Research into the BBFC age rating- Mrs Georgiou

                                 Research into the BBFC age certification

The BBFC are the British Board of Film Classification and are a non-government organisation that  runs off of the money from classifying films. They make no profit and do there job mainly to protect children  but also the public from harmful material such as violence and sexual scenes to show parents what films are suitable for themselves and there children and have been doing so since 1912.There ratings now are U,PG,12,12A,15 and 18 each have different themes suitable for there audience.
U: 
U is universal and acceptable for viewing by anyone no matter what age. It raises no adult themes such as violence,drug use, sex or nudity or bad language and does not portray any dangerous imitable behavior which could be copied by children wanting to do the same things as characters in films do.This certificate was made in 1912 when the BBFC was originally started and was one of there first rating certificates. Examples of films that apply to a U rating are The Smurfs and Rio which are targeted for children so contain no inappropriate themes .Although many films rated U are not necessary for just children, many older films have this certificate just because they were suited for the times that they were shown. Although the audience for these films are predominately children with there parents.

: PG
Pg is short for parental Guidance and can be seen by the general public or young children if they are accompanied by their parents. This film could be quite disturbing for a very young child and may not have children in mind when the director was making the film. An example for this could be the film The Artist which is a silent film which is not targeted towards a child audience but is a PG but maybe boring for children with no noise.No themes are not allowed at the certificate of PG but they need to be portrayed in a suitable manner.For example there may be blood but not how it was inflicted so not showing a open wound.Violence can be acceptable but it needs to be very weak and horror may only have some jumpy parts but none that depicts true scary images. References to sex can only be in brief detail and comedy can lesson the impact of them which then could be made acceptable.Bad language is acceptable as long as it is very mild e.g "bloody" or if it is in context. More examples of PG films are Madagascar, How to train your dragon and Toy Story.These again are mainly watched by children and there parents so have no adult themes.

12A/12:
12A means that anyone over the age of  12 can go into a cinema and watch the film and this certificate is only available at the cinema. The A means that children who are accompanied by an adult may see the film.This film certificate rating is just for film's at the cinema and is not used for DVD releases where a 12 is use but they are the same.This film may again have minor swearing ( shit,bitch) although no strong swearing (fuck) although no homophobic or racist words will be used.Sexual content will be mild but any strong references or images will take it up to a 15.Violence is acceptable but must not be the main point of a scene. It is acceptable however if strong things such as blood are in a appropriate place e.g hospital.There also may be drug use but it will only be referenced to or not visible on screen.An example of a 12A film is Iron Man 3 and Fast and Furious 6.Many adult films are rated 12A but are unintentional such as The Great Gatsby which children again find uninteresting. The audience  for this type of film is young teenagers and children so must be deemed appropriate for them and by their parents.

15:
15 rate films are only available to be watched by people who are over the age of 15 but not children accompanied by adults.In 15's any theme is allowed but some must be controlled as it is still not a 18 in certification. The things that are allowed are strong language, strong violence, sexual activity,sexual nudity, sexual violence , discriminating language,self harming and drug taking.Although these are portrayed in the film none can be perceived as endorsing any of the actions in the film as this could lead to dangerous consequences for the film makers.Also dangerous behavior is allowed in the film such as self harming and suicide but can not be the main focus for a long period of time as to not glorify it.Examples of films certified 15 are Olympus has fallen,2 Guns and Looper. The target market for this group of films is adults and old teenagers so adult themes may be used.These can be seen in the type of films that are produced under a 15 certificate.Children should not see these films as if they do they could be traumatized by the experience of seeing adult themes.Many adult who do not want to see a massive amount of violence or gore see these films as big adult themes are toned down.

18:
18 can only be viewed by people who are over the age of 18 and children are not allowed to view it as strong adult themes are current throughout the film.All themes are allowed for 18 as now people can choose whatever material is appropriate for them.So there is likely to be strong violence, strong sexual scenes and very strong language throughout and possibly some scenes adults may find disturbing.The only thing that is limited it things that portray thing such as terrorism and rape as acceptable things these will be not allowed and cut completely. Examples of some rated 18 films are Django Unchained, The Conjuring and Sin City.The audience for these films is strictly for adults and no children can see them and would be disturbing for younger children.Also many adults are put off by strong rating of films as they simple do not want to see them.


In conclusion the BBFC do a good job of putting different films into each of there certification categories depending on there content.We have found out what themes make each film and what makes them be put specifically into each category and then what audience then they are deemed suitable for.

My age certificate will be a 15 for many reasons.15 still allows adult themes which are hard to miss in a thriller film and anything above will be unnecessary as it is not a horror film so any themes can be toned down. Also a 15 opens the audience range that can see my film.If we made it a 18 many people could not see it and this limits our target audience and  some people would be put off with the high rating of the film and not see it.So overall it is old enough to have adult themes but not so strong to put people off.