The BBFC & Film Certificates

 The BBFC is in charge of classifying films before they are released. They are responsible for deciding if the film passes the correct guidelines for the age of which the film is appropriate for. The BBFC uses published classification guides to determine the age restriction, this is based off the content of the film. Audiences can complain if they are unhappy with the content in the film or if it doesn't fit to the age restriction. In the UK, a film can't be released at cinemas, or on VOD or DVD until it has been reviewed by the BBFC and received an age classification .

The classifications are: 

U - Suitable for all 

PG - Parental guidance 

12A - Suitable for ages 12 and over, or if under the age of 12 they must be accompanied by an adult 

12 - For ages 12 and over

15 - Suitable for ages 15 and over

18 - Suitable for 18 and over 

What does the BBFC consider? 

• Violent scenes
• Scenes including sex or nudity 
• Scenes with obscene language
• Scenes with discriminatory language
• Scenes of self harm 
• Criminal activity 
• Scenes showing dangerous behaviour 
• Drugs, Alcohol and cigarettes 
• Scenes involving child actors 
• Strobe lighting

They also consider the content within the film, even in animation. They determine if the animation is too violent and could encourage children to take part in causing an injury. Furthermore, the BBFC will consider scenes portraying drugs in order to make sure they show the negative side effects to them. This could mean the film gets a lower certificate. Rather on the other hand, if a film portrays drugs as fun and consequence free then it will be given a higher age rating to prevent the film encouraging a younger audience.

Violence is another big consideration, they determine the violence through these points: 

• If the violence is encouraged as 'normal' behaviour 
• The reason for the violence, eg self defence 
• What harm s caused from this violence... what are the consequences 
• Is the hero or villain being violent 
• how does the perpetrator treat the victim 
• is the violence enjoyed
• is the violence glamorised
• how much violence is there in the film 
• how realistic is the violence 
• does the violence get punished

Here is the BBFC guidelines and what they include:

My storyboard

 Here is my 2 pages of the storyboard task of which me and my group divided up into sections. I have draw and written from shot 12-16 following the breakdown that I did previously of our sequence. 

Film Sounds

 In today's task, I recapped on the two aspects of sound; Diegetic and Non Diegetic. And I also created my own MP3 master track to go with my previous film making task. 

DIEGETIC SOUND

• Diegetic sound is the sound which is heard in the film by the actors and people on set. 
• Such as sound effects and dialog conversations
• Diegetic sound can occur either on screen or off screen

NON DIEGETIC SOUND

• Non diegetic sound is usually sound which doesn't originate from the world of film 
• usually sound which is added for effect to create atmosphere
• Effectively used to make the audience feel and react and sense a specific way 

I also covered in this workshop the layers of sound: 

• Ambient sound - sound that surrounds us all the time in the space. It creates a sense of space and location/setting. 
• Dialog
• Music - Non diegetic for creating certain moods and also Diegetic 
• Foley sound - Sound effects which help with the narrative 
• Voice over - Can be either added sound which is non diegetic or can be diegetic 
• Theme music - certain theme tune which is recognisable to the specific film and genre
• Leitmotif - A certain reoccurring sound with a specific character, location or situation 

I then finally created this MP3 track on Logic Pro where I looped a ambient sound choice and also added a sound effect to create a sense of mood. I have imported the track onto the short film sequence that I made which I present to you here: 

Film making task

 In today's task, we were asked to create a short sequence using the 180 degree rule and trying out different camera angles. 

For this sequence which I have embeded from Youtube, it contains 9 shots overall and various angles such as mid shot, close up, extreme close up and more. I used dark lighting as it is set by the fire, and no audio apart from the sound effect of the fire. This 23 second long sequence is shown here,

What is storyboarding

 In today's lesson, I briefly learnt about how storyboards work, what they are for and why they are important. This will help me and my group with putting our idea of our opening sequence together as it will allow us to visually notice what shots, locations, camera movements and lighting we will be using. 

WHAT IS A STORYBOARD:

Storyboards are very important for the media industry, they are a visual representation of a step by step breakdown, however storyboards allow you to notice what shots you will need, such as long shot, mid shot and so on. They are often helpful for the directors, editor and crew so that they know how the shots will flow and the different location that will be needed. This helps save time and money because they can decide to film all the shots at one location before moving to the next. People who draw story boards for productions include the movement of the camera to reinforce the action in the scene, as well as transitions and timing of the shots. If there is dialog in any shots then this is also noted on the storyboard, as well as sound effects or soundtracks to help convey the mood and tone of the specific genre. 

