Certificate ratings – BBFC research

All films have a certificate rating and this rating is given by the British Board of Films Classification, also known as the BBFC. These people watch everything films that is put out to the public and they give that film an age certificate and this is based on:

- Discrimination

- Drugs

- Horror

- Imitable behaviour

- Language

- Nudity

- Sex

- Theme

- Violence

Below are the certitficates the BBFC give to films:

Suitable for all

It is impossible to predict what might upset any particular child. But a ‘U’ film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. ‘U’ films should be set within a positive moral framework and should offer comforting scenes of any violence, threat or horror.

If a work is particularly suitable for a nursery to view alone, this will be indicated in the Consumer Advice.

Parental Guidance

General viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children.

Children over the age of eight would be able to watch a PG film, but any age under that would have to be accompanied by a parental figure when watching the film due to the fact that they are content may upset younger or more sensitive children.

Suitable for 12 years and over

Exactly the same criteria are used to classify works at ‘12A’ and ‘12’. These categories are awarded where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 12 or scenes that some parents will find unsuitable for their child.

The ‘12A’ category exists only for cinema films. No one younger than 12 may see a ‘12A’ film in a cinema unless accompanied by an adult and films classified ‘12A’ are not recommended for a child below the age of 12. An adult may take a younger child if they feel that the film is suitable for that particular child. In such circumstances, full responsibilities lie to the adult for allowing a child under 12 to view the film.

The ‘12’ category exists only for video/DVD works. No one younger than 12 may rent or buy a ‘12’ rated video work. The content in films of this age may have things like horror, mild language, mild nakedness and mild violence.

Suitable only for 15 years or over

No-one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work. The content in films of this age rating may contain language, sexual themes, volience, inappropriate behaviour and nudity.

Suitable only for adults

No-one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 18 may rent or buy an ‘18’ rated video work. The content in films of this age rating may include things like discrimination, drug usage, language, nudity, inappropriate behaviour, sexual themes and violence.

To be shown only in specially licensed cinemas, or supplied only in licensed sex shops, and to adults of not less than 18 years.

The ‘R18’ category is a special and legally restricted classification primarily for explicit works of consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults. Films may only be shown to adults in specially licensed cinemas, and video works may be supplied to adults only in licensed sex shops. ‘R18’ videos may not be supplied by mail order. In terms of the content of the film, this rating may include everything that the films rating is based on.


Information From The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)

Storyboard and Script

Storyboard

What a storyboard means?Having a storyboard is vitally important in determining the success and quality of your movie. A storyboard is simply a sequence of images that tell what the scenes that your movie will go through. Your movie flow will follow what the storyboard depicts.


Examples of storyboards
This is an example of a storyboard, of one of Alfred Hitchcock's films Psycho (1960) that was given to me in my media studies class.



2nd Page

1st Page

Why is a storyboard important?

Clarity during development - By having a storyboard, the production team will be clear of what is expected of them and they will have a clear overall picture of what the whole movie will look like.

 Improved movie quality - A movie will be enjoyable when the camera angles are correct. That is when the zooming fits in nicely and the characters are properly portrayed. This is integral also for animation productions. So when all this is shown on the storyboard and errors are corrected, the final movie will be more enjoyable to the audience.

Cost reduction - Without a proper storyboard, the whole scene of a movie needs to be redone when it is deemed unsatisfactory. But with a storyboard, the scenes are laid out on paper and unsatisfactory ones can be redrawn using a new storyboard even before the movie goes into production. This saves time and resources.

My Groups Storyboard Plan (for the prelim task)  

This is a storyboard a member of my group made and it isn’t the best of drawings, but this gives an indication of what the film sequence is going to involve. What this storyboard explains is of a man, who wants his money back from an individual. But little did he know that the scared individual (man) hasn't got his money. So this creates a serious problem. 

Scripts



What a film script means?

A script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. 

Examples of a film scripts

Below is an example of a film script, of 'The Bourne Identity'.

DARKNESS. THE SOUND OF WIND AND SPRAY.

MUSIC.  TITLES.

EXT. OCEAN -- NIGHT

The darkness is actually water.  A SEARCHLIGHT arcs across

heavy ocean swells.  Half-a-dozen flashlights -- weaker

beams -- racing along what we can see is the deck of an

aging FISHING TRAWLER.

FISHERMEN struggling with a gaff -- something in the water --

A HUMAN CORPSE.

