2. BTEC ExtendedDiplomainCreativeMediaProduction
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 (British board of film classification)
What are they in charge of regulating?
BBFC are in charge of age ratings in movies. They will look at a movie and
judge what age rating this movie will receive based on it content. The age
ratings are: PG, PG13, 12, 15, 18.
When was the body set up? Why was it set up?
The BBFC was founded around 1912 when the local authorities decided to rate
and impose their own censorship on movies. The BBFC was set up in order to
bring uniformity to those standards. The objective was to create something,
which could make judgments that were acceptable nationally.
How is this organisation funded? Why is it funded that way? Are there any
benefits or drawbacks to being funded this way?
They get people to come in and watch a feature length movie or a short movie,
which they give an age rating. They charge then around £7 a minute for a
feature length and £6 for something like a trailer or advertisement.
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 has the power to remove a movie and ban it from being shown on
TV if it has extreme subjects on it that most people will find offensive. The
people who view these movies are the ones who give it power as well as the
president of the company.
3. BTEC ExtendedDiplomainCreativeMediaProduction
How does the industry use it?
The BBFC requires the submission of the movie or what ever they are reviewing
and then they will mark the movies content and give the movie an age rating.
How can the public use it?
The public can pay to review a movie, trailer, advertisement etc. they pay based
on what they are watching, for example someone who watches a feature length
movie will need to pay lots because they are charged a set amount every
minute of the viewing.
What kinds of regulatory issues does your body deal with the most?
The BBFC deals with being able to give an accurate age rating so that they can
specify the audience they feel should watch the product. They are concentration
more on censorship for the best result.
Case Studies:
Find a case study, which demonstrates the regulatory body working in practice.
A case study involves the movie fight club, which was a movie, that causing
commotion because of the amount of violence in the movie. They where able to
rate it an 18 uncut. However people proclaimed that it should be taken down
due to the amount of violence.
Find a second case study, which demonstrates the regulatory body working in
practice.
A second case study is of the film clockwork orange, this film had lots of
violence and disturbing scenes, which caused the movie to get critical feedback.
The movie was pulled from TV because it was to extreme to watch. In the end it
was given an 18 uncut.
4. BTEC ExtendedDiplomainCreativeMediaProduction
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 that the media should be regulated because it allows the media to be
controlled. If the media is controlled then it can determine what information the
media can release.
Should regulators be independent?
I think that regulators should be independent because then they can show their
own opinion on something, rather than having to get an opinion from someone
else who could have a different view on something that they are regulating.
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?
We allow them to regulate movies because they need to determine what
audience the movies should be for. Without the regulators people such as
children will be watching and playing games, which could have, content that
they could possible be influenced by. This can include extreme violence and
verbal abuse. A game such as Grand Theft Auto will not be played by anyone
under the age rating because it includes content that is inappropriate to them
because it is aimed for a more mature audience.
Or
