1. Callum Harrison
Film Classification
The BBFC is a non for profit organisation and doesn’t receive any profit from either the film
industry or the government although they do receive money from the film industry it is only
to cover the costs of its services. Its purpose is simply to protect children and other
vulnerable groups from being exposed to unsuitable material.
When a film is being classified there are a number of things that have to be taken into
consideration such as: Violence, Gore Drugs, Sex & Nudity and bad language etc. These
things can change the certificate of a film dramatically, the reason being that the British
Board of Film Classification (BBFC)doesn’t think that these things are suitable for the
younger audience. The BBFC have classified films since the time it was set up in 1912.
The BBFC have power over the showing of films, they have a set of guidelines in which film
makers can follow in order to ensure their film gets the certificate that they want. If there is
something in the film that the BBFC believe to be unsuitable even for adults then they can
completely ban the film which then results in the film makers negotiating and re film/cut
the scenes that are unsuitable. An example of this is ‘The Human Centipede 2’ which broke
almost all of the Rules the BBFC had set for film makers, because of this The BBFC refused to
classify the film unless they compulsory cut 32 clipsof the Film, totalling up to 2 minutes and
37 seconds. If the film makers didn’t do this then the BBFC would have refused to give the
film a certificate and without one the film could not be shown.
It seems that over the years the film industry have become more relaxed with the
classification of films. It has been proven that films such as: Childs Play, the Exorcist and the
Texas Chainsaw Massacre provoke violence however, over the years more and more horror
films have been released and each containing blood and gore, drugs, violence etc resulting
in the BBFC lowering theirhorror film standards and becoming more relaxed.Another reason
for them being more relaxed would be because every 4-5 years the BBFC carry out a major
public consultation exercise in order to find out if the public believe that their film
classifications are meeting the public’s concerns. This will affect the BBFC because if the
public don’t think a film should be rated a 15 the BBFC will take it into consideration and
think about it then next time they are releasing a 15 which could then possibly cause them
to lower that particular films classification to a 12A or a 12.
As well as looking at the general film issues (blood, gore etc) the BBFC also focus on the
theme and context of the film. They do this because they want to consider the effect the
film could have on the potential audience.
Although the BBFC have lowered their standards on films they still take film classification
seriously and will not give any film a certificate that they believe shouldn’t be allowed to be
shown.

2. Callum Harrison
In my opinion I believe that film classifications are needed and that the BBFC are helping
stop people from watching films that are too old for them. Without the BBFC or film
classifications anyone could watch any film that they wanted and although the internet
allows people to watch the films they want when they are younger than the films certificate
there are still boundaries in order for them to watch them for example paying for
membership and having to create accounts to watch the film. This becomes time consuming
so could in one way stop people watching the films.