Film Classifications!

Classifications are a very important factor to films. They are put in place to protect young or vulnerable audiences. They make sure that children are not seeing images that might harm them.

Although we cannot know what might upset a child, a ‘U’ certificate is usually suitable for children of the age of four and over.  They should have a positive moral framework and should show a reassuring view to violence, threat or horror.

An example of a U film would be "Monster Inc."

The ‘Parental Guidance’ certificate are mostly suitable for general viewing, however there may be scenes that are unsuitable for children. Films with this certificate should not disturb a child aged 8 or older. Parents should take the responsibility to consider whether the content of the film may upset their child.

An example of a PG film is "Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events."

The ’12’ and ‘12A’ certificates have the same criteria as each other; they are classified this because only suitable for children 12 and above as they may contain images that could upset children under 12 or have material that parents may find unsuitable for their child to be watching.

‘12A’ certificate only exists in  films screened in cinemas as the film may contain material that parents may not be happy for their child to be watching on their own, so a  child of 12 is not allowed to see a film          with this certificate without being accompanied by an adult, giving it the name 12 Accompanied ‘12A’.

The classification ‘12’ is only used for videos/DVD’s, meaning no one younger than 12 can buy or rent a film with this certificate.

One of the films certified 12A is "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"

No one younger than 15 years old may see, rent or buy a ‘15’ certificate film. This is because there maybe unsuitable material that may upset anyone younger than 15, including strong language, horror and mild drug use.

An example of a 15 film is "The Long Weekend"

Like the previous certificate, ‘18’ is only suitable for adults, meaning no one under the age of 18 can see, rent or buy a film with this certificate. This is very similar in reference to the ‘15’ certificate. It includes drug use, sex and horror.

The film "Sin City" is an example of an 18 film.

The final certificate is ‘R18’ is called this because it is restricted to anyone under the age of 18. You can only see these in specially licensed cinemas. This is primarily because of the explicit content and very strong sexual references including strong fetish images involving adults.

I have researched the criteria for my trailer to decide what certificate would be most appropriate. It was quite difficult to decide what certificate we wanted for our trailer, as I have researched into different films and their certificates and have found that sometimes there is a different rating for the trailer to the film to get it seen by the widest audience possible. 

So thinking about the criteria and how many people we would want to see our film, I research the films I had previously looked into that were similar to our trailer. I wanted to see what certificate they had to give me an idea of what certificate would be most suitable for our trailer. 

I researched the film "Psycho" again and found that  the certificate it was  given  was  a 15.  I think that this is because the film  doesn't contain any graphic  horror  making it acceptable for it to be certificated as a '15'. 

After looking into this research  we have decided that our trailer will be certified as a  'PG' as it contains no graphic horror or bad language. It also has no drug use, however the final film would probably be classified as a '15' because it does contain some mild horror scenes that may upset younger children.

AUDIENCE THEORIES!

There are four different types of media theories that are important in the industry to attract the widest target audience. The main theories are: 
                         1. The Hypodermic Syringe Theory

                         2. The Two Step Flow Theory

                         3. The Uses and Gratifications Theory

                         4. The Reception Theory

Hypodermic Syringe Theory

The Hypodermic Needle Theory, also known as the Magic Bullet Theory, was the first major theory involving the effect of the mass media on society. This theory started in the 1920s, it was based on the idea of an all-powerful media direct effects on the viewer or audience. The Hypodermic Needle Theory is an effects theory that contends viewers are passive, and directly affected by what they view; people accept the message they see without thinking of its message. In that way media content is shot at the audience like a magic bullet, directly penetrating the viewer' mind.

The audience passively receives the information that is given to them through the media. They are manipulated into what they’re being told and seeing is true.

Two Step Theory

This theory shows that information from the media moves in two distinct stages. First, individuals (opinion leaders) who pay close attention to the mass media and its messages. Opinion leaders pass on their own interpretations adding to the other media content. The term ‘personal influence’ refers to the process between the media’s direct message and the audience’s ultimate reaction to that message. Opinion leaders are quite influential in getting people to change their attitudes and behaviors and are quite similar to those they influence.

 Media is changed through other people before it gets to the audience and has time to influence their opinions, building on to the Hypodermic syringe theory. The best example of this would be TV Critics and how they can change information before it has a big effect on people. 

Uses and Gratifications Theory

Uses and Gratification theory suggests that media users play an active role in using the media. The theorists say that a media viewer seeks out a media source that best fulfills their need. Uses and gratifications assume that the user has alternate choices to satisfy their need.

The audience chooses what they want to see and believe. They use actively for their own use meaning they can watch what they want and create their own opinion.

The public is not a sitting target for the world of media, but claims we use it to suit ourselves, interpreting it in ways that we like and that work for us.

Reception theory

A persons gender, age, class and ethnicity effects how they receive and interpret particular information given to them by the media.

Reception theory argues that contextual factors, influence the way the spectator views the film or television program. Contextual factors include elements of the viewer's identity as well as circumstances of living and even broad social, historical, and political issues. In short, reception theory places the viewer in context, taking into account all of the different factors that might influence how she/he will read and create meaning from the text.
Producers can use particular conventions to make the audience see their film/television programme in the way they want to. 

STORYBOARD!

This is the final draft of our storyboard for our Horror trailer.

Whilst thinking of our trailer we had many ideas for how we could present our film in the scariest way possible. When we first started to think about our storyboard we had so many ideas that we eventually had to cut our ideas down to the best and most interesting shots.

We didn't want to give too much away about our film as we wanted it to seem frightening but still have an air of mystery so that the audience are left guessing, making them want to see the rest of our film.   

We decided that for our trailer we didn’t want much dialogue to make it more eerie. We also decided that we wanted it to look dark and dingy like the atmosphere of the trailer, so we wanted to add a dark effect when editing.

We also wanted to have the pace really fast for our trailer to create high tension and have people on the edge of their seat.