This document discusses film classification ratings in the UK and analyzes whether a film dealing with an oppressive government and featuring images of guns and violence could receive a 15 rating. It provides details on the requirements for a 15 rating and notes that while the film contains lethal weapons and violent action sequences, other 15-rated films have also featured such content. It argues that as the film does not dwell on or portray violence positively, it falls within the guidelines for a 15 classification.

1. BBFC Classification There are several different types of film classification that can be applied to films to show which age group it is suitable. These are U, PG, 12A, 12, 15, 18 and R18, and depending on the content the classification rating increases in age (which prevents young children are warned against seeing scenes of explicit violence or sex, etc).

2. “U” Rating (Universal)

3. “PG” Rating (Parental Guidance)

4. “12/12A” Rating

5. “15” Rating

6. “18” Rating

7. “R18” Rating (Restricted 18)

8. As our film also needs to be classified, we need to look at a more detailed description of a 15 film, as we think our film will be more likely to be aimed at this age group. Our film will be dealing with the topic of an oppressive and almost fascist government and will focus on the conversion of the main character, who is a young woman and closer to the age of our intended age group than of an adult. Because of this, we want to allow teenagers to be able to view the movie.

9. Detailed requirements of a ‘15’ rated movie

10. In regards to the previous paragraph, our film does not contain any nudity, sexual scenes, sustained horror or drug use and therefore would be acceptable to show to 15-year olds. However, in our film there will be images of lethal weapons i.e. guns and bombs, and there will be action sequences where violence will be used and characters will appear to be injured.The highlighted paragraph shows us the areas that our film directly contradicts, although we can argue that there are other films of a 15-rating that have also used lethal weapons and violence. An example of this would be V for Vendetta, where we see a character hanged within the opening two minutes – while we do not dwell on this action the idea of a character being hanged is extremely lethal and allows us to understand that the character is dead.Because of this, we can argue that our film is within the guidelines of a 15-rated classification as we have no intentions to portray violence or weapons as positive and will not focus on injuries caused.