Research: Age Certificates - Miss Begum

Age Cerfiticates

What is the role of BBFC and why are they important to the film industry?

- The BBFC stands for British Board of Film Classification, they are known as highly expert and experiences regulator of the moving images. They provide a social function within the public to advise & protect them from inappropriate images and films. They also provide public information that helps them and parents to make the right decisions that are appropriate and protect their family and other vulnerable viewers.
- As playing the role of the judges within the media industry, they decide whether the production which was given to them is legal or not and whether to be published to the public. In the process of checking to see if it is suitable to release, they can report scenes that are inappropriate to be removed or won't be released. Once they have made their decision, it is very rare that they will change their mind due to the affect towards the public and the right of the media industry.

What are the different age certificates?

Example of films:

* Universal:

* PG (Parental Guidance):

* 12:

* 12A:

* 15:

* 18:




- Spiderman was the first 12A film in 2002, viewers argued the Spiderman was too violent for children and has a controversial narrative, so should not be given a PG rating. Therefore, the BBFC gave it a 12 rating. Other viewers argued that spiderman was a childhood comic hero so it was only fair that children are allowed to watch it. It was then given a 12A which means that those under 12 could only watch it if accampanied by an adult.

- The age certificates that thrillers tend to get are 15 and above because they usually contain violence, illegal acts and potrays of sexual scenes. This may be harmful for children that are younger than the age of 15 without their parents guidance. However, there are expectation within the industry, for example for those who are above 15 but under 18, there are limits of inappropriate things that they are allowed to see in a film production such as a little bit of sexual, strong language, a bit of drugs and certain weapons. Even for those who are 18 and above, there are still certain limits of sexual, drugs and violence due the limits of the film industry. To make it clearer, for example if a thriller includes too much sexual scenes, it would look like pornography or if a thriller includes too much drugs, it would like the film is promoting illegal drugs. For my own thriller, I would like to give the age certificates to be above 15.

Conclusion

- All the information above has helped me to have a wider understanding of age certificates within a film production. For my thirller, I would need to consider the age certificates to be above 15 and I need to make sure that it don't get shown for younger children. Also, I need to make sure to get actor who is older than the age of 15.