Research - BBFC guidelines

We have decided to conduct some research into the BBFC guidelines because film certification is a requirement by law for every film that in made. Film certification can have a positive impact on the film as by having a certification that is linked to your target audience means the target audience are able to go and watch the film; however this can also have the opposite effect, by having a certification that is too high for you target audience to see means that they can't watch the film, which could result in disaster as the film won't be watched and won't make any turnover, For example 'This is England's' director 'Shane Meadows' wanted the film to be  marketed at young teens in order to educate them about what life used to be like in the 70's/80's, However after the film was given an 18 by the BBFC it had a very negative effect on the film as its audience weren't old enough to watch the film.

This is one of the main reasons that we decided to conduct this research ion order to see where abouts our film trailer would be classified so that we could get an idea of who our target audience would be.

We have conducted some research into the classification of films entering the UK cinemas and DVD rentals. We used the British Board OF Film Classification (BBFC). We used their website to find out about the classification of films to find out the age that our film could be screened to.

12 certificate

We firstly  looked at the 12 and 12A guidelines. we noticed that 12A means you need to be accompanied by an adult to see the film. we noticed that drugs could be shown however adults may find this unsuitable, We thought that our trailer would maybe be controversial so We thought that a higher certificate may be more acceptable.








15 certificate

Next we looked at the 15 certificate. This said that drug use could be shown however it must not glorify drug taking or show it in a positive way. Our Trailer wouldn't be doing this so it would fit in with this certificate; however I am going to check the 18 certificate anyway to see if that may be more suitable.

The 18 certificate states that
 drug use and even glorified  The 18 certificate states that drug use and even glorified drug use, this means that we can show any sort of drug use, However our drug scene won't actually show or glorify drug taking so I think that having an 18 certificate would be too high for our trailer.





I think that giving our film a 15 certificate would be the most suitable as this way we won't be showing 12 year old something their parents may find inappropriate, and also we won't have a Certificate that is too high for our target market to go and see.