Age rating for The Bitter Kiss

1. The Bitter Kiss
AGE RATING

2. Rating we want
We’ve decided to give the suggested rating of 15 to the BBFC for our film,
which means that nobody below the age of 15 would be legally allowed to
buy a DVD copy of the film or view a screening of the film at the cinema.
Things that are frequently seen in 15+ films which we will include in our film
are:
 Strong Violence
 Frequent strong language e.g. (‘s***’)
 Portrayal of sexual activity (Film Noir convention)
 Brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
 Drug taking

3. How much strong language is
allowed?
 There is no limitation on the amount of times strong language (e.g. ‘S***’)
can be used, even use of strong words such as ‘cun*’ could be used, all
depending on the context in which they are being used. However frequent
and abusive use of strong language would not normally be passed 15
therefore in our film strong language e.g. ‘Shi*’ is used when as a reaction
from one of the characters and the word is only spoken once.

4. Media Effects & Behaviour Teens May
Copy
 Our film depicts a gangster hanging himself, the BBFC at more mature
ages rates content such as this in relevance to the detail in which the act is
depicted. In our film we reveal the gangster wrapping a noose around his
neck, and then a cut to his feet moving as he struggles to breather, with no
detail to the area penetrated by the rope. The choking is also only
screened for 16 seconds therefore it’s short and doesn’t give the audience
much to think about as the next scene jumps straight to action with the
protagonist escaping the antagonists.

5. Why didn’t we consider giving the film
a lower rating?
 Ratings such as 12A and 12 are very contempt on prohibiting tones in a
film and the effects that they may have on the audience. Our film explores
the themes of sex, murder, and crime therefore we found that it would not
be suitable for audiences younger than 15 due to the sensitivity with which
the BBFC regulates films with themes such as this. Our trailer also contains
some quite visual scenes e.g. a character being eaten alive by the vampire
or the earlier mentioned suicide scene which in the yes of the BBFC would
most likely have too much of an impact on the minds of younger
demographics.