Ill Manors e-media: website analysis

Increasingly, social media is overtaking official websites in terms of importance on the e-media platform.

The Ill Manors official website has now been taken down (the film is over three years old) but look at the screenshot below and think about how it promotes the film in synergy with other texts/platforms you have studied. 

Ill Manors blog task: official websites

Answer the following questions on your blog:

1) What examples can you find of the Ill Manors brand on the Ill Manors website homepage screengrab above?

2) How does the website encourage the audience to buy or interact with Ill Manors products?

3) Now look at Plan B's official website. How does it use social media in terms of content and design? Why might the website designers have wanted to create the look and feel of a social networking site?

4) Scroll back through the wall to look at posts from around the release date of Ill Manors. How does this statement on Ill Manors link to other texts we have studied as part of this case study? Do you agree with his claim that he "won't justify" the riots? What does this statement suggest about the representation of young people in Plan B's film and music videos?

5) Why do you think social media is overtaking official websites in terms of film promotion?

Complete this for homework alongside the rest of the Ill Manors e-media platform work. This includes the Tag London campaign and the social media research questions. 

In total, you need the following blogposts to cover the e-media platform:

1. Ill Manors Tag London campaign
2. Social media research questions
3. Official websites analysis (task above)

Due: next double lesson

New Media Magazine - Issue 59

The new issue of Media Magazine is out now - MM59.

This contains some superb articles for our ongoing work on exam preparation and coursework - including Post-Truth society, the documentary genre, short films every film student should see and a Marxist critique of The Apprentice. 


Our Media Magazine reference guide is here - this has the contents for the last 30-odd issues of Media Magazine and is great for searching for a particular topic. You can then find the article in our Media Magazine archive.

Take a look through and read any articles of interest - particularly if you want an A in Media this year!

Ill Manors: e-media off-site research

Social media has quickly become an essential tool for marketing and promotion in media industries. 

For a low-budget film like Ill Manors, social media offers a potential impact and reach that previously would have cost many thousands or millions of pounds in advertising. Even more importantly, social media gives audiences a chance to interact and engage with brands, artists and films - therefore making them feel part of the campaign. 

Ill Manors was heavily promoted online using Facebook, Twitter and Plan B's YouTube channel.

Ill Manors e-media: social media research

Answer the following questions in a detailed blogpost. Use screengrabs and examples. 

Note: due to the school's firewall you will need to complete these questions off-site.

Ill Manors Facebook page

1. How many 'likes' has the Ill Manors film page had?
2. What is the top of the page promoting?
3. Choose five of the posts on the page's wall, screengrab them and explain how they appeal to the Ill Manor's target audience.
4. Find three examples of synergy with other platforms (links to broadcast clips or newspaper/magazine articles). Explain how each one promotes the film.
5. Find three examples on the Facebook wall of opportunities for user generated content or audience interaction (e.g. a question that invites people to comment or a competition to enter).
6. Find three examples of the Facebook page cross-promoting the soundtrack or DVD release.
7. Find the Twitter graffiti campaign link on the Facebook wall and screengrab it.
8. How did the institution use the Facebook page to promote the film's release in May/June 2012?

Ill Manors Twitter feed

1. How does the Ill Manors Twitter feed use the Ill Manors brand to promote the film?
2. What hashtags are used on the Ill Manors Twitter feed?
3. Find three celebrities the Ill Manors Twitter feed re-tweeted to promote the film and explain how they appeal to the Ill Manors target audience.
4. How has the Ill Manors Twitter feed used pictures to help promote the film?
5. Find examples of the Ill Manors Tag London campaign in the Ill Manors Twitter feed and explain how they help to target the right audience for the film.
6. How was the Ill Manors Twitter feed used to specifically promote the release of the film (May/June 2012) and the release on DVD (October 2012)? Choose three tweets for each and explain how they effectively promote the film.

