Research into age certificates and the role of the BBFC - Miss Georgiou

How Does The BBFC Work?

 

In order to help protect young children from unsuitable gruesome scenes in inappropriate films. The examiners have to take into consideration, Children, Teenagers and Adults. The BBFC have guidelines that help them categorise the criteria helped to rate the films and DVDS in Britain. They update the certificates every four years and take into account the changing views on things such as violence, sex, language and drugs in the modern days. The British Board Of Film Classification, choose what age certificates film get. This can either be U, PG, 12, 12A, 15 and 18.

"The BBFC is a trusted guide to media content. Working as an independent, self-financing and not-for-profit media content regulator, the BBFC operates transparent, consistent and trusted co-regulatory and self-regulatory classification and labelling systems in the UK."

They are very experienced at classifying. They serve with the intention to protect viewers form videos that might be inappropriate or harmful, this is then given to the view for them to decide them-self because over the age of 18 an adult has their own choice.

As a highly expert and experienced regulator, our mission is to:

• protect the public, mostly children form content with might raise harm risks
• empower the public, especially parents, to make informed viewing choices
• recognise and respect adult freedom of choice with the law
• respond to and reflect changing social attitudes towards media content through proactive public consultation and research
• work in partnership with the industry to develop innovative service models to provide content advice which support emerging media delivery systems
• provide an effective service to enforcement agencies

There are many different ratings starting at U all they to R18, the argument over the recent years has been that adults shouldn't have a freedom of choice because if a film has broken the law while filming, something that could consist of illegal drug use or sexual assault.

On the other hand an adult has the right to make their own decisions, but I think that there should be the age 21 certificate because at the age of 18 a mind is still easy to psychologically harm and 21 should be the right age for a brain to mature enough to be able to with stand such images. Also the argument of should there be different a special age set for people with mental illness because a film that is psychologically effective can have a massive effect on them.

A story that has made a big effect on the rating system is the release of Spiderman(2002) The final fight scene with the Green Goblin was said to be been too violent for 12 year olds but shouldn't but put up to a 15, this is because the fight scene was very intense and not so animated like the other fight scenes, showing knifes, blood and death by their superhero using such weapons it makes them more glamourized making younger children want to play with them meaning as they grown up may think that its normal to act like this. They could also copy the actions while playing making them dangerous. The creators tried to change how intense it was by editing but did not want to lose the storyline, the main audience for this film was around 12 and older if it was a 15 they would lose a high percentage of their audience.

After much consideration the BBCF made a new category 12A meaning with adults consent, making it clear to parents that there was strong sense to violence in the filming and it could be there decision if there child is wise enough to watch this.

Individual Narrative Ideas - Miss Georgiou

  This blog will be explaining my own personal ideas for a narrative. It will include, inspirations and how they have inspired me, an opening sequence and my target audience. 

Inspirations

When trying to imagine my own thriller, I had to think of films that made me feel the suspense and tension. Therefore I chose to look at what would become my 'Inspirations'
 The 'Saw' films were just one inspiration of mine. 

• The Human Centipede.
• The 'Insidious' films.
• Harpers Island.

These are just a few inspirations of mine, this is as they all use conventions of a thriller. Such as low key lighting, realistic - ness and mysteriousness, these together build a strong thriller, which grip the audience from the outset.

First Idea's...  

To reach a first idea and plot for my opening sequence, I took my inspirations and thought about the main features, Characters and Location. Therefore these are my first ideas...

• Characters - 3 girls, Amy, Stacy, Hannah - 3 Boys, Sam, Jack, Mark - 2 killers
• Location - Woods
• Time - Halloween night
• Target Audience - Certificate 15 aimed at teenagers

Plot

A group of girls go camping on Halloween night. They start to hear starnge sounds from outside, coming out of their tent the sounds start getting louder. The girls are scared and have no idea what to do. A group of boys jump out on them.

Once the boys go home, the girls plan to go to bed, however the sounds start again, they think its the boys, although this time it isn't...

Research into Cinematography- Miss Miller

Cinematography is significant to a thriller film, as it builds a relationship between the audience and the characters, through emotion and their actions. It helps creates an understanding of the film, allowing the audience to be drawn in.

