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.