Certification of our Film

I believe that our film will be certified as a 15. The BFI say that a 15 rated film can contain:

•  strong violence
•  frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
•  portrayals of sexual activity
•  strong verbal references to sex
•  sexual nudity
•  brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
•  discriminatory language or behaviour
•  drug taking

All of this suggests that our film will be suitable to be classified as a 15. In terms of violence, we will only feature it in flashbacks to show the tough life that the protagonist used to lead, and even then, it is going to be inferred more than shown. This means that it will probably contain violence which is suitable for a 12A, as violence is not something which we plan is going to be a very large aspect of our drama film.

It is likely that we will use frequent strong language within our film, in order to present a setting which is as realistic for the audience as possible. Whilst we could cut out some of this language in order to allow our film to be watched by a larger audience, we believe that in the artistic interest of our film it would be best if we included strong language where it needs to be included, without pushing the boundary out too far.

The portrayals of sexual activity in our film are going to be minimal or non-existant, because this is a coming of age story which strays away from the sexualised story of being a teenager that most films tell. Instead, ours is a story of leaving childhood behind in different ways, so any portrays of sexual activity are likely to be very light ones.

There is likely to be some nudity within our feature length film, as we will have to give a portrait of how society believes teenagers live, which may include having to include nudity in our piece, be it in a sexual or a non-sexual way. However, we are unlikely to use it in a way which is overtly sexual, because as I mentioned before, our film is trying to stray away from the sexual promiscuity which seems to dominate the coming of age genre.

In terms of sexual violence, our film may include some shots which suggest that the protagonist had to experience sexual violence as a child, which means that the film would have to be classified as a 15. However, the film also shows the emotional distress which is caused by this type of violence, which is what will stop the film from being an 18, as it shows why such an act is wrong. 

Our film is likely to include some discriminatory language, as it will help the audience to reflect on the troubled childhood which has been experienced by the protagonist, as this is what would have made them wary to others. However, our film will never encourage this sort of language as being acceptable, and will always portray the protagonist as being a villain rather than a hero at any point when they are being discriminatory.

Finally, our film is likely to include some minor drug taking. Whilst it is not going to be anything heavy, it will show that drug taking is a fundamental part of most people's idea of 'coming of age'. Because of this, I believe that it is essential to include drug taking in some form in order to stay true to the roots of our genre, although we will probably paint it in a negative light in order to ensure that the film does not get bad press because of it.

Thinking about the certification which our film should be has made me consider the possibilities of changing elements of it in order to reach a lower certification, although I believe our film would lose some of its stylistic integretity if we had to cut it in order to make it into a 12A.