Friday, 27 September 2013

Research into Age Certificates & the BBFC - Miss Georgiou

The BBFC & age certificates

The British Board of Film Classification, abbreviated to BBFC is a media content regulator, who are in charge of classifying what age range of audience is appropriate for a film, depending on the films content, such as gore, violence and strong language.
The BBFC classifies each film as one of the following categories:

U - Should be suitable for audiences as young as four, with allowed very mild bad language such as 'damn', sexual activity should be kept at a maximum of kissing and cuddling. Very smalls amount of horror or violence and drug references should only be used if expressing a clear anti-drug message understandable by the audience.

PG - A PG film should not disturb any viewer around the age of eight or older, mild bad language can be used such as 'shit' but context and delivery of bad language is very important. Sex is allowed to be referenced if with lack of detail, if a child is unlikely to understand any reference or innuendo then this also may be allowed. There may be small amounts of violence featured involving minute amounts of blood, drugs can also be referenced but there should be no strong focus on it.


12A & 12 - 12A means that anyone at the age of 12 or over can go and see the film unaccompanied, children younger than 12 can view the film if accompanied by an adult over the age of 18, The 12A certificate is used for cinema only but is similar to the 12 certificate. Strong language can be used but must be infrequent, including words like 'f***', sex can also be referenced and moderate innuendos are allowed but must not go past what is moraly suitable for a young teenager. Moderate violence is allowed but should not be dwelled on in detail, there should be no emphasis on blood or injuries but occasional gory moments are permitted if supplied with contextual justification, sexual violence can also be referenced at 12 but must be brief and discreet but must also be justified. Discriminatory behaviour is out right not prohibited at 12, Drugs can be seen and referenced but must not be glamorised and must not provide instructional details.

15 - No-one under the age of 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a '15' rated DVD. A '15' rated DVD can include; strong violence, frequent strong language, portrayals of sexual activity, strong verbal references to sex, sexual nudity, brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence, discriminatory language or behaviour and drug taking. There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language but must not endorse or glorify such behaviour.

18 - Films rate '18' are for adults and no-one under the age of 18 is allowed to see and 18 film at the cinema or buy/rent an 18 rated DVD. An '18' rated DVD can include; very strong violence, frequent strong language and/or very strong language, strong portrayals of sexual activity, scenes of sexual violence, strong horror, strong blood and gore, real sex and discriminatory language and behaviour.
There are no constraints on nudity in 18 rated films which can contain very strong, crude and explicit sex references. The strongest gory images are permitted at this category.

1 comment:

  1. You have made a start in identifing some of the correct age certificates that are used within the film industry above, but you have not referenced your research, to show where your source came from. Also you need to ensure that you have completed your research, by including points on the 15 and 18 certificate audience.

    Within each age certificate, you need to relate to film examples, to show further understanding of the role of the BBFC and how it is used within the film industry.

    Finally, you still need to explain what age certificate your thriller will be and why, by focusing on the narrative of your thriller

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