BBFC and classification of films.

The BBFC is a classification process where its aim is to protect people from harmful content shown in the film industry and it gives consumers vital information that they will need about a particular film or video. The BBFC carefully look at films and decide on suitable age ratings before they are released to protect the public, they ensure that a high level of protection is provided.

How does it work?
Two experienced film examiners watch films that wish to be released and if they fail to agree or have any doubt about the content of the film the film maybe taken to other peoples attention such as the Presidential team to examine the content to a higher level to see what the potential harm maybe.

The BBFC take great care in making sure that the audience agree with the guidelines and what they expect from a certain film. The BBFC every 4 years carry our a public consultation and this is to find our what the public think of film age ratings and to see if what they think fits the publics thoughts. On some occasions the BBFC has changed ratings according to the public as they take into consideration what the general public think and why they think this.

Universal films are seen as acceptable for an audience over the age of four.
In terms of language used in the U rated films there is no mild language used or if there is it is very very little, in terms of sexual content no overt focus on this will be shown. Further more in terms of violence there will be little or very mild acts of violence such as emotional stress but the outcome will be reassuring for the characters.
Universal films tend to consist of a wide range of themes, and they will generally give off a positive message such as friendship and loyalty for a happy ending and any discriminatory language shall not be passed at certificate U.

Parental guardian, other wise known as PG

Pg films are for general viewing and some scenes may not be suitable for very young children as parents should make sure to be of presents when their child is watching these films. Not all PG films are made for a younger audience as films at this certificate can be made for the enjoyment of adults, these films are acceptable for any child around the age of 7.
Mild language can be passed at PG but the context in which it is used determines this, id language is used in an aggressive manor then this will not be passed. Sex references are not passed at PG unless a child may understand. Violence in Pg rated films is mild as no detail will be involved but in terms of comedy or historical settings this is more acceptable, as well as fantasy settings.

12 and 12A films.
12A films may not be suitable for children whom are under the age of 12, also nobody younger may view this film without an adult present and the adult must take into consideration if this film is suitable. Cinema staff reinforce this law but this is hard to enforce in the home environment so this is the reason the DVDs tend to be rated at 12, but as far as retail goes nobody under the age of 12 maybe purchase these films.
In terms of strong language, depending upon the manor and the social contact the film will be passed however if used in an aggressive manor it will typically be classified at a higher certificate.
Verbal sex references will be passed unless it is frequent or crude language then this will not be accepted.
Moderate violence is also accepted in 12 rated films and this should not be detailed but occasional moments will be permitted depending upon the context, but no emphasis on injury pr blood maybe shown. Suicide maybe passed also unless it is detailed then this will not be shown due to children imitating this behavior  and also some horror films will be passed such as psychological as long as scenes are not on going.

15-not suitable for under 15 year olds.

A large amount of string language is acceptable and there is no limit on the amount of language used and also sexual activity can be shown but without strong detail, it is acceptable to an extent but any sting references are unlikely to be passed.
Violence maybe strong in 15 films, but only to an extent, horror films do tend to be passed at certificate 15 also. In terms of drugs, as long as no direct showing of how to consume drugs or misusage of drugs is shown this will be passed, but any misuse of drugs will likely not pass at 15.

18-NOBODY under the age of 18 must see these films.
Strong racist and homophobic references can be used as well as detailed portrayals of sedx and full nudity is prohibited. Real duplications of sexual activity maybe used but if sex works is used then this will be 18R.
In terms of drugs and violence, drug usage will be shown as long as it does not encourage misuse and violence can be used with sting detail and pain and injury can be shown and strong gore. Horror films contain large amounts of gore and threat throughout.

Richard Dyers theory of entertainment.

Similar films-Mr Brooks

Mr Brooks Similar Film

PLOT: In Portland, the philanthropic businessman and family man Mr. Earl Brooks has been just elected Man of the Year. Mr. Brooks manages his factory of packages; lives in a comfortable house with his gorgeous wife Emma and has a rebel daughter Jane in college. However, Mr. Brooks has a dark secret: he is a psychopath serial killer also known as The Thumbprint Killer with an alter-ego called Marshall and addicted in killing. For two years, Mr. Brooks has attended the AA meetings and kept his addiction under control. However, Marshall returns and forces him to kill a couple of dancers that is making love in their house with open curtains. On the next day, Jane returns home without her BMW and a man named Mr. Smith (Dane Cook) visits Mr. Brooks in his factory with pictures of him in the crime scene; he is blackmailed and the man requests to participate in a murder. Meanwhile, the wealthy detective Tracy Atwood is having a troubled moment in her life: she has been investigating the murders of The Fingerprint Killer; is facing her former husband Jesse Vialo in a complicated divorce process; and is chased by the violent criminal Thornton Meeks that has escaped from prison and promised to kill her. When Tracy visits the crime scene, she suspects that Mr. Smith is an eye witness of the murder and presses him, and their fates entwine with the life of Mr. Brooks.