YouTube - planbuk channel

1. How was the planbuk YouTube channel used to promote the Ill Manors film?
2. Scroll back to find the three Ill Manors teaser videos. When were these released? How did they help promote Ill Manors? What was the target audience for these teaser videos? Suggest why the videos were only 10 seconds or shorter.
3. Find examples of synergy or cross-promotion between the planbuk YouTube channel and other media texts you have studied as part of the case study. Explain how they both promote the film and appeal to the Ill Manors target audience.
4. What links to other social networking sites can you find on the planbuk channel homepage?

Homework due: Thursday 2 March

Ill Manors e-media: Tag London campaign

The Ill Manors Tag London campaign is a brilliant example of the power of the e-media platform.

The synergy with other aspects of the promotional campaign and the links to the political aspect of the film make it a vital part of our Ill Manors case study.




Ill Manors Tag London campaign: tasks

Read about the Ill Manors Tag London campaign on Musically - a music industry website - and the Think With Google Creative Sandbox page. The original website for the campaign is here. (You may not be able to access all of these pages in school but read all the links either in lesson or at home).

A selection of the tweets that were beamed across London include:

#ILLMANORS #IGNORINGTHEPROBLEM DOES NOT SOLVE IT? #INSPIREKIDS DON'T PUT THEM DOWN? #SOCIALCHANGECOMESTHROUGHACTION NOT INACTION? @4PLANB

#ILLMANORS THE WORSHIP AND MONEY MERGED ALL COLOURS AND CREED, INTO ONE TRUE RELIGION THAT WAS DRIVEN BY GREED @4PLANB

@ILLMANORS #ILLMANORS OLYMPICS GONNA LEAVE US WITH A LARGE BILL A LARGE VENUE THAT WILL CLOSE BY THE NXT PROJECT AND IS A TERRORISTS WISH,

#ILLMANORS JUST ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF CAMERON'S BROKEN BRITAIN

#ILLMANORS, SOCIETY REBELLING BACK AT BROKEN BRITAIN, @4PLANB

WHY ARE THE RICH GETTING RICHER AND THE POOR GETTING POORER. PFFT TO THE GOVERNMENT.THE OLYMPICS.WILL DESTROY LONDON #ILLMANORS

#ILLMANORS INCLUSION NOT EXCLUSION.

THE RECESSION IS A WORLD SCHEME TO KEEP THE POOR, POOR. THE RICH OF THIS WORD HAVE NEVER BEING RICHER. #ILLMANORS

SOUNDS LIKE THE TRUTH #ILLMANORS

@4PLANB MONEY & LOVE CAN LIFT A PEOPLE UP. IT’S NOT A RACE, WHEN WE’RE ALL FROM ONE PLACE. HOW WILL YOU APPLY YOURSELF? #ILLMANORS #ITSDEEP

AND BY THAT I MEAN, IF YOU WANT SOMETHING TO CHANGE YOU HAVE TO START WITH THE MORAL HIGH GROUND AND NEVER GIVE IN. #ILLMANORS

ON PRINCIPLE, WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TEENAGER LOOTING TRAINERS AND A POLITICIAN STEALING THOUSANDS IN EXPENSES? #ILLMANORS

LONDON IS CALLING, THE CITY IS CRUMBLING #ILLMANORS.

PLAN B'S #ILLMANORS MOVEMENT IS SICK, GET INVOLVED

#ILLMANORS YOU CAN'T EAT MONEY...BUT YOU CAN EAT THE RICH


Now answer the following questions on your blog:

1) Summarise the Ill Manors Tag London campaign in 100 of your own words.

2) How does the Ill Manors Tag London campaign help to promote Plan B, the soundtrack and the film?

3) What synergy (links) can you find between the Tag London campaign and other texts you have studied as part of the Ill Manors case study?

4) Why might user-generated campaigns like this be more successful than traditional media campaigns? Offer three different reasons UGC-driven campaigns are popular with media institutions.

5) Choose FIVE of the tweets above and for each one write what target audience the tweet could appeal to (demographics/psychographics) and then link the tweet to one other media text you have studied as part of the Ill Manors case study (TEDx lecture, music video etc.) Justify your link for each tweet using examples from the film/promotional material.

Finish for homework anything you don't complete in the lesson - due next lesson.

