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.