back to the future film analysis

Back to the future is a film that has a start cast and known for its dynamic visual effects from the outset and throughout. The films protagonist is Marty McFly as he fits the archetype as he fights for a good cause and what everyone else seems to be afraid of. Furthermore he is spontaneous and full of intensity and passion, although he likes to show himself as 'hardcore' he is actually very passionate and cares a lot about his family and friends.
Emmett Brown seems to take on the role as the 'mentor' as he is a very logical and strategic thinker that Marty admires strongly, he always pushes him to whatever he desires and he is trustworthy and everyone can rely upon for help.

Summary

1. The phone call, Marty receives a call telling him to meet Doc at 1:15am and when he arrives he is shown a delorian but with his dog Doc demonstrates that it is intact a time machine, he is forced to time travel as the Libyans attempt to shoot him as he stole the rule from them 
2. Doc guides Marty during his endeavors in 1955 for example he lets hm know that aside from the Plutonium there is a way to get fule the time machine through a single bolt of lightning, he also gave advice not to interact with others even if he felt that it would help as consequences of his actions could be fatal.
3. Martys talisman is the delorian as he would have failed to get to the future, without this he would not be able to get back home 
4.  As Doc companion he was the only person he could trust and knew could help him get back to the present time, Marty got Doc to believe that he was from the future and that his invention had workrf when telling him about the flux capacitor and showed him the footage he had taken in the night he showed him the invention, in 1955 when he came up with the idea.
5. Marty crosses the threshold when he hits 88mph when he is driving and is transported to 1955 
6. Martys road of trails first took place upon his arrival when he isn't sure where he is and he thinks it is a dream until he sees a different mayor and the clock in town worlds when it has been broken for 30 years, he has two main objectives one to get his dad to ask his mother to the enchanted under the sea dance to fall in love and also to harness a lighting bolt to power the delorian as plutonium wasn't a available resource. 
7. Marty fights mentally with the fact that his mother and father have to fall in love or his existence would no longer be.
8. Marty is abducted by Biffs friend and thrown in a car boot after he tries to keep him from his mum so his father could talk to her and fall in love 
   
9. Marty seeing his father as a teenager, he saw him at a soda shop where they had the same mannerisms.
10. Martys ritual death happens when playing a guitar at the dance and he begins to slowly fade away as his parents are not dancing like they should and so his existence is slowly fading.
11. His smother becomes infatuated with him as he stood up to Biff.

Test of music: Ridiculous music played over the chase scene

Music test

 

In this video we have edited the chase scene to have ridiculous music played over it to identify the effects music and sound can have on a product. A chase scene should have suspenseful music such as fast paced ominous humming's whereas we have opted for a theatrical 'Benny Hill' style music which makes the scene look humorous rather than serious. 

Adobe after effects

Adobe after effects is an application used by video professionals.
Using after effects means that there is a lot of versatility when making films in order to gain what you are looking for from the over all end result of the film, Adobe after effects is a digital visual effects compositing application and motion graphics that are developed and used in post production process of film making and television. It is used for making motion graphics and visual effects allowing people to animate edit and compose 2D or 3D space withe different built in tools and third party plug ins. Third party plug ins are things such as particle systems for realistic effects of snow, fire and rain ext.

Avatar producers relied heavily on after effects as that is where the film blossomed as it was seen as one of the best animated films of all time.




Iron man 3 is also a film that relied heavily on after effects as the majority of the film is made up of after effects, after effects ables adaptation as it renders very quick meaning that you can try many things that you imagination is thinking.


Oblivion is a futuristic science fiction movie where the earth has been obliviated as the title gives away by an alien force, the producers was aiming for a two diminutional elegant yet keeping a lot of detail and after effects abled this to work.

Strange Days

Plot summary found on IMDB

Lenny Nero deals in dreams. Formerly an LAPD vice cop, he now deals in illegal 'squid' recordings - recordings made directly from the cerebral cortex of the participant, which allow the viewer to feel and experience everything the participant experiences as if they were there. One of life's perpetual losers, he ekes out a lonely, miserable existence at the end of the millennium, still pathetically yearning for his beautiful ex-girlfriend Faith, a beautiful singer, and is dependent on his friend Macey, who both loves him unquestioningly and despairs for him completely, in equal measure. But Lenny's life is about to be shattered; when he is anonymously sent the recording of the brutal rape and murder of a prostitute he is acquainted with, he and Macey soon find themselves reluctantly embroiled in a dark web of murder, blackmail and intrigue amid the civil unrest surrounding the suspicious death of an influential, politically active rap singer. Lenny and Macey are soon running from Faith's brutal manager, Philo Gant, and a pair of menacing police officers, as they try to uncover the connection between the two and stay alive long enough to see in the millennium.

