ILL Manors, film review:

Director- 

The director, Ben Drew "Plan B" - a rapper, singer/songwriter, actor, film director and producer hasn't directed any other films, however has served as an actor in the films The Sweeney & Harry Brown. Ben's creative and significant use of shots respectively earns him to be acknowledged as an in fact, good director and producer, plus his first film. Creative aspects of Ill Manors is towards the very end, the cab driver is seen to be Ben, himself. 

Main stars- 

Aaron, played by "Riz Ahmed" has starred in several movies. He's most known for Four Lions, a comedic, British black movie, following realistic conventions of the Muslim community and so on. It's realism approach to comedy is what made the movie such a success, people could truly relate and see some of the stuff being said in the film. Film context wise, he is known to be the protagonist. He appears the most out of everyone, and he serves as the equilibrium towards the middle when he attempts to save the abandoned baby. He also doesn't show any signs of being the bad guy, at all, in fact his whole outfit that connotes a 'chavy' sort of person is not what he is at all, and is instead a misinterpretation. Examples of misinterpretations is during the scene when he holds out a gun, but instead it is just him and the mirror.  

Ed, played by "Ed Skrein" is most known from the television series, Game of Thrones. His role in Ill Manors, aside with Aaron seems to be him being the 'helper' towards the end when a fire breaks out at the club, and attempts to save the baby. However this view of him may be skeptical towards some viewers as he also brings down the gun first.

Plot - 

The plot seems to be very dynamic to each situation that each person is in. Ill Manors, interestingly, doesn't just follow a central goal and set of people. Drug dealer, Ed loses his cell phone and to compensate for his loss, uses Michelle who is a drug addict to obnoxiously ask for an innkeeper to pay to 'use' her for the night. Aaron, while on the train, finds an abandoned baby and seeks to help. He returns to Ed with a gun and a baby. The baby of course had it's reasons for being left as it is, sex slave, Katya wanted nothing to do with it.

Characters - 

As stated before, Riz Ahmed who plays Aaron is the protagonist. His character comes to show how even someone affiliated with anti-social, crime, violence related things can change for the better. Riz's acting seem to perfectly fit the character Ben Drew visioned, someone who is neither good or bad. Bad because of his affiliations and good because of his morals. Similar to this may be Ed, played by Ed Skrein. Ed has shown skeptical change, however ends with a dreadful death - falling out the window. His acting is not the conventional 'bad guy' because we actually see sympathy from him, especially during the scenes with the baby.

Genre - 

The obvious answer for Ill Manor's genre would be Crime & Drama. The involvement of drugs, weapons, violence or any other explicit content is evident of this. Drama, because the constant roller coaster of integrity plays a lot with people in the film. However we as the audience only even realise the drama halfway through, just when the real plot unfolds. Despite this, there are some aspects of comedy, too. An example would be the first scene with all 3, Ed, Aaron and the baby, behind the dumpster. Comedic, goofy things play off between the two when the gun is smudged inside the baby's diaper. To even make it worse, it is covered in faeces.

Soundtrack - 

Songs used in the film were very conventional of a British, urban, ghetto area. Music genres such as grime, rap, hip/hop or any other variations were used to obviously mirror this. As a result, the choices were absolutely parallel to the situations in the film, people's struggles slowly became less transparent and we understand the same struggle as of underrated music artists trying to make a living. This, meaning that the music choices weren't soft or relaxing at all, and instead were very rough or gave a feeling of struggle something we associate with ghetto, urban areas. Personally, I did like the music used specifically on a film genre like this, and totally expected it.

Audience -

Speaking from the director's influence on the film, the audience would most likely be Plan B's music fans. Plan B is a rapper, so in respect the genre he offers connects well with the conventions of Ill Manors, which is very gritty and 'underground'. In addition, I feel like some of the audience could also relate to the plot as the realism in Ill Manors is completely understandable. 

On the other hand, some audiences may just be interested by the whole thing, especially those foreign to the UK. It sort of does give a negative view, however it is what it is, and the film tries to explain the unpleasant side by making it enjoyable and intriguing, so they made a film using different aspects that draw people in and explain things. 

Age wise, Plan B's audience would most likely be teenagers, ranging from ages of 12-18. Outside that, young adults that study UK's crime history and such, or those who just watch it for enjoyment.  

   

January assessment: learner response:

WWW: "There is a lot to build on here... you start well and make some good points with reference to                 media theory."
EBI: "To reach the higher levels you need a 'wide range' to your responses. Some of your answers                are repetitive or not relevant to the question." "-You have quite an informal style...developing              a strong, academic topic sentence at the start of each paragraph would really help."

LR:  

The mis-en-scene represented in the advert has various different techniques used to convey it's not only message of safely driving, but values that a person holds.

Firstly to notice is the costume that the daughter wears. It is a costume of a fairy, connoting death, hence from not taking precautions when driving. It is ultimately a way of reaching out to people, however more effectively as it is an emotional method which draws attention. In addition, the fairy costume subject is a young, female child, and is even more convincing and persuasive.

