The BBFC and Film Certificates
The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) are an institute that monitor and set various rules for the British Film Industry. They are in charge of providing a specific age rating for each film for a cinema (if needed) and DVD release.
When providing a certificate for a film they must consider the following points:
- violence of all forms
- nudity and sexual activities
- offensive language (swearing and slurs)
- self harm
- criminal activity/behaviour
- risky dangerous actions eg.jumping off a building
- drugs and alcohol
- children and what happens to them
- strobe lighting
However these points must be taken into consideration along with the context of the film and how they are portrayed.
What Must a Film Have To Receive A Certain Rating?
A U rated film must be suitable for all audiences. Dangerous behavior must be clearly and completely disapproved of and shown to be wrong or must be completely unrealistic. Discriminatory language is not acceptable unless it is completely portrayed to be absolutely wrong and immoral. Use of drugs of any kind should be infrequent or non existent, however may be allowed if shown in an educational context. Mild bad language must be non existant or infrequent. Very Occasional Nudity with no sexual context. Scary and unsettling to be kept minimal. Violence should be mild or completely unrealistic.
A PG rated film must not unsettle children from eight or older. Dangerous behavior must be made sure to not make young children copy it and must not be glamorized. Discriminatory language is not acceptable unless it is completely portrayed to be absolutely wrong and immoral or in a historical context. Use of drugs of any kind should be infrequent or non
existent, however may be allowed if carrying a clear anti drug message. Mild bad language soley. Very Occasional Nudity with no sexual context. Scary and unsettling should not go on for too long. Violence should be mild but can be moderate but must have a lack of detail. A 12/12A must be suitable for children aged 12 and older. Dangerous behavior must be made unlikely to copy. Discriminatory language is allowed but must not be completely supported by the film. Use of drugs should not be frequent . Moderate bad language is allowed. Nudity
allowed but with little sexual context. Sa moderate amount of scare/threat is allowed. Violence can be moderate but must not be too detailed.
An 18 rated film can be watched adults aged 18 and over. There are only a few exceptions in what is not allowed: the content appears to harm audiences, extreme sexual activity, content where the main purpose is sexual stimulation and arousal should be placed in the R18 rating.
A R18 film can only be watched in specifically licensed cinemas and seen by those aged 18 or over, the following points are not acceptable: material breaching criminal law, material that
encourages abusive sexual activity, infliction of pain that is likely to cause serious physical harm, the penetration of an object that can cause serious harm and sexual humiliation and threat.
I personally think that if the BBFC were to rate our opening sequence they would give it a 15; this is because the level of danger and threat is pretty serious, it is very scary and could definitely disturb younger audiences, it is not too graphic and there is minimal blood but is fairly violent. In addition to this the rest of the film gets more disturbing with more of the man's various kills; had i judge solely the opening sequence alone a 12A cinema release may have been possible with clever editing but hard to pull off but the rest of the film does escalate further which is why i think it would be given a 15 age rating.
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