Film Rating - Target Audience

The classification of a film is a very important part of the process, and ensuring the right age classification of our opening sequence is vital as it not only dictates our target audience, it also sets the precedent of what kind of content our film will contain. In order to see what kind of rating our thriller opening should have I looked at the British Board of Film Classification (bbfc) website and found it very helpful in deciphering the kind of ratings our film should be given.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/15

A 12 and a 12A are able to contain moderate violence and initially we had thought that our thriller opening may be classified as a 12A given that it is not a particularly gory sequence. However, after reviewing the bbfc's policy on violence,  "There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood"  we have decided that a 12A would not be a suitable rating for our thriller opening given the strong 

suggestions of revenge, violence and murder. 

As as group we feel that a 15 rating is better suited to our thriller opening, given the gun sequence and close up of the bullet wound, this would be classified as too strong for a 12 or 12A but would come within the guidelines outlined by the bbfc for a 15, "Yes, at 15 violence may be strong"  and we feel that the classification of a 15 best fits the tone of our thriller opening. 

After looking at what is expected from a film classified as an 18, I feel that our thriller opening would not be at all suited to this classification given the expectation by the bbfc of an 18 , "Yes, at 18 violence can be strong and be portrayed with strong detail. There may even be dwelling on the infliction of pain or injury, or scenes of strong sadistic or sexual violence."  After reviewing this we feel sure that a film classification of 15 is the best for our thriller opening. 

Sources: www.bbfc.co.uk