BBFC Ratings

Films given a U rating by the BBFC are films such as 'Scooby Doo' and 'Bartok', which contain very mild scenes of peril and are cushioned with humour to make them less scary and more appropriate for a young audience.

Films given a PG rating by the BBFC are films such as 'Gremlins' and 'Coraline', in these film there should be no detail of violence in a PG work, so while there might be some blood, we would not see how the injury was inflicted in strong detail. Violence is generally more acceptable in a historical or fantasy setting, because of the distancing that this provides. It isn’t uncommon for PG films to feature ‘roller-coaster’ action or set pieces, where the emphasis is clearly on the adventure or journey of the main characters rather than the detail of violence or fighting.

As far as horror goes, we allow some 'jump' moments and scary scenes, but sequences showing significant or realistic violence, horror or threat must not be prolonged.

Films given a 12/12A rating (the 12 certificate is just for videos, DVDs and Blu-rays. 12A is for films at the cinema only) by the BBFC are films such as 'Woman in Black', 'The Others' and 'Inhabited', in these films there shouldn't be work which is very dark or has an unsettling tone which could disturb the audience. There may be moderate language (eg uses of terms such as ‘bitch’ and ‘twat’.) Also moderate violence is allowed but it should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if they can be justified by their context (for example brief sight of bloody injury in a medical drama). Moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted at 12 or 12A as long as disturbing sequences are not too frequent or sustained, (with this knowledge our film would be pushed to a 15 rating.) Dangerous behaviour (for example hanging, suicide and self-harming) may be present but will not dwell on detail which could be copied or present those activities as pain or harm free also discriminatory behaviour should not be endorsed by the film as a whole (again with this knowledge our film would be pushed to a 15 rating.)

Films given a 15 rating by the BBFC, 'Cloverfield', 'Sinister' and 'Silence of the Lambs', these films contain some strong language and quite a lot of violence, like our film so from this we can tell it would come under a 15 rating.

What about dangerous behaviour or things teens may copy?

This is one of the questions we had to consider from the BBFC site as one of the characters commits suicide in the film so we needed to know how to make that scene fit the criteria of the 15 film rating.

On the BBFC website it said; 'We consider the risk of potential harm to impressionable teenagers. For example, dangerous behaviour such as hanging, suicide and self-harming should not dwell on detail which could be copied.' So to make sure we fit the criteria we're only showing a slightly blurred picture of the hung girl for a few seconds, without the detail of her actually committing suicide, so it won't easily be copied.