One of the shots that I acknowledged was a ‘point of view’ shot. In this meticulous shot it shows one of the nuns of the orphanage and a married couple looking through a gap in the door looking at an orphan girl, before walking in. This shot views a child isolating herself from the other orphans in a room and instead painting. It shows that there is something suspicious about the child to why she may not want to mix with others and do normal ‘childlike’ activities. This ‘point of view shot is conventional to a thriller film as it creates tension, an enigma and makes the audience question the child; there’s something not normal, as her maturity does not match her age. This could lead to the audience coming to some sort of conclusion to what’s going to happen next with the expectation being that her identity is false. 

The second shot I found was a ‘close up’ shot. The camera is zoomed up on the orphans face smiling innocently and childlike, as she introduces herself to a married couple. This shot is made to look as if she is a perfect, well behaved child that any parents would want to adopt. This is conventional to a thriller film as the audience can see that she is the perpetrator with typical pale white skin and dark hair, which is a classic narrative within a thriller. 

The third shot I chose to analyse was a ‘mid’ shot. This particular shot portrays that the orphan, Ester overlooking her new sister, Max. This image foreshadows that something bad is going to happen to max. This is conventional as the setting is all very predictable; pitch-black room with a thunder storm occurring outside, flashing images of Ester in a white gown; supposedly the colour of innocence. This creates contrast. This scene relates to most features of a conventional thriller with the setting, sound, cinematography and mise en scene. The audience begin to worry and sympathise for Max's safety as they feel harm may come to her in time.

Within this piece of work, it has taught me that the choice of camera shots is vital within a thriller film in order to grab the audience’s attention and create understanding. Through my analysis of Orphan I found that the ‘point of view’ shot was the most interesting out of the three. I felt this way, as for me being the viewer, it built numerous emotions such as suspicion and made me question the orphans character. Drawing in an audience’s emotion, I feel is vital as it creates vivid understanding, and I will focus on this aspect when I come to making my own 2 minute opening for a thriller film. 

Research Into Editing styles - Miss Georgiou

Scream 3 - The Cutting Room

In this Blog, I am going to discuss different editing types, within the movie 'Scream 3'.Editing describes the relationship between shots and the process by which they are combined. I will include Straight cuts, Reactions shots, linking shots and many more. I will also explain how each of these edits effect the feeling and reaction of the audience and how they will link into my own thriller.

'Straight Cut' and 'Jump cut'

A straight cut is when a change of shot from one view point or location to another, it is frequently used to change the scene. In 'Scream', four seconds in to the scene the use of straight cutting and jump cut occurs. This is when the screen rotates from the female to then focus on the phone. It builds tension and suspense which is typical of a thriller. The female is unaware of the message and who it is from, and therefore this makes the audience feel uneasy. It relates to thriller films as it is a secret identity behind a phone, this creates mystery. The director leaves the audience wondering who the identity of the killer is even when further disasters start to occur, the audience still do not know who the killer is. 

'Reaction Shot'

A reaction shot is any shot in which the character reacts to the previous shot. In this scene the reaction shot happens when the female reacts to the threatening phone call, her facial expressions show how she is feeling. The killer threatens the woman over the phone which then leaves her feeling shocked, fearful and panicked.  When the camera pans over to the female we see the fear on her face, this is a reaction shot. This type of shot draws the audience into the scene as they long to see what will happen. It leaves the audience on the edge of their seat

.

'Linking shot'

A linking shot is where a number of shots are linked together to add emotional impact. It creates sharp, quick changes and links between different settings and iconography. When the female realises someone is in the building she starts to panic. We then see linking shots of her running and the door in which the security guard enters. Quick shots are then shown to help create tension, all of this makes the audience feel scared. Each time the woman tries to out run the killer, she finds herself in further danger, as if she cannot escape. Its very conventional to a thriller as the camera angles make the audience view the woman victim at her most vulnerable.

'Extreme Close up'

55 seconds into the scene 'The cutting room', we witness an extreme close up. An extreme close up is when the shot is so tight you only see one detail. This puts emphasis on the moment, the eyes being the only thing that the audience see. It also makes the audience feel uneasy as they cannot see the rest of the scene and therefore what is happening behind the character.