RESEARCH: Marketing and Distribution

BBFC Certification Research

There are 6 different ratings that BBFC use, these are: U, PG, 12A or 12, 15, 18 and finally R18. All of these different ratings have different meanings and are given to a film judged on the content in the film. I shall now run through what each rating means...

The first official BBFC rating is 'U', which stands for 'Universal'. This logo indicates that the film is suitable for everyone, in particular for audiences aged 4 and over to watch on their own. BBFC can not guarantee what could upset any particular child, but usually when this logo is given it is very unlikely that the film could upset anyone aged younger than four. Something a 'U' rating movie should do, is offer reassuring counterbalances to anything that could be perceived as mildly disturbing or horror. For children aged under four who probably go to pre-school, the consumer advice report on a film is likely to state whether the film is suitable to view on their own.

Above you can see the logo of the second BBFC rating, where the letters 'PG' stand for 'Parental Guidance'. This means that the film should be suitable for general viewing of most children, but a parent or guardian should consider whether the child needs to be accompanied while watching the film. If a child is aged 8 or over, it is unlikely a parent should feel it is necessary to watch the movie with them, but children aged under 8 could be potentially be upset by the content.

Now we moving on to the the third of the BBFC ratings, where to logos almost mean the same thing but have subtle differences. In terms of film criteria, the same content is needed to classify a '12' or '12A'. These ratings are simply awarded when content of a film is deemed to be suited to a person aged 12 and over. BBFC state the parents are likely to think that the movie material of a 12/12A will upset a child under 12 years old. A '12A' rating comes into things only for cinemas, where a child under 12 years old can get into the movie, but only when accompanied by an adult. Although cinemas will allow a child of under 12 in when accompanied by an adult, this BBFC rating still recommends that content is unsuitable for a child of this age. If an adult accompanies someone aged younger than 12 years old, they assume full responsibility for how the child reacts. Going back to the '12' category rating, this exists on video works and DVDs, and no one younger than 12 years old may go into a store and buy a film rated '12'.

This is the forth BBFC rating, which states that no one younger than 15 years old may see the film in cinema or rent it out at a store. The content of a film rated '15' is likely to be adult with the following things: hard drugs, strong words, moderate-strong violence/sex references, and mild non-detailed sex activity.

As we move on to the next official BBFC rating you can see this is labelled '18'. Similar to a '15' rating, no one younger than 18 may purchase a film from a store or view in cinema a film rated '18'.  This rating is given to a film when it contains some very adult content, such as no limitation on the amount of bad language used. Other factors can be hard drugs generally being allowed, strong violence or sex scenes - with hardcore scenes acceptable if justified by the context.

This final BBFC rating is a very rare one and means the film can only be sold in specially licensed cinemas or supplied in licensed sex shops - and obviously one under the age of 18 is permitted to view it. The rating 'R18' carries legal restrictions and may only be given to films which are primarily for sex shops and contain footage of unleashed sexual nature for adults. The 'R18' rating is so restricted you may not supply this category of film by mail order!

My film rating

After reviewing the certificates above which the BBFC use, I think our film would receive a 12A/12 rating. This is because throughout the movie there might be signs of affection, and that might not be suitable for viewing from children below 12. We also thought that because the title of our film is ‘Dirty Little Secret’, this might carry some connotations to some sexual contact or swearing throughout the rest of film which we think wouldn’t be suitable for a child younger than 12 years old to watch.