EXT. FISHING BOAT DECK -- NIGHT

THE BODY sprawled there.  The Sailors all talking at once --

three languages going -- brave chatter to mask the presence

of death --

SAILOR #1

-- Jesus, look at him --

SAILOR #2

-- what? -- you never saw a dead

man before? --

SAILOR #3

-- look, look he was shot --

(nudging the body--)

SAILOR #1

-- don't, don't do that --

SAILOR #2

-- he's dead, you think he cares? --

SAILOR #1

-- so have some respect -- it's a --

(stopping as--)

THE BODY MOVES! -- convulsing -- coughing up sea water -- the Sailors -- freaked -- jumping back -- standing there, as --

THE MAN begins to breathe.



My Group Film Script (for the prelim task)   

A male walks into a room (in a angry mood) where a female is located.

Seun

-- Where's my  money !!! --

Sandra

-- I don't know ??? --

Seun

--If you don't have my money by 24 hours, you know what going to happen to you !!! --

Sandra

--SHOCKED reaction-- 

This is my groups own film script (for the prelim task). The reason why it is short, is because the prelim task only lasts no longer than 1-2mins. As it only needs show required media aspects, such as 'shot reverse shot'.


Why a film script is important?
A film script is important because it allows the film stars, director, etc to know what is expected of them and they will have a clear overall picture of what the whole movie will look like. But most importantly film stars are occasionally allowed to go against the script and say something that not on it. Meaning film scripts are flexibly, just a indication of the narrative.



 

Alfred Hitchcock - One Of The Best

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) born in Leytonstone, London, England, the second son and youngest of three children of William Hitchcock, was on of the best British film director, producer and cameo appearance actor. He led the way for many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood.

His career was more than half a century long, and he fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognizable directorial style. He establised the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. He framed shots to maximize anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing. His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run from the law alongside "icy blonde" female characters. Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder, and crime, although many of the mysteries function as decoys or "MacGuffins" meant only to serve thematic elements in the film and the extremely complex psychological examinations of the characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and feature strong sexual undertones. Through his cameo appearances in his own films, interviews, film trailers, and the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he became a cultural icon.

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. Often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker, he came first in a 2007 poll of film critics in Britain's Daily Telegraph, which said: "Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else." The magazine MovieMaker has described him as the most influential filmmaker of all-time, and he is widely regarded as one of cinema's most significant artists.




Information from Wikipedia 

History of Thriller

The History of Thriller Genre  

Thriller genre is one of the most popular genre in the film industry and remains to be popular with it’s audience. The main aim of a thriller genre is to thrill the viewer of the film, also the films tend to be rushing, gritty, exciting, it drives the narrative, has tension, has surprises, fast-paced and most of the time have a cliff hanger. The different types of thrillers are action, psychological, crime, spy, conspiracy, disaster and political thriller. The convention of a thriller genre is that crime is the main story line, there is a complex narrative structure with clues and false paths, there is a protagonist and an antagonist, enigmas are established, extraordinary events happen and the opening scene normally shows the protagonist in danger. 

The Three Apples and also One Thousand and One Nights and these are murder mystery. 

Ancient epic poems like Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer's Odyssey and the Mahabharata use similar narrative techniques and conventions as modern thrillers. In the ancient poem Odyssey, the hero Odysseus makes a bare journey home after the Trojan War, battling extraordinary hardships in order to be reunited with his wife Penelope. He sees villains such as the Cyclops, a one-eyed giant, and the Sirens, whose sweet singing lures sailors to their doom. In most cases, Odysseus uses cunning instead of brute force to overcome his adversaries. Also the genre thriller comes about with thriller stories such as

Alfred Hitchcock began his career with his first silent film The Lodger (1926), a suspenseful Jack the Ripper story, followed by his next thriller Blackmail (1929), his first sound film. However, of Hitchcock's fifteen major features made between 1925 and 1935, he only made five thrillers, the two mentioned above plus  Number Seventeen, The Man Who Knew Too Much , and The 39 steps (1935). and one of the earliest spy films was Fritz Lang’s Spies (1928). Alfred Hitchcock continued with suspense-thriller by the production of Foreign Correspondent (1940), the haunting OScar-nominated Rebecca (1940). Shadow of a Doubt (1943) was Hitchcock's personal favorite and based upon the actual case of a 1920s serial killer known as The Merry Widow Murderer.

The 1970’s and 1980’s decade saw a violent start in the thriller genre, with Frenzy (1972), Hitchcock's first British film in almost two decades, being given an R rating for its vicious and explicit scene and Steven Spielberg's low-budget early TV movie Duel (1971). One of the first films about a fan being disturbingly obsessed with their idol was Clint Eastwood's directorial debut film, Play Misty for Me (1971).

