Certificate of film

Certificate of film

UK Film Certificates have been decided by the British Board of Film Classification since 1912. For cinema releases, the BBFC has no legal power (films don’t even have to be classified). This is because councils decide who should be admitted to a certain film. However, councils generally apply the BBFC's certificates, which makes them legally-binding for the most part. The BBFC created the Film Certificates to protect children from unsuitable and even harmful content in films and videos and to give information they might need about a particular film or video before deciding whether or not to view it.

The BBFC decides these certificates by watching films and videos fully and awards an age rating and insight to each one. The age rating is decided by applying the standards and criteria contained in their Classification Guidelines, which can be found on their website. Issues such as discrimination, drugs, and easily imitable behaviour (amongst other things) are considered when making decisions. The theme of the work, context, the tone and likely impact of a work on the potential audience are other aspects that are taken into consideration.

For our film, I would recommend an age certificate of 15 as no child under the age of 15 will be allowed to go at watch a movie of this age. This is because of the narrative and there will be scenes that are inappropriate for anyone under the age of 15 to watch. An example of a 15 film would be The Exorcism of Emily Rose.