BFI Study Day trip: Thursday 23 February

Our trip to the BFI Study Day on UK Cinema, Audiences and Institutions is on Thursday 23 February. 

It fits in perfectly with our MEST1 Section B case study on Ill Manors and the UK film industry. More details about the day can be found on the BFI website here.

*Please note there was a typo on the original trip letter stating the trip was on a Tuesday - this is an error and the trip date is confirmed as Thursday 23 February. 

You will have received a trip briefing in your Year 12 Media lessons this week but it's here if you need an electronic copy. 

Remember, we are meeting at 10am at BFI Southbank near Waterloo. We need to be registered and seated by 10.15am so it's essential you arrive on time.

Mr Bush and Ms Fowler will be the staff for this trip.

Make the most of the opportunity and enjoy the trip!

Ill Manors print: branding- additional info

Ill Manors print: branding

Just to add to Mr Halsey's post:

I have saved lots of print material for Ill Manors in one central place:

Media Students Shared \ Resources \ A Level \ Ill Manors Print 

Please help yourself to these if you want to analyse them for the three different print examples. 

Have a great half term!

Miss Fowler 

Ill Manors print: branding

Another key aspect of the print platform is branding. 

Ill Manors hugely benefited from a strong, urban brand that ran through the promotion of the film, soundtrack and DVD release. This displayed important iconography of the urban drama genre while also offering a glimpse of the social realism that made Ill Manors a powerful and controversial film.


Print platform: branding

Find at least three different print examples (billboard adverts, film posters, DVD packaging etc.) for Ill Manors. Post the images up on your blog and answer the following questions for each text:

1. What are the key conventions that help you identify the print text (e.g. title, central image, review quotes etc.)?
2. What design features help identify the Ill Manors brand?
3. What examples of synergy can you find with the broadcast platform or other print examples?

Homework

Finish these tasks for homework - due first lesson after half-term.

Reminder: Ill Manors Index

Ill Manors Work - INDEX

Hello Year 12,

Please spend time indexing your work on the case study so that we can check your work is up to date and you can easily orientate the work for revision purposes.

To ensure you are fully up-to-date with everything so far, you need to create a new blogpost with an index with each piece of work numbered, titled and linked through to your original blogpost. Your index should currently contain the following:

1) Ill Manors film review

2) Broadcast: Ill Manors trailer analysis

3) Broadcast: TEDx lecture, ideology and moral panic

4) Broadcast: Ill Manors music video

5) Broadcast: Ill Manors 'Making Of' DVD extra, television and radio interviews

Ill Manors: Print platform

It is essential that we discuss all three media platforms when writing a MEST1 Section B essay response. The next platform we are studying is print.


What different aspects should make up our study of the print platform for Ill Manors?

• Newspaper/magazine Ill Manors reviews
• Newspaper/magazine Plan B interviews
• Newspaper/magazine features/profiles/ opinion pieces (columns)
• Print adverts
• Billboard adverts
• DVD/CD soundtrack packaging

Key word: synergy
The process through which a series of media products derived from the same text is promoted in and through each other.

(Easy way to remember synergy: LINKS between different platforms/texts.)


How can we find examples of synergy in the promotion of Ill Manors?

Ill Manors offers an excellent example of synergy because the film is cross-promoted by the soundtrack album of the same name. 

Marketing and advertising promotes both the film and the album – while the political element of both is highlighted through interviews, TEDx lectures and more.

Print platform: blog tasks

Read the following print articles:

• Men’s Health interview
• NME Magazine interview
• Guardian interview
• Daily Mail review of Ill Manors

For EACH of the four interviews, embed an image or screengrab from that magazine's brand and work through the following questions and tasks:

1) Identify the target audience (demographics/psychographics) for this magazine. How is that particular audience attracted?
2) Does the article do more than just entertain? How? (Think of Uses and Gratifications theory) What audience pleasures does the article offer?
3) What codes/conventions of print interviews can you find in the article? 
4) How is narrative used to tell a story in each interview? Clue: what is it that keeps the reader interested in the article to the very end?
5) What synergy can you find between this text and the broadcast examples we have studied so far?

