Age certificate workshop:

 

-   The BBFC is in charge of making the rules which control the age certificates that films have.

-   The rules are guidelines to what can be shown by each age certificate.

-   A film cannot be released in the UK unless it has been checked and been through the BBFC.

-   Age certificates in the UK

o   U

o   PG

§  Anyone can see with permission from an adult

o   12A

§  Anyone under 12 can see with an adult. Can contain some scenes of violence, but nothing too graphic or realistic. No dangerous scenes that may be imitated by young children.

o   12

o   15

§  Anyone 15 and older can see. Can contain scenes of violence in the correct context, but any hard use of drugs or alcohol will likely raise the rating.

o   18

§  Anyone 18 and over can see. Can contain everything from the list below.

 

 

 

-   The BBFC have to consider

o   Violence

o   Nudity and sexual scenes

o   Language

o   Discrimination and discriminatory language

o   Self-harm scenes

o   Criminal activity

o   Dangerous behaviour that children may imitate

o   Drugs, alcohol and cigarettes

o   Child actors

o   Strobe lighting

o   Context

§  For example, in animated children’s movies, there is violence but as it is animated or with the use of superpowers, we can tell it isn’t real and so can get a lower age certificate. Same with drug use, and how serious it is being portrayed, and whether it is being portrayed as good or bad in the film.

-   For violence, they consider:

o   How normal is the violence?

o   Why is there violence (self-defence?)

o   What injury’s/harm?

o   Who is being violent?

o   How does the attacker treat the victim?

o   Do they enjoy the violence?

o   Is the violence portrayed as exciting and special?

o   How frequent?

o   How realistic?

o   Does the violence go unpunished in the film?

-   Also depends on the format of release (DVD release tend to be stricter than cinema release as there isn’t anyone checking your age)

-   The process

o   The production company sends a film to the BBFC, in which they watch and give a certificate. The production company may now release it at the cinema or on DVD. If the production company didn’t like the rating given to them, they have to option of re-editing the film and sending it back to be evaluated again.

 

 

 

-   What certificate will my film likely be given?

o   The film that we are making has one short bit of violence throughout it. This scene is quite graphic, since it is a gunshot however, it is very short lasting. There is also another scene of graphic content, with the people that the murderer tried to kill. However, the overall tone of this opening scene that we are trying to achieve is that the detective is a strong and powerful character. This means that the rest of the scene is subordinate to that one part, making the scenes of violence and graphic content seem better as they are overshadowed by the strong detective character. Also, the killing scene is done as part of her job. I would give our film a 15 rating, as despite the tone of the film not being about violence or about scary scenes, the scene does include this, and therefore I believe that if we gave our opening scene into the BBFC, we would receive a 15 rating.