Year 12: Ill Manors index

We have now almost finished the first of the three platforms for Ill Manors and hopefully you're getting a good grasp of the media issues and debates surrounding Plan B's film. We do set you a lot of work on this case study but you just have to take our word for it that you'll appreciate it when you're sitting in the exam in May!

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

Next we will move on to the Print platform and look at the Ill Manors brand.

Don't forget we also have our trip to the BFI next week (Wednesday 11 February) which will hopefully give us plenty more knowledge and examples of the British film industry.

Ill Manors: Broadcast platform concluded

We have already studied the Ill Manors trailer, TEDx lecture and music video. 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, embed them where possible on a new blogpost called 'Ill Manors: Broadcast platform concluded' and 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?


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 your single lesson to continue this work but then will need to finish for homework - deadline confirmed by your exam class teacher.

Ill Manors - Music Video

Info about the video...

"Ill Manors" is a hip hop protest song by English singer and songwriter Plan B. The track was released in the United Kingdom in March 2012 through the American company Atlantic Records (a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group conglomerate) as the lead single from the Ill Manors soundtrack, a low budget film which Plan B also directed. The song was written in reaction to the 2011 riots across England, and specifically Plan B's perception of "society's failure to nurture its disadvantaged youth." The song deals with both the causes and the consequences of the riots, concentrating on society's attitude towards the disadvantaged youth population. Drawing upon Plan B's own experiences of being expelled from school the song sarcastically attacks the media view of working class children: "Keep on believing what you read in the papers / Council estate kids—scum of the earth." 

Writing in The Independent, Tim Walker called it "an all-time great protest song." However, Samuel Breen, also writing for The Independent, describes the song as "a cliché riddled attack on politics" and suggests that Plan B is justifying the action taken by the rioters, something Plan B denies.

The music video for "Ill Manors" expands upon the themes of the song, and uses footage from the 2011 riots. David Cameron and Nick Clegg, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, both feature in the video, despite not being mentioned in the lyrics. However, Cameron's "Hug a Hoodie" campaign is alluded to.

Plan B - ill Manors.

Answer the following questions...

• Forms

How is it typical of a music video? 

(Use the key conventions of music videos PowerPoint to help you).

• Representation

How does it represent the London riots/rioters?

• Audience

What audience pleasures does it offer?

• Institutions

How does the music video help to promote the film?

Homework

Research the Ill Manors track and soundtrack album - Record companies? Sales? Music reviewers' response? Post the research on your blog - minimum of 350 words.

Ill Manors: TEDx Lecture

Create a new blogpost called Ill Manors: TEDx lecture and complete the following tasks: 




1) Embed the above video in your blogpost and read this Guardian article that accompanied the original event. Remember to also look at the comments below - these can give you a variety of different perspectives and criticisms to the original lecture.

2) Make notes on the lecture: focus on Plan B/Ben Drew's views on the opportunities for young people in London and how these inspired Ill Manors.

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

4) 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?

5) 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.


Complete these questions for homework if you don't get them done in the lesson - due for your next Media lesson.

Year 12 Learner Response - MEST1 C4 Paralympics clip

Your learner response for the January assessment will be to type up your feedback and then re-write your weakest question on the blog. The following links may be useful:

The C4 Meet The Superhumans trailer is currently on YouTube here.

The question paper you took on is available here.

The mark scheme - with suggested content for each answer - is available here.

If you don't finish this in the lesson make sure it is completed for homework - due Monday.

Year 12 Media Summer School with Sussex University

We've been given details of an amazing all-expenses paid opportunity to attend a Media/Journalism Summer School at the University of Sussex in Brighton. It's aimed at students who will be the first of their family to attend university and involves a stay on campus with all meals and accommodation paid for in August 2015.

There are more details on the Sussex University website or I've got some printed material with further details in DF07. This is the promotional video that Sussex use to advertise their Summer School:




It's a brilliant opportunity at a superb university in a beautiful part of the country (I know this for a fact as Sussex Uni is next door to the Amex Stadium where I saw Brentford win 1-0 against Brighton last week). 

So apply!

12C Cover Work/Homework: Wed. 21/1/15, p3/4

Remember the basic rules first:

• Arrive on time - make sure you register with the cover teacher/Mr Halsey/Mr Qureshi;
• Stay in the classroom until the end of the lesson;
• Work responsibly on the task set...

'Ill Manors' Trailer Analysis

Please complete all of this (including your 'Ill Manors' film review if you haven't done it yet) by Friday 23/1.