Ill Manors Trailer Analysis

1) What are the typical codes and conventions of film trailers - what information is usually provided?

The typical codes and conventions used in film trailers are listing the production institutions, the actors and reviews of the film. The trailer's format is often a montage of different clips from the film that gives the audience an overview of the overall narrative. Some trailers may also have voice overs or text on the screen to not only help audiences understand what the film is about but also creates drama and enigma codes to make the audience want to watch it. The trailers often include music as well, to convey to the audience, the overall atmosphere of the film e.g creepy, slow paced music would be played for a horror film trailer whereas light, fast paced music would be played for a comedy film trailer. Trailers will almost always include the date of the release of the film to inform the audience when they can see the film.

2) How are trailers distributed?

Trailers are often shown as adverts on TVs as many people own TVs and the trailers would be able to reach the audiences easily. Trailers are always shown in cinemas as well, before playing the film because the trailers would be able to reach their target audiences (film fanatics) directly. Trailers can also be shown as adverts on the internet before being able to access the content that you actually wanted. Trailers are most commonly shown on sites such as You Tube which allows the viewers to skip the advert, but there are several people who will not skip adverts and would be compelled to watch the different trailers on the adverts.

3) How does the Ill Manors trailer use trailer conventions?

Ill Manors use many of the key trailer conventions such as listing the production institutions, revolver entertainment and Plan B enterprises to not only make the audience aware of the institutions used in the particular film but to also advertise for the institutions. Unlike normal trailers, Plan B does not show the names of the main actors in the trailer. This is mainly due to the actors not being very famous but it also makes the movie seem less like fiction and more like reality which any of the viewers can be involved in. Also, since the actors are not shown in the trailer, this may lead the audience to be intrigued as to what kind of acting style the actors have. Ill Manors is Plan B's first feature film and as he is quite experienced, the audience may not want to watch the film but as positive reviews of the film are shown in the trailer, it may persuade more people to watch the film. However, there are several reviews from magazines that are typically for men which proves the film to be more oriented around men's tastes in film which may result in a small loss of female audience members. Film trailers are often a montage of different clips from the film which gives a brief overview of the plot but the way the trailer has been edited makes it slightly difficult for the audience to decipher a storyline. It does show off the atmosphere of the overall film as the various clips of guns, drugs and violence is shown which may have been enough to attract a large audience. The text shown at the beginning of the trailer enhances the audience to believe that there is a deeper significance of the film's concept and also highlights the fact that there is a moral to be learnt at the end of the film.

4)  Who is the target audience? Does it have a unique selling point or use particular techniques to appeal to the audience? Consider the way the scenes are edited together – does the trailer give away any clues about the narrative? Are the main stars visible in the trailer? Is there information about the director of the film? Is there information about the release date? Is a narrator’s voice-over used? Why?

The target audience of the film seems to be men ranging from the age of 18 to 25. This is because Plan B tries to explicitly show that there are a large proportion of young adults who leads similar lives to the characters and show that anyone has a possibility of leading a life like that. It might be aimed at young male adults as the main characters are of a similar age and young males would be able to identify with the main characters more. The unique selling point of the trailer and the film are that Plan B's original raps are used to narrate the story and give the audience an overview of the film. The text shown at the beginning of the trailer gives importance and stronger meaning to the events that take place in the film  

5)How has the genre of the film been represented through characters, settings, lighting, colour, music/dialogue, camera shots/movements/angles and editing?

The genre of the film is an urban crime drama. The audience are able to tell that the film is an urban drama due to the settings of the film being primarily in the streets. Even the different houses and indoor locations are shown to be very run down and gives the audience the idea that the characters are not very wealthy and are of low class. Also, The scenes are mostly shot during the night which accentuates the shady, criminal activities going on. The characters speech patterns also highlight the genre of the film as it shows that they are quite young and not of a high background.  The different camera angles used emphasises the fast paced story plot and allows the story to jump from different plots that are ultimately woven together. The editing of the scenes during the rap narration are often sped up which matches with the speed of the rap that is used. These scenes often include some sort of violence or drugs which, once again, shows that the genre is a crime drama genre.