Spy and conspiracy films were popular through this decade. Don Siegel's The Black Windmill (1974), Alan Pakula's The Parallax View (1974) Sam Peckinpah's final film, the plot twisting spy film The Osterman Weekend (1983), The Fourth Protocol (1987), derived from a script by the original novelist Frederick Forsyth, featured Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan.
The 1990’sdecade started with Rob Reiner's Misery (1990). In one horrifying scene, she 'hobbles' his ankles so that he can't escape, a battered wife who left her aggressive husband to find a better life was vengefully pursued in Sleeping with the Enemy (1991), Curtis Hanson's The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992). From all this it brought out great thriller films such Pulp Fiction (1994), The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010), Goodfellas (1990), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Usual Suspects (1995) and Se7en (1995).

From the history to the present, thriller dominates the film screen. The genre today is the vehicle for filmmakers, with explosive action sequences, cool new technology and twisted plotting.

Thriller Title Sequence Analysis

 Vertigo

1. Who is being represented in the opening scene? Are these representations positive or negative?
- the fact we only see her eye, nose and mouth which is a extreme close up could create a representation of her being scared. This in turn is a negative representation because the red could show where she is dangerous or there is danger near by from her. Also a stereotypical representation of woman of being helpless and in need of someone to save her.

2. What titles for each opening look like? Does this tell you that it is a thriller genre?

This is a screen grab of the opening title sequence in 'Vertigo'.

The screen grab shows the title 'Vertigo' in all caps and in bold white writing. This was done so that it could catch the attention of the audience to make sure they know the title of the film they are watching, which is Vertigo. Also the fact that the eye is in the background creates a sense of mysteriousness about what is going to happen within in the film, and that keep the audience on their toes, which means that they wouldn't know what to expect from the film. The final thing that I have noticed in this screen grab is that the background of the eye is red, and red in most cases signifies danger and that something bad is going to happen or blood is going to be spilt and that tells us about thriller genres that there is always someone who may have to die which keeps the audience guess and wondering who it is.

3. Analyse the camera, sound, editing and mise-en-scene. How do these technical areas make you aware that this is the thriller genre?

- All the shots in 'Vertigo' are all close ups or extreme close ups. The background music is spooky and mysterious which sets the scene for a thriller. Also the editing was slow paced which could imply that something is about to happen.

4. Does the narrative in the opening scene match the conventions of the thriller genre? How?

- Yes there were some elements of a thriller in this title sequence. The fact that there were only parts of faces shows there was secrets and suspicion.

5. Which production company made the film? How might this influence what appears in the film?

- A Paramount Pictures and Vista Vision made this film. This is will help them because Paramount is a conglomerate and this means they have more money and power so it would be able to fund them and they would be able to pick out things that they don’t like about the film.

6. What do you think might happen in the rest of the film? Give brief suggestions.

-that someone dies and people keep it a secret.

Jaws

1. Who is being represented in the opening scene? Are these representations positive or negative?
- the shark is being represented as a dangerous thing that swims deep in the ocean, also the people are represented as people who are carless and wild for them going into the water. for the shark, its an negative representation because it is shown as something that is dangerous which isn't good thing. For the people the representation is negative as well because they are careless and don't think about the water is dangerous and they could die, which they did in the opening scene.

2. What titles for each opening look like? Does this tell you that it is a thriller genre?

This is a screen grab of the opening title sequence in 'Jaws'.

The screen grab above shows the title 'Jaws' and the writing of the title is in white which makes it stand out so that the audience know they title of the film they are watching. The background is underwater its shows the audience it is a thriller film because no body knows what is under the deep blue sea and it is a mysterious place to be and the fact they have started the film with the camera under the sea  makes the audience to start to think what is under the sea.

3. Analyse the camera, sound, editing and mise-en-scene. How do these technical areas make you aware that this is the thriller genre?
-the point of view shot of the shark shows how low in the ocean shows how deep the shark goes when its under water and when it was going to eat the woman. Extreme close up to see the woman’s facial expressions to show she was scared and frighten.  The sound of the girl screaming made it people know that it was a thriller. Also the background music set the scene as it would be a thriller and it would be scary. the mise-en-scene of the 'Jaws' is under water which where people hardly ever go which shows us that its a thriller because by the camera going under the water its taking the audience where they will never want to be.

4. Does the narrative in the opening scene match the conventions of the thriller genre? How?

Yes, the fact that there is murder in it. Also the scary music which is a convection of a thriller is in this opening scene.

5. Which production company made the film? How might this influence what appears in the film?

'Jaws' was made by Zanuck/Brown Production and Universal Pictures. This is will help them because Universal Pictures is a conglomerate and this means they have more money and power so it would be able to fund them and they would be able to pick out things that they don’t like about the film.

6. What do you think might happen in the rest of the film? Give brief suggestions.

A number of people will die and get missing, then they will find out the reason is the shark and they will kill it.

