bbfc regulatory body

BTEC Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production

wUnit 7: Understanding the CreativeMedia Sector

Learning outcome 3:

Understand the regulation of the media sector

Name: _ _ _ _ Enzo Mealing_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


Understand the regulation of the media sector

Use this workbook to help you with this learning outcome. There is some guidance and further notes which you should read and then remove, replacing it with your own answers.

Which regulatory body did you research? BBFC

What are they in charge of regulating?

The BBFC are in charge of prioritizing movies and films into a certain age range.

When was the body set up? Why was it set up?BBFC was set up in 1912 by the film industry, to classify cinema films, then moved on to DVDs and videos since the Video Recordings Act, in 1984. The BBFC was created to bring a classification and censorship to films nation wide.

How is this organisation funded? Why is it funded that way? Are there any benefits or drawbacks to being funded this way?The BBFC is a non-profit organisation, and its income simply runs through its services, calculated by the running time of films and DVDs that are submitted for classification, It is funded like this so it can preserve its independence. A drawback for this type of funding is; they can only make money if their services are in use, so if they’re not in use, they do not receive an income. A benefit is that the length of a certain DVD/movie can gain them money.§

What powers does the regulatory body have? What can they do if someone breaks their rules? Who gives these powers to the body?The BBFC have the power to licence movies to what they seem is a correct classification, they must not pass on any material that may infringe the criminal law, they are under these rules by The Obscene Publications Act 1959 and 1964, The Cinematograph Films Act 1937, The Animal Welfare Act 2006 and The Protection of Children Act 1978.


How does the industry use it?The film industry use the BBFC to set strict restrictions to whom can watch a show, they will not allow someone aged 15 to see an 18, there may be some flexibility if say, a 15 year old was trying to watch a 16+ rated film.

How can the public use it?The public are a lot more flexible when it comes to age ratings, a vast majority of parents will allow their child to watch something that is above there age, but if a parent feels uncomfortable with their child watching movies over there age, they can easily ban then from watching or use blocking software when it comes to digital viewing, Some parents are a lot more laidback when it comes to age ratings, so they will let their children watch movies above their age, but if the child is hurt in anyway, the BBFC can not be responsible for this.

What kinds of regulatory issues does your body deal with the most?The BBFC struggles with constant classification issues, if they accidently classify a movie a certain age, which is younger than the age intended for the movie, they can mentally upset the viewers, also, influential problems may occur, such as somebody getting badly influenced by a high age-rated movie, for example, if a child watched a movie about speed races, they could be influenced by it and go out and race cars and joyride.

Case Studies:

Find a case study which demonstrates the regulatory body working in practice.Adulthood (age 15 uncut) an age of 15 is allowed, for strong violence provided that it does not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury, the use of weaponry is obvious, but because there is no detail into an injury/violence, it is classified a 15, also the use of street slang takes place in the movie, which classifies the movie at a 15, but some language may offend both men and women, so careful consideration has to be taken with this movie, no aggressive intentions were made during scenes of strong language, so the movie was placed as a 15.

Find a second case study which demonstrates the regulatory body working in practice.Attack The Block (Age 15 uncut) There is some focus on the use of weapons throughout the movie, but they were not glamourized, there is also use of fireworks as a weapon in the movie, but given the work was clearly for older teens and young adolescents, it did not affect the age 15 rating. The use of drugs in the movie is significant, but as there is no promotion or misuse of drugs in the movie, it was fine to be classified a 15.


Regulation:

You should answer the following questions using the information you have gained so far in the unit to help you provide examples to support your opinions. You may also wish to undertake further research to help you produce detailed answers.

Should there be regulation of the media? I think regulation in the media is not needed, it does not stop under-aged people watching what they want, there are parents out there who follow the age ratings, but that’s out of there opinion, there is no point classifying media if it’s the parent that will choose whether you watch it or not, I say, leave regulation out of it, and let the parent of the viewer decide what they can and can’t watch, you can have someone who is 15, but extremely mature, and someone who’s 18, but incredibly childish, for example, the movie ‘adulthood’ contains drugs, violence and strong language, a mature 15 year old could watch this and not be phased, a childish 18 year old could watch it and be easily influenced.

Should regulators be independent? Yes, I think independent regulation will be easily manageable and a lot more flexible, having a larger majority of opinions throughout regulation would make classification of movies more interactive, being able to get more opinions on a certain movie or video game will give a much more clear view of the classification of a piece of media.

Extension tasks

Answer just one of the following questions with a long form answer using specific examples to help support your opinions.

Why do we allow regulatory bodies to censor media products like films and video games? Allowing regulatory bodies to censor media products is essential, for example, a video game such as Grand Theft Auto V which contains a lot of swearing and mature language can influence a young child very easily, A young child witnessing continuous mature language will be influenced to use the language as well. Movies that contain violence or smoking and drinking can influence a child, seeing someone do something that they enjoy would influence the child to try and copy the things they see on TV, such as smoking or drinking. Allowing regulatory bodies to censor products is essential when it comes to personal feelings. Movies such as the Saw movies contain a lot of mature content such gore and nudity, this can mentally scar the child viewer and leave them in a mentally unstable state, so without regulation people would have the freedom to watch whatever movies they want or to play whatever games they want, yes, this would lead to higher sales rates for the movie/game but with what consequences? Children all over the world will be viewing very mature content such as gore, nudity,


strong language, drug use, alcohol use and lots, this is a lot of content for a young child to see, this is why having a regulated age system is essential, keeping children safe and not influenced badly. For an example of video games being a bad influence, there are cases around the world which claim children to have gone to extreme lengths to cause trouble due to the games Grand Theft Auto and Call of duty, this is why we should allow regulatory bodies to censor games, and also to get the public aware of these regulations.

or

Is it important to regulate adverts?

or

Is people’s privacy or freedom of information more important?

bbfc regulatory body

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