Other things to note are also the safe home setting. It subverts the realism of driving, and tells us that anything is possible when driving without taking safety measures. Adding to the realism would also be the high-key lighting. Contrasts between dark and light are less pronounced, making as if the whole bizarre image of driving in your living room with your family there, is considered to be as real. It sets an emotion of comfort, which the family gives. Also, the fact that it is set in a "living" room would be also highly ironic.

Expressions also emphasize the emotions shown. From a narrative view in the beginning, we are known for everything to go as happy as it is, however the sudden change and reaction to it turns everything around, creating an even more impacting effect. This sudden change of image is also essentially the same as when driving perfectly and crashing.  

The British film industry: institutional context:

1. ) What makes a film "British" - there are several reasons. The 'cultural test' is a test by the BFI (British Film Industry), in order to class whether it falls under and qualifies as a British film. This can be judged and goes over a few things until they meet UK's film agreements, cinematography co-productions and the cultural film test itself. The 'few things' that it goes over is the cultural content, contribution, hub and practitioners. This means taking into account whether: The producer is British, the cast is British, film subject is British, follows British conventions and culture and etc.
2. ) British Film cultural tests:

Financing: £3,000,000 - £3 million

Cultural context:

Location - London - 4 points
Characters - All British - 4 points
Language - All in English language - 6 points
Conventions - All British - 4 points
Subject matter - British - 4 points
Cultural practitioners - 7 points
Cultural hub - 2 points

 

Financing: $8,000,000 - $8 million

Cultural context:

Location - London - 4 points
Characters - British - 4 points
Language - All in English language - 6 points
Conventions - Both ethnicity of Black and white used - 4 points
Cultural practitioners - 7 points
Cultural hub - 2 points

 

Financing: £15,000,000 - £15 million

Cultural context: 

Location - London - 4 points
Subject matter- British - 4 points
Characters - British - 4 points
Language - All in English language - 6 points
Cultural practitioners - 7 points
Cultural hub - 2 points



Financing: £200,000,000 - £200 MILLION

Cultural context:

Location - London - 4 points
Subject matter - British - 4 points
Characters - British - 4 points
Language - All in English language - 6 points
Cultural practitioners - 4 points
Cultural hub - 2 points

4.) The main problem that arises would be the revenue lost. Lost from a film's distribution rights when exhibiting, hence promoting it. Revenue wise, all will be lost from DVD's and Blu-ray sales. It is overall sacrificing a film's distribution rights, but for in exchange of exhibition. One compensates the other for the film.

5.) The British film industry has a very longer history - about farther than the time of the first World War, as a result, films were more significant and drawed a great deal of attention. Statistics wise, it has an impressive number of 5% of world-box office takings, which is extremely good, given that it is such a small scale when compared to the rest of the world. 

6.) The British film industry has 2 options - either collaborate with the successful, American, Hollywood industry or simply make films on a lower budget. 

The reason for conjoining with an American film industry is to keep everything stable, whether it'd be revenue, popularity etc. The British film industry simply cannot hold on it's own, and cannot compete. Statistics are evident.  

The second option would be to film on a lower budget. The British film industry seems to be spending more on input, rather than a greater output of that matter. Their needs cannot simply meet their expected demands. 

7.) Taking note of how far and successful the American industry are, there would be absolutely no chance, or even close to going tier-to-tier with them. Respectively, it would be safer to rely on American studios, give that they can share their success (American) as a result. On the contrary, using instead low-budget films wouldn't be an appropriate choice. Speculating that low-budget films equates to low popularity, hence revenue etc, the British film industry would be consistent in not moving up or down, at all.  
   

MEST1: Section B: The British film industry:

1.) What makes a film "British" - there are several reasons. The 'cultural test' is a test by the BFI (British Film Industry), in order to class whether it falls under and qualifies as a British film. This can be judged and goes over a few things until they meet UK's film agreements, cinematography co-productions and the cultural film test itself. The 'few things' that it goes over is the cultural content, contribution, hub and practitioners. This means taking into account whether: The producer is British, the cast is British, film subject is British, follows British conventions and culture and etc.

2.) There are obviously lots of differences between Hollywood and the British film universe. Production wise, Hollywood would obviously have higher production quality and costs, respectively being the reason of Hollywood sort of pioneering the film industry. However there are the exception of some British films having close to, if not higher than Hollywood production costs, example would be "Spectre", James Bond.

3.) The James Bond franchise actually has started a while back than what people would normally imagine. The first Bond, "007" movie was in 1962. 

4.) Censorship and graphic content has definitely changed in the British film universe throughout the 1970's and 1980's. Movie dynamics, conventions etc have definitely changed as a result. Censorship and graphic content has definitely been taken more seriously, as a result hundreds, if not thousands of British films have been banned.

5.) British films tend to have a very conventional, British way of films, especially in the older movies. Groups such as gangs, foreigners, etc are what we associate and what is alienated in British films. As a result, stereotypes definitely are either completely challenged or completely demonstrated. 

6.) The British films facsheet suggests that the audience are more appealed by the attachment and relation they get from a movie, example being a World War 2 themed film. Films have really pushed people's emotional buttons and as a way of this, has appealed to them, a lot.