RED: February 2014

ILL MANORS – TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

The movie I will be analyzing is called ‘Ill Manors’ which was directed by Ben Drew. The film was initially released on May 30^th 2012. The genre of this film is crime/drama.

The narrative for ‘Ill Manors’ is quite difficult to outline as the story is a multi-strand narrative which follows multiple characters and how each of their individual circumstances intertwine to become one big plot. However there is one character that is somehow linked to every single character and therefore it is appropriate to assume he is the main character. The movie begins with a young man, referred to as Aaron, watching a TV interview about foster care youth. He is sitting at home and smoking a cigarette. The audience will assume that this may be the equilibrium as it shows that he is in his home comfortable and nothing is going wrong. There is also a montage of a young man making cocaine, CCTV shots of social housing, scenes of drug use and violence. Although this may seem rather unstable, it is actually regarded as the norm in ‘Ill manors’ therefore it can still be considered the equilibrium. The first sign of disruption occurs when two men are standing behind a building presumably selling drugs when they are caught by the police, one of the boys gets caught and is sent to prison while the other escapes. This disruption leads to a chain reaction of several events to be caused. The first disruption ended up causing a young women being prostituted for money however once this was resolved it led to another problem as now the young women’s life was effected by the solution of the initial disruption. One of the last consequences of the disruptions that resulted in a resolution was when Aaron finds a baby left on the train carriage. All conflicts and disruptions are solved towards the end of the film as all the characters are gathering around a burning pub trying to save the baby who is locked in a room. This results in one of the characters, named Ed, being killed but the baby being saved. This can be seen as the third element in todorovs equilibrium cycle, resolution. The restored order occurs when each individual character finally resolves their issues, for example the mother of the baby gets her child back, one of the drug dealers gets arrested, a young girl learns to fight back and Aaron has decided to move on from his life in the estate. The new equilibrium begins with Aaron sitting in a mini cab driving away to somewhere, beginning his journey to his new life. Ill manors has an omniscient narrative throughout the film the audience constantly see the story of different characters and as all the characters are some how linked the audience are aware of things that will occur before they happen, giving them and omniscient perspective.

The genre codes and conventions for Ill Manors are conventional to a drama and crime movie. The story line connects emotionally with the audience by using the tragic lives of all the characters. The non-diegetic ambient music creates an emotional atmosphere and allows the audience to empathize with the characters more. The characters in the film appear to have a low status in society, we can see this through their costume and dialect. Majority of the characters are dressed in mainly sportswear such as hoodies, tracksuits, hats, shorts etc. These types of clothing are stereotypically worn by young teenagers involved in anti social behavior.

The themes of the film presented within ‘Ill manors’ include; racism, crime, death, forgiveness, redemption, exploitation, revenge, addictions etc. These are very conventional themes for this particular genre of film. The racism appears constantly throughout the film, the audience sees this in scenes such as when a young boy is tied up and beaten for the colour of his skin, or even when the police stop and search the teenagers. Death is a reoccurring theme throughout the film also and this links to both the crime and drama genre. Forgiveness and redemption are seen when Aaron decides to forgive his parents for giving him up for foster care and decides to start his life over to make up for the mistakes he made. Although these particular examples are only representing a few characters the themes listed above effect every character.

The cinematography of Ill manors was rather contemporary as there was a variety of shots and sizes. One of the main features that set Ill manors apart from other urban crime dramas was the fact that they use clips recorded by mobile phones within the movie. This allowed the audience to understand the naivety of the characters and witness how young the characters truly were. By filming these montages using a camera phone effect, it gave the film a sense of realness which effected the audience’s emotions more and raised their awareness on actual violence within the streets of London. The cinematographer, Gary Shaw, used a selection of shots which brought the movie ill manors to life. Several close up shots of the charters face and emotions where filmed in a shallow focus and this emphasised their facial expressions and dialogue.

At the beginning of the film there is an establishing shot of the mise en scene for Ill manors. The majority of the film is shot at eye level which gives the film a more realistic atmosphere. However some scenes, when preparing the drugs for example, are filmed in either a high angel or at a bird’s eye view. There is a scene in the film when one of the characters is removing a gun from a water tank and this is shot as a P.O.V of the object he is taking.

The diegetic and non-diegetic music used in Ill manors was mainly Urban street music. This music was appropriate to use as it reflected the mise en scene and also the characters personality. Majority of the film was filmed in low key lighting, showing off a darker London. The director of the film was attempting to create a grim and brutal outlook on London city. He achieved this by filming scenes in the night using the street lamps as the main source of light shown on screen.

Aaron’s character is presented as a young man who has the capability to become a good person but is trapped in his life on the streets. The storyline goes on to show the audience the trials and tribulations Aaron undergoes to become the man he does at the end of the film, and how his actions along with others have an impact on his life and theirs. By creating a multi strand narrative the story line also portrays a clear message to the audience; the links suggest that although we as a society may not be participating in such acts first hand we are still linked to the root of the problem and therefore it takes multitude of people to make a change rather than leaving it on the shoulders of one individual.

Analysis on clip

The sequence begins with a young man typing something on his phone. The shot is a deep focus as it concentrates on the group of teenagers in the background who appear to be rapping. The shot refocuses on the young man. The scene then cross cuts to the group of teenagers rapping, the diegetic sounds the rappers make works to create the atmosphere within the scene. The young rappers are shot from an over shoulder angle and the movement of the camera is handheld. The scene cross cuts back to the young man who is now talking on the phone, The scene changes angles as it now shoots the young man from behind him in a long shot as he leans against a telephone pole and we can see a blurry image of police officers approaching him. The scene cuts and now shows the back of the police officers as they begin to stop and search the young man, the background presents a blurry image of the youths who are still rapping, this is once again filmed in a long shot. The scene cross cuts back to the rapping youths, the movement of the camera is handheld. The scene cuts back to the young man being searched at medium long shot. The scene cuts and shows a blurry head of a woman walking towards the two men. The scene cuts to a medium long shot of the boy leaning on the pole and the officers and woman’s face can now be seen clearly. The characters speak to each other and the scene cuts to another angle at eye level where the young man speaks to the ‘Social Worker’. The police look as if they are standing in between them. The scene cuts and changes angle to a medium long shot showing the social worker explaining herself to the officer, however this scene also shows more background then before, the officer cuts her off and looks into the direction of the background. The camera cuts to the direction the officer is staring at and we see that the other officer is receiving a message. The scene cuts to young man as he stares at the officer with a hateful expression. In the scene we can see the two officers run off in the background however the camera is focused on the young man. The Young man speaks to his social worker and we can see that he respects her and that she is important to him. The scene cuts to a long shot of the two talking from a side angle, more of the mise en scene is presented through this as we can see the man is standing at a back road, and there are bins in the background. The scene cuts back and forth as over shoulder medium long shot as the two converse. The camera once again cuts to a side view as the social worker offers the young man a letter. These three shots continue until final the young man takes the letter. The scene the cuts to a close up high angle shot of the letter the young man is holding and then it cuts back to a long shot where he places the letter in his pocket.

Throughout this scene there is low key lighting as it was filmed in the night. The mise en scene appears to be filmed in an urban area in London city. The characters of the youths in the scene appear to be dressed in hoodies, hats, jogging bottoms and trainers. The officers are costumed in their uniform, which is a florescent green jacket. The social worker is dressed in casual wear.

There is no non diegetic music in the scene however there are the diegetic sounds of the youths who are rapping. This rapping appears to be off screen when the shots of the young man appear however on screen when it cuts to the actual location of the rapping. The Diegetic music sounds out when the dialogue begins however at the very end the music slowly fades in.