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT BEFORE/AFTER FILMING: 

Before filming

Before the shots are filmed, storyboards are useful as they allow you to plan ahead of the shooting day in order to stay organised and to know exactly what needs to be filmed on that day. On top of that, storyboards are very important for planning before the day of filming because it gives you a visual insight into the final outcome of the film and how it will look, this will help to realise what looks good and bad. Storyboards are usually made up of

After filming

After filming, the footage is sent to the editor, the story board allows the editor to have a sense into what is going on and how the shots connect and what transitions to edit in such as cross fade, wipe, dissolve or cut. The editor will also get an understanding of the pace of the shots and the timings.

Breakdown of idea

  1. Bodyguard adjusts the rear-view mirror so that he can see the backseat clearly

2. Bodyguard checks his watch

3. Interior shot of the car with the bodyguard in the passenger seat - it is raining

4. Bodyguard’s brick phone buzzes from the inside pocket of his blazer

5. Bodyguard takes brick phone out of his blazer’s inside pocket and sees that he has received a text from an unknown number that reads ‘now’

6. Bodyguard puts phone back into inside pocket

7. Bodyguard opens the glove compartment and pulls out a handgun along with its silencer

8. With confidence, the bodyguard loads the handgun with the magazine, screws the silencer onto it and racks the slide, whilst bringing the viewers’ attention to his gold signet ring

9. Still holding the handgun, the bodyguard rests it on the end of his seat between his legs

10.  Bodyguard looks into his side-view mirror

11.  In the side-view mirror, he sees a man open the back door for Jacob as he gets into the backseat of the car, holding a folded newspaper and a briefcase

12.  Jacob and the bodyguard both make eye contact via the rear-view mirror

13.  Jacob unfolds his newspaper and begins to read

15.  Bodyguard looks into the rear-view mirror once again

16.  Bodyguard turns around rapidly and shoots through the newspaper into Jacob’s chest

17.  Bodyguard takes out brick phone and begins to call the previous unknown number

18.  Cuts to the bodyguard’s boss, sitting on a sofa with his legs up on a table as he watches the horse races and drinks a glass of whiskey

19.  Boss’s phone begins to ring

20.  Boss reaches over to the table, puts down glass of whiskey and picks up the phone, whilst also bringing the viewers’ attention to his gold signet ring that happens to match the bodyguard’s

21.  We then hear down the phone the bodyguard saying ‘it’s done’

22.  The boss replies with ‘good’

23.  Boss hangs up the phone, takes a sip of his whiskey and proceeds to watch the horse racing

Feedback from pitch

 After pitching Fred, Perdy, and mine powerpoint slides of our opening sequence pitch we received positive and negative feedback from our teachers. 

Instead of using two locations, one inside the car and the other inside the Ewhurst house, we have been advised to stick to using only the car as it is more practical and less complicated. The car would be stationary now through the whole opening sequence and it will stay put on a car park. 

Our idea of the sequence opening with a sound effect of the car engine was liked by my teacher, however, we have changed it so that the sound effect will be of the car door closing as the bodyguard in the front passenger seat enters. We have decided that the sequence will now start with the bodyguard in the cr initially preparing to assassinate his boss. The audience will have an insight into him preparing and loading his gun, in order to show that he is a bad man. We will include details of his signet ring and brick phone to reinforce the idea that he is bad. Then, the business man enters the backseat of the car while they wait for the driver. In this time, the audience has already been given hints as to what is going to happen, so there is a sense of tension before the assassination. To re create a gun shot scene, we are going to use a newspaper which the business man in the back seat would of been reading. This allows us to be creative and perhaps make a hole with fake blood through it to convince the audience that he has been shot by his own bodyguard. We have also decided to cut out the idea of using the other location to shoot the big boss in, so instead we will just have a short, quick shot of the bodyguards boss answering the phone, saying one or two short words in order to limit dialog. 

I agree with these adjustments that we have made to our idea pitch and I think that it will now be more realistic and accessible to film on the day.