Age certification and target audience

British board of film classification

The BBFC are a regulatory board. Regulatory boards are organisations that are in charge of setting the rules that control certain sets of products in a specific industry. In this case, the BBFC regulates the British film industry.

Their job is to set rules about what can and can’t be put into films, and are also in charge of rating all films in the UK varying certificates based on the content of the films. A film cannot be released in the UK in cinemas or DVD without the BBFC giving it an age rating.

Things they consider when rating films:

Scenes including violence

Scene including sex and nudity

Scenes including obscure/ discriminatory language

Scenes of self harm

Scenes of criminal activity/ dangerous behaviour

Scenes of drug, alcohol and cigarettes

Scenes involving child actors/ characters

Strobe lighting

They also consider context: Animated or fantasy films are often allowed to have more violence as the BBFC recognises that audiences will be able to tell that it isn’t real. Also, there are often not any serious injuries shown in these films e.g lots of blood.

If a film portrays drugs in a negative way, and how they have bad consequences, it can be given a lower rating. However, if they portray drugs as positive and fun then it is given a higher rating so kids and young adults don’t get influenced. Violence is another example, e.g how realistic is the violence, is the violence punished? Is the violence enjoyed? Is it self defence?

Here are some examples of things that can/ can’t be included in each rating:

PG

Dangerous behaviour- no detail of behaviour that young children are likely to copy

No glamorisation of easily accessible weapons e.g knives

Drugs- reference to illegal drugs or misuse must be innocuous or carry a suitable anti-drug message.

Nudity- there may be nudity with no sexual context

Violence- violence is usually mild however is more moderate if justified by context for example history, fantasy.

12A

Discrimination- discriminatory language/ behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be accepted

Language- there may be moderate bad language however strong language can be permitted with justification

Sex- sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed.

Threat and horror- there may be moderate physical and psychological threat and horror sequences. However horror sequences should not be frequent or sustained

 

15

Dangerous behaviour- behaviour like self harming, suicide, should not dwell on detail which could be copied. The depiction of easily accessible weapons will depend on context

Drug- may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.

Sexual violence/ sexual threat- There may be strong verbal references to sexual violence, but any depiction of stronger forms of sexual violence, for example rape must not be prolonged. A strong, sustained focus on sexual threat is unacceptable.

Violence- violence may be strong, but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury.  The strongest images are unlikely to be acceptable.

 

18

Adults should be free to choose their own entertainment. Here are some exceptions the following areas:

Where material is in breach of the law

Where material or treatment appear to risk harm to individuals or society. For example detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts like sadistic violence, rape, or other non-consensual sexually violent behaviour which makes this violence look appealing.

Where there are more explicit images of sexual activity in the context of sew work.

I think the BBFC would make my opening sequence a 15, this is because:

There is quite strong violence, for example when she is hitting his head repeatedly against the lift wall and blood is running down his face. The violence in this sequence is quite consistent as it is a fight scene. Also, the character that is doing this is the heroin, so it shows ‘the good guy,’ being violent, which could promote violence to a certain extent. In this scene, there is, if not a constant, threat to both characters, for example when the man realises that the woman is lying, we are worried that something bad might happen to her, but then the man is in danger after the woman starts to fight him. These injuries and themes would be too violent for a 12 but I don’t think the sequence would need to be classified as an 18.