LO5: Certificate Classification

After audience members had finished watching our film we asked them all to fill out an online survey which could be found at this web address:  https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/R5FKR9Z

The quiz was designed in such a way that it would allow us to determine from the responses of our audience which bbfc age rating was most appropriate for our film, and if there were any particular aspects which had caused it this classification strongly.

These are the BBFC classifications available to us:
- U (Universal): Suitable for audiences aged four and over. Displays of any sexual activity (as much as kissing) or swearing must be incredibly mild, and it must not encourage anti-social behaviour.
- PG (Parental guidance): General viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for a very young audience. Harmful themes must be mild and infrequent.
- 12A and 12: Suitable for ages 12 and over, or if accompanied by an adult. Moderate language is permitted, alongside discreet sexual activity, drug portrayal and moderate threat.
- 15: Nobody below this age can view a 15 film. 15's permit the use of strong language, drugs and nudity without either endorsing anti-social behaviour or without strong detail of it. There also may be strong threat and horror without a sustained focus on sadistic actions.
- 18: As the highest age rating, explicit shows of sexual activity, strong language, threat, and drug use are allowed.

 The audience was in unanimous agreement that our film fits the horror genre, this meant that it was more likely to have a higher age classification.

 We wanted to make sure we had adhered to the conventions of the genre so that it would not confuse viewers. I am pleased with the mostly positive response from our audience as we tried our best to create effective camerawork, however it was made difficult due to the filming conditions.

 We used swearing and bad language in our script to try and make the dialogue seem more convincing, however this would of course raise the age rating for our film depending on the amount used.

We tried to be explicit with the drug use in our film, however we still recognised that it would drastically raise the age rating and we wanted to know if it was handled subtly enough to not raise the classification higher than expected.

 Due to an again unanimous agreement that our film wasn't appropriate for younger audiences we could eliminate any age rating under 12/12A

The majority of our audience said that they thought the film was appropriate enough for a 15 age rating, however some members did say that they thought it suited an 18 better. I personally disagree with this as the swearing in our film is not over the top or as frequent as in most 18 rated films, the violence isn't graphic in any way and the use of drugs is implied as opposed to shown, there is also no nudity and only one mention of any kind of sexual theme.

Due to the majority, we will be classifying our film as a 15 so that younger audience members are aware it is inappropriate for them because of the mature themes.
Our film fits this age rating for several reasons. Primarily being that there is strong language within it, but it is not used at an alarmingly high rate; similarly to the threat aspects as- whilst it is a psychological horror- there is little gore and the displays of violence we do witness are not particularly harrowing. There is no sex or nudity within 'False Awakening', but there is a scene in which the characters take recreational drugs. In a 15 the use of drugs may be depicted, but cannot encourage substance abuse- due to the events which follow the LSD tablets, the use of hallucinogens is certainly not endorsed.