Research: Age certificate

Age certificates are given to each film by the BBFC. This is a legal requirement for films to have as they need to be classified so people know what films are appropriate for them to watch. This will help audiences feel safe in what they watch and parents of younger people to also know that what their child is watching is suitable for them. For the film industry, age certificates are important because it saves audiences from seeing things that are not appropriate for them.

The BBFC:

This is the BBFC's job to classify films properly.

There are different age certificates that a film might get in the UK and these are;

U - appropriate for all

PG - themes to not be harmful
12 - can start showing adult ideas, but these must be addressed in a non harmful way and should not be upsetting

12A - have to be accompanied by an adult if you are under 12

15 - can show adult themed content
18 - less restricted in what you can show. Content can be controversial.

Depending on what age certificate you receive, this depends on the content you can show in your films. For example, if you have a U certificate, all content must be appropriate for all ages. In the same way that if you have a 15 certificate, you can now start showing things that are a little bit more controversial like violence and alcohol use etc.

Thriller films:

Thrillers tend to get the age rating of a 15 or an 18. This is because the content that they have can be quite upsetting for younger audiences and they will show things like blood, violence etc. A lot of their films impact their audience so therefore the audience must be a little older in order to be able to deal with this.

My thriller film's age certificate:

After doing this research, I think that I will give my thriller film the age certificate of a 15. This is because my opening will show content of a disturbing nature and anyone younger might be really affected by this. Also, when looking at other thriller films like 'Scream', 'Seven', 'Halloween' and 'House at the end of the street' they all had this same certificate. If I choose an older audience, I can be more creative with how I show some of my themes of innocence, revenge and violence. I will not make it too extreme as my film will not be an 18.