British board of film classification (BBFC)
The BBFC is a regulatory agency that classify Films, TV shows and other forms of media into ratings suitable for an aged audience.
Classifications
U - The U symbol stands for Universal. A U film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. However, it is impossible to predict what might upset a particular child, especially at this lower end of the category range.
PG - PG stands for Parental Guidance. This means a film is suitable for general viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for younger children. A PG film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older but in case a child is sensitive to things being shown on screen, parental guidance is advised.
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12/12A - 12A means that anyone aged 12 or over can go and see the film unaccompanied. The A stands for 'accompanied' and 'advisory'. 12 means children younger than 12 may see the film but only if they are accompanied by an adult (eg someone over the age of 18), who must watch the film with them. A 12 category means; Strong language may be used but it must be infrequent and promiscuous behaviour must be brief and discreet. Violence is permitted however it must not be dwelled upon in detail however gore can be permitted if it is in context such as a medical drama might feature injuries. Dangerous behaviour is vague so not to effect the audience and any anti social behaviour is not to be endorsed as positive at all. There is to be no glamorisation of drug use.
15 - No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a ‘15’ rated DVD. 15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age. 15 category is the same specifics of the 12 except some features will be stronger, for example profanity will be more excessive.
18 - Films rated 18 are for adults. No-one under 18 is allowed to see an 18 film at the cinema or buy/rent an 18 rated DVD. No 18 rated works are suitable for children.
After researching the BBFC ratings i will now assign one to my film!
As a group we have decide to assign the rating 12 to our film, because there isn't any graphical violence, no sexual scenes but there maybe be possible profanity later on in the film, so the child may need to be accompanied by an adult so they can make the adult decision on whether to continue watching the movie or to leave because it is too mature for them, this is why the film hasnt been rated any lower and hasn't been rated 12A.
Our typical audience member, will be a working class male 16 -21 year olds of no certain ethnicity, but this film is up their street because they will be at that social age to go to cinemas with friends and will be into such genres as thriller's, horrors, comedies and action. Films like 'Die hard', 'The wolf of wallstreet' and 'Money never sleeps' will be their favourite films. They will be a typical school boy just starting or in the process of doing A levels, with low income as they will only have a small low wage part time job, we're thinking band E income which is around £3000 a year, which works out as £250 a month or £62 a week. They'll have found out about the film through social and media sites like youtube and facebook, and will most likely have gone to the cinemas to watch our movie or watched it on an approves media streaming site as this is what out target audience member frequents.
This is John Smith and represents our target audience.He is a white British male and he has a band E income of £3000 a year through his job as a part time store assistant in a supermarket whilst he studies in his final year at Birmingham Sixth Form before moving on to university. His favourite films include, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Die Hard 4.0, both of these being thrillers which is their favourite genre. He watches films with his friends of a similar age and will go to the cinema to watch them. Alternatively he uses a film streaming service such as Netflix or Love Film to watch movies from home. His hobbies include being an active member on social networking sites, taking part in part time sport events including football and swimming and they like to go to music festivals. He listens to a mixture of pop and rock music. He drives his own old black Volkswagen Golf and he currently resides at his parents semi detached house until he moves to University accommodation in a few months time.
Main elements and themes in our film:
Before I can go any further with this blog post I'm going to identify the main elements and themes of the full film. Here is the list of key words that represent the main themes and elements in the film:
Similar Genres and Themes
I now compare two films from the thriller genre, looking at the similarities and differences between the target audience of our film to their target audience
The movie i'm going to compare is 'Taken', here is a snap shot of the audience profile from Pearl & Dean's website. It's a Thriller just like our movie, 54% of the audience is males which is what we are expecting for our movie. The age range 15 - 24 is the highest viewing range with 38% of people being around this age, our expected age range is 16 - 21 so our film may similarly have this high percentage.