Children of Men

1. Who is being represented in the opening scene? Are these representations positive or negative?

-in the opening scene, there are people who are watching the news and the main character comes in (Theo Faron) and doesn't seem to be interested in what’s going on in the new which could suggest he’s anti-social with everyone which is a negative representation.

2. What titles for each opening look like? Does this tell you that it is a thriller genre?

this is a screen grab of the opening title sequence in 'Children of Men'.

The fact that the writing is in white like the previous two which means that it stands out more and it make sure that the audience knows what they are watching. Also the fact that it is white text with a all black background, it could leave enigmas within the audience, due to the fact they don't have a clue what the film is all about because of the fact they are no clues or images to give the audience an idea of what they are watching, all they know is they are watching a film called 'Children of Men'.

3. Analyse the camera, sound, editing and mise-en-scene. How do these technical areas make you aware that this is the thriller genre?
- the camera shot in the screen grab which is a wide shot shows that people are going to die which shows clearly that its a horror. Also the slow paced music shows that it something is going to happen.
4. Does the narrative in the opening scene match the conventions of the thriller genre? How?
-the fact that it has to do with death  mean that it is part of the thriller conventions meaning it is a thriller film. Also the fact that the survival of the human race is close to dying out shows it’s a thriller.
5. Which production company made the film? How might this influence what appears in the film?
-Universal Pictures, A Strike Entertainment Production and Hit and Run Productions made this film. The fact that Universal Pictures made this film and it is a conglomerate. This would means they have more money and power so it would be able to fund them and they would be able to pick out things that they don’t like about the film.
6. What do you think might happen in the rest of the film? Give brief suggestions.
- That the human race will die out apart from a few people including the main character.


Panic Room

1. Who is being represented in the opening scene? Are these representations positive or negative?

- In this opening scene, no one is being represented only the city which shows the city to be a dangerous place which is a negative representation.

2. What titles for each opening look like? Does this tell you that it is a thriller genre?

This is a screen grab of the opening title sequence in 'Panic Room'.

The title of this film is not like the last three. In the last three the title of the film has always been in big white right with a dark background, where as in the film 'Panic Room' the title is almost see through written which opens more questions about what is going on and what is going to happen within the film. Also the background is of the city in which the film is set and that gives the audience a sense of where the story is being taken placed.
3. Analyse the camera, sound, editing and mise-en-scene. How do these technical areas make you aware that this is the thriller genre?
- The music is quite a dramatic type which would show that it is a thriller genre.

4. Does the narrative in the opening scene match the conventions of the thriller genre? How?

- No

5. Which production company made the film? How might this influence what appears in the film?

-Columbia Pictures Corporation, Hofflund/Polone and Indelible Picture all made this film. Columbia is a major studio and will the money to have funded this film which would have meant they can make major decisions on what should be on the film

6. What do you think might happen in the rest of the film? Give brief suggestions.

- That people will be trapped in a room or an enclosed area and people will panic.

Se7en

1. Who is being represented in the opening scene? Are these representations positive or negative?

- The opening scene, a mad man is being represented, s if he’s someone with a troubled mind and it is a negative representation because if a man like this was around in everyday life today, a lot of people would feel he show.

2. What titles for each opening look like? Does this tell you that it is a thriller genre?

 

This is a screen grab of the opening title sequence in 'Se7en'.

 

This is a screen grab is of ‘Se7en’ and like the first three titles the heading of the film is white writing that stands out so that the audience can see what the film is called in big. Also the black background could create enigmas within the audience not know what is going, however in the second you see the background of the crazy person at work which gives the audience an idea of what is going to happen which would result into the audince creating questions in thier minds about why is man doing this or what is his problem?

3. Analyse the camera, sound, editing and mise-en-scene. How do these technical areas make you aware that this is the thriller genre?
- Old fashion effect to it which shows maybe the guy who is plotting to kill people is using an old fashion way to so. also there are close ups on the guys fingernails and what he doing what he is doing which shows he’s a mysterious person who likes to harm himself which isn't normal. The music in the background is creepy so it creates a mood of tension.

4. Does the narrative in the opening scene match the conventions of the thriller genre? How?

- The fact that there going to a crime main storyline shows that that it has conventions of a thriller genre. Also the fact there is suspicion in it and there antagonist in it shows that there conventions of a thriller genre. In addition to that, there is a complex narrative which it’s a convention of a thriller.

5. Which production company made the film? How might this influence what appears in the film?

-Cecchi Gori Pictures and New Line Cinema made this film produced this film. This didn’t really influence the film because both of them are not the big producers in film and due to that they couldn’t really tell the director what they want to portrayed in the titles, and they can really make that much changes due to the fact they don't have that much money.

6. What do you think might happen in the rest of the film? Give brief suggestions.

- The police are going to find a psycho path that kills people for fun.