Institutional Regulations

In this post I will be discussing the Institutional Regulations that we must adhere to, follow and consider while planning and filming our production.

The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is an institution which specialises in classifying films and categorizing them based on the context that is shown throughout the film and the messages that they try to out across.

For our film, we are going to aim at an age rating of 12, we aren't able to determine it's classification however until it has been made. This classification however, is the age group below what we are aiming our final product at. This is not a bad thing however because we will have a very niché audience and allowing another age group to watch our film is going to widen this niché. Our target audience is 15  and over, this is because the themes that we are going to explore might be of a more mature nature and therefore not be perceived as we want it to be by a younger audience.

The BBFC states that we cannot show the following:

• Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour
• Misuse of drugs must not be glamorised or give instructional detail
• Glamorisation of realistic or easily accessible weapons such as knives
• Endorsement of anti-social behaviour
• Frequent crude references
• Horror sequences
• Emphasis on injuries or blood

In terms of the music and sound that we are going to use we are trying to avoid any copyright infringements for legal purposes. During the production of last year’s film, we used a piece of music called “Gravity Jump” We thought that the song fit really well into the themes and message of the piece. Our only problem however is that the composer of the piece owned the rights to the song. We however, gained his permission to use the song as long as the final product was a non-profit project, therefore we avoided this. We aim to do a similar thing this year because we do not wish to get into any legal matters in the production of our film!

Not only must we adhere to regulations in our main product but also to our ancillary products. When making a poster for a film, as long as we are using our own images, there aren't too many rules and regulations to follow. There are a couple of obvious rules such as not using indecent images also.  The rules are much more personal, such as conforming to conventions and having total brand identity. 

It is a little more complicated when it comes to the magazine review, this is because we are using the layout and house style of another magazine, Empire. This does indicate a breach of the copyright act, however as this is for educational and non-profitable purposes, we should be able to avoid any legal matters. To solidify this, we should use our own images and only use Empire's products where necessary and claim no ownership to their products. Again, the obvious rules apply here such as no indecent images.

 

By Oliver Wain
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