tyrone: I'm sorry man I had to, they were gunna...

Jamal: Look who it is.

[Low angle shot of Jamal smiling]

Jamal: You didn't show up.

James: I told you I don't want to be a part of this anymore

Jamal: And this is how you disrespect the people who gave you everything James, everything.

James: I don't want to spend the rest of my life being an idiot on these streets

Jamal: SHUT UP! We could've done this the easy way, but no, you meet your little girlfriend and you think you're a big man.

James: Leave her out of it

Jamal: You could've just met me where I asked and this would've all been finished but NO! [Close up of Jamal pushing James over. Jamal talking down to James]

You think you can disrespect me? You had potential James, I thought we could have run this gang together, but now your nothing.

[Match on action- Shot behind Jamal pulling out gun- returns to POV of James looking at Jamal holding the gun at him]

Jamal: I'll make sure you never mess with me again

Drake: [Pushes gun down in Jamal's hands] Allow it man, don't take it too far

[James gets up and runs past Jamal and Drake]

Jamal: Go after him

[Close up shot of Jamal on the phone]

Jamal: Listen...Do as I say, or you'll never see him again. This is what you're guna do"

Scene 8 [Chase scene - James running away from Drake and others]

Scene 9 [James gets away from Jamal's boys and gets to Maria's house. He knocks on her door while breathing heavily. The door opens]

Maria: Oh my God are you ok?

James: I think so. I need to sit down

[Shot of James walking inside. Loud bang and noise of falling to floor. Blackout]

James - Hero

Jamal - Villain

Drake - Villains - Jamal's boy

Maria - James' girlfriend

Tyrone - James' old friend