Research: Age Certificates (Miss B)

Age certificates

 

The BBFC serves a social function in society which is to advise and protect viewers from moving images. The BBFC stand for British Board of Film Classification. They decide on censorship and based on the content of films they either ban or cut scenes to make it appropriate to watch. Also based on the content they decide on the age rating this basically means what age the film is suitable for and this is the age certification.

 

Thrillers usually have a age certification of 15 to 18 and over as the content can be disturbing it may include weapons, blood, religious content, language and drugs.

Films that have 'Universal' means that the film is suitable for all ages and because of this parents could allow their children to watch these films by themselves without worrying. The lion king can be an example film which has a rating of 'U'.

The Lion King has been rated as 'U' as it has no unappropriate content, and this means that it is suitable for younger years.

  PG stands for Parental Guidance. It means that it is duitable for general viewing, however some scene may not be suitable for young children.A PG film will not contain any theme which is inappropriate for a child. PG works can explore challenging issues such as bullying, bereavement or racism.





 

The difference between 12 and 12A is that the 12A requires an adult to accompany any child under 12 seeing a 12A film.

Aggressive discriminatory language (for example homophobic or racist terms) is unlikely to be passed at 12A or 12 unless it is clearly condemned.When a film is rated 12 it means that only children who are 12 or ove can watch it however if it is rated 12A this means that a child under the age of 12 can watch the film however with a parent.
One film that we can look at is Spider man that was released on 12A by the BBFC as it stated that the film was suitable for young children and becauseof this they recommended a parent to accompany the child who wants to watch the film.  This meant that children under the age of 12 could watch the film however they had to have someone with them.

The BBFC has come up with the 12A rating when a 12 rating already exisits. 12A rating means that children under the age of twelve should be accompanied by an adult when watching a film which is rated as 12A.The first film that a 12A rating was used was the sprider man. The reason for this was that the BBFC suggested that the film should be 15, however because the spider man has a large audience for the 15 below the film makes really wanted the age certification of 15 to be lower to allow the young spider man fans to watch their hero on the big screens. This is where the BBFC decided that the 12A should be used and anyone under the age of 12 must watch with a parent.

 

The 15 rated films usually have strong language,sexual nudity, discrimination and drugs.

The Judge has a 15 rating as it contains murder, strong language and sexual reference.

The last age rating is 18 and this is in th UK. People that are under the age of 18 are not permitted to watch the film, you would asked for ID in cinemas to watch these types of films. The reason for this age rating is that the films that are rated 18 may include the following:

• Criminal law
• Display criminal offence
• Use of illegal drug
• violence
• Sexual activity
• Strong language

 Saw 3 has a 18 rating. Jigsaw kidnaps a doctor to keep him alive while he watches his new apprentice put an unlucky citizen through a brutal test. The film contain brutal tests, blood, weapons and kidnaping may realate to real life.




Conclusion
I think that learning about age certification helped me alot now that I know the different age certifications and what they all include I can make sure that the thriller production that I make include suitable scenes. For example, 15 rating may be more suitable for my production as it is a thriller and it may include, strong laguage, violence, weapons and criminal offence.