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12/12A - 12A means that anyone aged 12 or over can go and see the film unaccompanied. The A stands for 'accompanied' and 'advisory'. 12 means children younger than 12 may see the film but only if they are accompanied by an adult (eg someone over the age of 18), who must watch the film with them. A 12 category means; Strong language may be used but it must be infrequent and promiscuous behaviour must be brief and discreet. Violence is permitted however it must not be dwelled upon in detail however gore can be permitted if it is in context such as a medical drama might feature injuries. Dangerous behaviour is vague so not to effect the audience and any anti social behaviour is not to be endorsed as positive at all. There is to be no glamorisation of drug use.
15 - No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a ‘15’ rated DVD. 15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age. 15 category is the same specifics of the 12 except some features will be stronger, for example profanity will be more excessive.
18 - Films rated 18 are for adults. No-one under 18 is allowed to see an 18 film at the cinema or buy/rent an 18 rated DVD. No 18 rated works are suitable for children.
How much sex and nudity is allowed at rating 18 you ask?
There can be strong and detailed portrayals of sex at 18, including full nudity. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
Very strong, crude and explicit sex references are permitted at 18.
An 18 film or DVD might also contain depictions of real sex if it is justified by context, as long as the film or DVD is not a sex work.
R18 - The ‘R18’ category is a special and legally restricted classification primarily for explicit works of consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults. Films may only be shown to adults in specially licensed cinemas, and video works may be supplied to adults only in licensed sex shops. ‘R18’ videos may not be supplied by mail order.
After researching the BBFC ratings i will now assign one to my film!
As a group we have decide to assign the rating 12 to our film, because there isn't any graphical violence, no sexual scenes but there maybe be possible profanity later on in the film, so the child may need to be accompanied by an adult so they can make the adult decision on whether to continue watching the movie or to leave because it is too mature for them, this is why the film hasnt been rated any lower and hasn't been rated 12A.
Our typical audience member, will be a working class male 16 -21 year olds of no certain ethnicity, but this film is up their street because they will be at that social age to go to cinemas with friends and will be into such genres as thriller's, horrors, comedies and action. Films like 'Die hard', 'The wolf of wallstreet' and 'Money never sleeps' will be their favourite films. They will be a typical school boy just starting or in the process of doing A levels, with low income as they will only have a small low wage part time job, we're thinking band E income which is around £3000 a year, which works out as £250 a month or £62 a week. They'll have found out about the film through social and media sites like youtube and facebook, and will most likely have gone to the cinemas to watch our movie or watched it on an approves media streaming site as this is what out target audience member frequents.
This is John Smith and represents our target audience.He is a white British male and he has a band E income of £3000 a year through his job as a part time store assistant in a supermarket whilst he studies in his final year at Birmingham Sixth Form before moving on to university. His favourite films include, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Die Hard 4.0, both of these being thrillers which is their favourite genre. He watches films with his friends of a similar age and will go to the cinema to watch them. Alternatively he uses a film streaming service such as Netflix or Love Film to watch movies from home. His hobbies include being an active member on social networking sites, taking part in part time sport events including football and swimming and they like to go to music festivals. He listens to a mixture of pop and rock music. He drives his own old black Volkswagen Golf and he currently resides at his parents semi detached house until he moves to University accommodation in a few months time.
Main elements and themes in our film:
Before I can go any further with this blog post I'm going to identify the main elements and themes of the full film. Here is the list of key words that represent the main themes and elements in the film:
- Thriller
- Spook
- Journey
- Action
- Computer science
- Political
- Crime
- Banks
- Serious drama
- Secretive
Similar Genres and Themes
I now compare two films from the thriller genre, looking at the similarities and differences between the target audience of our film to their target audience
The movie i'm going to compare is 'Taken', here is a snap shot of the audience profile from Pearl & Dean's website. It's a Thriller just like our movie, 54% of the audience is males which is what we are expecting for our movie. The age range 15 - 24 is the highest viewing range with 38% of people being around this age, our expected age range is 16 - 21 so our film may similarly have this high percentage.
My second comparison from Pearl & Dean's website is 'The Tourist" with the 15-24 being the highest age rating again, but the gender percentages are more even than with the last film, this does not compare to our film as we're looking for a male majority audience.
