Thereby they think
in terms of:
· Social Profiling – It is almost like a
class/hierarchy system which starts from higher managerial to the lower level
(i.e. A, B, C1, C2, D, and E).
· Demographic
Profiling – This categorises people into a more generic group (e.g. age,
gender, race, location...).
· Psychographic
Profiling – This is a way of building up exemplar profiles (in terms of
personality) to represent the types of people for a target audience (e.g.
mainstreamers, individualists, succeeders...)
In terms of our film, the audience research can be used to determine into further detail about who our target audiences will be in the age 15 category. As a group we decided that our film would be classified as C1, C2, D, E because most 15 year olds are in education and either unemployed or have a part time job. Also, those above the age rating set would be those in skilled jobs and would prefer thriller films compared to those in the A/B category who prefer different genres and sub-genres. Moreover, this audience would relate more as 'reformers' since the antagonist in the film will be killing so that change will be a result much like how these types of people challenge the establishment.
This is also why
every country has a film classification board that mediate, moderate and
regulate films so that they are suitable for certain audiences. For example, if
the board find that a film has scenes which they do not believe is suitable for
that audience; then they will tell the key senior production to make some
changes through editing or they will have to alter the age rating to an
audience that is suitable.
In Britain, the
board is known as the ‘BBFC’ (British Board of Film Classification) who watch
the film before it is allowed to be released in the country and give it an age
rating. They deliberate what it shall be using the standards and criteria in
their classification guidelines which follow the 1998 Humans Right Act (and are
listed below and include imitable behaviour, language, violence, nudity...).
Carrying on from this, every 4-5 years the BBFC carries out a survey to find
out what the public thinks of the age ratings of films and if their classification
standards meet public concerns, therefore making any changes if necessary.
These age ratings,
otherwise known as certificates are broken down into 5 main age categories in
order to protect certain individuals of groups such as children from watching
something that might affect them psychologically. They are, ‘U’, ‘PG’, ‘12’,
‘15’ and ‘18’ - in terms of producing an opening sequence for a short thriller
film, my film will most likely be a 15 or 18, however the latter tends to be
more of a ‘wet’ thriller which is not what I am planning on carrying out.
U (Universal):
Suitable for all
ages – All audiences would be able to see my film, but there would be
complications in how younger audiences would interpret my film and consequently
this genre could never be passed for a thriller film.
‘Monsters, Inc.’
(2001) has been given a U rating by the BBFC because they say it “contains mild
comic violence”. This means that anybody can see the film since it does not go
against any of the guidelines such as violence, which requires restriction for
younger more impressionable audiences – it follows a positive moral framework.
PG (Parental Guidance):
General – Almost all
audiences can view these film. However, this rating is not for a typical
thriller film therefore meaning that at this rating is not right for the genre of my
film.
The BBFC awards the
film ‘Despicable Me’ (2010) with a PG rating due to the fact that it “contains
very mild scary scenes, slapstick violence and language”. This has been done
because the theme of violence might be a little too much for some younger audiences
to handle - parents should assess whether or not their child should watch the
film, ergo the “guidance” part of the rating.
12/12A(Advisory):
Suitable for
children aged 12 years and over – this is the age at which children are able to
start to comprehend and view violence but still not the grouping I want to be
able to make my short film for.
‘The Bourne
Identity’ (2002) has been granted a 12 rating because it “contains strong
language and moderate violence” whilst ‘Skyfall’ (2012) “contains moderate
action violence and one use of strong language”. This connotes that audiences
of this rating and above can handle basic concepts/levels of violence and can
be exposed to such so long as it is not too violent or graphic.
15:
Suitable for people
aged 15 years and over – People at this rating have a concept of the themes
that are on the classification guidelines and can view moderate levels of
these. This is my target audience for my short thriller film due to the fact
that I want my audience to be able to get to grips with it but not so much as
to go all out with the themes e.g. violence, discrimination...
A 15 rating has been
given to ‘Gangster Squad’ (2012) because it “contains strong bloody violence
and very strong language”. This has been done purposefully to protect younger
audiences from being psychologically affected and influenced to exhibit such
behaviour because it is viewed upon as morally wrong for this age group.
18:
Suitable for people
aged 18 years and over – this is the highest rating given by the BBFC and they believe
that audiences of this rating are mature enough to experience the themes
portrayed by these films. This is not the type of rating I would consider
representing my film because if I were to carry out scenes which contained for
example, violence, to the full extent that I could, then it would become more
of a ‘wet’ thriller which is too risky to use because it can be mistaken for a
horror.
The film ‘Watchmen’
(2009) has been presented as an 18 because it “contains strong bloody violence”
which is only suitable for audiences of this rating because they can handle it
psychologically unlike the lower ratings who could not.
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