Finish for homework if you don't complete these in the lesson - deadline set by your exam class teacher.

MEST2: Coursework update

We should now be in the midst of producing some excellent print work on Photoshop.

The photoshoots led to some phenomenal photography and this should provide the basis for top-level print work. We break up for half-term on Friday 10 February so time is moving on but as long as you've started filming you should be on track to meet the Easter deadline.

Print deadlines
The current deadline is to have a Photoshop draft of each page (front cover, contents and double page spread feature) before half-term. You will then have a tutorial on your print work in the week either side of half-term before completing final drafts.

Print design: inspiration
The Curzon Cinema magazine is a great example of how a cinema programme or magazine may be designed - it certainly inspired some of last year's best work. Have a look at the following:

Curzon Cinema magazine #60 - latest issue
Curzon Cinema magazine - previous issue (currently blocked by school firewall but will re-post working link later)

Look at both of these issues and pay particular attention to how the design is used to create a consistent brand for Curzon Cinema. You need that consistency of brand (font, colour, page design, style etc.) across your own cover, contents and double-page spread feature. 

Video deadlines
Most groups have already completed two or three video shoots for the arthouse film extract. The current deadline is to have shot around 80-90% of the video by Monday 6 February which leaves half-term to capture any final scenes or re-shoots required. Cameras are likely to be in high demand over half-term so book early with Ms Quinn if you do need to complete shooting over the week's holiday. You will have a group tutorial on your video production in the fortnight after half-term. 

Evaluation
We will be starting the evaluation in the weeks leading up to Easter so it's vital that you have completed the video and print productions in order to write the 1,500 word essay reflecting on your MEST2 project.

Overall deadline
Your final deadline has not changed: Friday 21 April.

Good luck and keep up the good work!

Ill Manors: Broadcast platform concluded

The broadcast platform involves studying a wide variety of different media texts linked to Ill Manors.

We have already studied the Ill Manors trailer, music video and TEDx lecture. Now, we need to explore some further broadcast texts to conclude our work on the broadcast platform. 

Watch and listen to the following clips/links and embed them where possible on a new blogpost called 'Ill Manors: Broadcast platform concluded'. Once you've embedded the clips on a new blogpost, answer the questions below each clip.

DVD extras
Watch the Making Of Ill Manors from the DVD extras. (Watch in class - unavailable online).

1) What does this tell us about Plan B's intentions in making the film?
2) What do we learn about the production process for Ill Manors?
3) What can you tell about the possible target audience from this short documentary?
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.


Broadcast/online
Watch Plan B interviewed by SBTV while he was editing Ill Manors.



1) What is SBTV? Research the channel and explain how it became successful.
Identify the target audience for this interview (demographics/psychographics) and say why.
2) What is the audience appeal for an interview like this? How does the opening of the clip emphasise this appeal?
3) How is Plan B (the brand) represented in this text?


Watch this promotional film on SOHK.TV with interviews with the cast and Ben Drew.


1) What is SOHK.TV? 
2) Why is Ill Manors a good fit to promote on SOHK.TV?
3) What kind of audience would subscribe to SOHK.TV? Is it a different audience to the main target audience for Ill Manors? Why might this benefit Ben Drew and the institutions behind Ill Manors?


Television
Watch Plan B interviewed on the Jonathan Ross show.




1) What is the history of the Jonathan Ross show? What channels has it appeared on? Why has Jonathan Ross been a controversial media figure in the past?
2) Identify the target audience for this interview (demographics/psychographics) and say why.
3) What is the audience appeal for a programme like the Jonathan Ross show?
4) How is Plan B (the brand) represented in this text?


Radio
Listen to this interview with Plan B on Fearne Cotton's BBC Radio 1 show.

1) How popular is BBC Radio 1? Find average listening figures for the station. How has the BBC Radio 1 audience declined over recent years? Why might this have happened?
2) Who is the target audience for BBC Radio 1?
3) How does Plan B promote Ill Manors in this interview?
4) What representation of Plan B can we find in this interview?

You will have a single lesson to work on this but will need to finish for homework - deadline confirmed by your exam class teacher.