Strange days is the film in which we took inspiration from for our plot. A man (Lenny) now deals these recordings which allow a person to experience other peoples experiences. This is the basis for the beginning of our film, where our main character, Vera, deals these tapes to different clients so they can experience whatever they want. The trailer briefly explains what these recordings are going to do to the client in less than a minute, which is what we aim to do within out film.

Strange Days also includes many handheld shots, particularly when an individual is experiencing the recordings. We will use this within our own films when the viewers are experiencing the playback tapes.

 

 

Research into lighting

Lighting is an extremely important part of the film making process, in that it not only makes the film look more professional by exposing an image, it also can be used to create atmosphere. When considering lighting we need to look at the effect the director is trying to create and look at the meanings certain lightings create.

Three Point Lighting
Three Point lighting is the most basic lighting setup. As the name suggests, there are three lights involved, the Key Light, the Fill Light, and the Backlight. The Key Light is aimed at the object, or individual, and is the brightest of the three lights. The Fill Light is a softer light, which is usually placed opposite the Key Light. The Fill light is used to cut down on the amount of shadows created by the Key Light. Finally the Backlight is placed behind the object or individual, and its purpose is to separate the subject from the background. Basically, it creates a sense of depth.


Fill Light
Fill light may be used to reduce the contrast of a scene to match the dynamic rage of the recording media and also to reflect the same amount of detail in which can usually be seen by the eye in average lighting. If we use normality as the baseline, the amount of fill light used can make shadows seem lighter, darker or normal. The use of more or less fill light will cause the audience to react in different ways, because of both environmental and moods clues given by the tone of the shadows. The positioning of the fill can affect the overall appearance of the lighting.

High Key Lighting
When a director of photography uses a high level of fill lighting, it is referred to as high key lighting. The effect of this is that it makes the scene look brighter than real life. This kind of lighting is usually used in musicals as it shows a sense of liveliness, or it may emphasise intensity of a situation in dramas.


Low Key Lighting
Low Key lighting is basically the opposite of high key lighting, as it is used to create more shadows. Due to the extra shadows this lighting has become a convention of horror films.






Backlighting
Backlighting is when the object or individual is lit from behind. The light, natural or artificial, and the  viewer face each other, and the object or individual is in between. A glowing effect is created around the edges of the subject.
 It can create a sort of halo effect.

Four Point Lighting
Four point lighting is exactly the same as three point lighting, just with the addition of the Background light. The light does as the name suggests, therefore lighting up the background area. This adds distance between the background and subject. The use of a background light adds a sense of depth.




Top Lighting
Top lighting is the use of a light above the subject, and it highlights the subject.





Under Lighting
This is just the opposite of top lighting, where the light is placed underneath the subject.

Substance abuse in films

Substance abuse : Is the excessive use of any substance, especially alcohol or a drug.
(Found on http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=24405)

Substance abuse can be seen in many films, whether it be abuse of alcohol or the abuse of drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and cannabis. Here are just a few films which deal with substance abuse of some form;

Pulp Fiction 

Pulp fiction shows the abuse of many different drugs, namely cocaine and heroin. This is a very popular film, which handles drugs (especially in the scene above) in a tasteful and not too graphic way. When filming our scene, we will take inspiration for this part of pulp fiction, however it will be shot from a point of view. This film is that it almost romanticises drug use, which is in a way what we would like to do, to give our film that gritty and dark feel to it.

Trainspotting

Train spotting is a film about a group of youths who turn to heroin in an attempt to escape reality. However they later discover the consequences of using, and find there is no escape. This cult film has also been accused of glamourising the use of drugs, despite depicting the crash and the withdrawal. The characters all decline in terms of trust in eachother and morale.




Requiem for a dream

Requiem for a dream probably contains the more realistic portrayal of drug abuse, as the film is probably the grittiest film on the list. This movie exposes four paralleled individuals and their menacing addiction to heroin, cocaine and diet pills (speed). During the film, we witness the addicts loose control of their lives and we see the ugliest parts of the underworld addicts reside in. The scenes in which the characters are taking drugs is very fast paced, which I believe shows the urgency and reinforces the character dependency on the drugs. I think these scenes are clever and deal with the difficult subject of drug abuse without dragging it out too much.

Rape in films

Rape is a very conterversial sudject, and should be handled in a subtle and sensitive manner.

Many films contain rape within them, usually rape of a woman, as it is statistically more likely for a woman to be raped than a male. This allows the film to evoke real life fear within the audience as it is more relatable to. However we should not forget that rape is an issue for both sexes.

Rape is seen in many modern day films, and is seen as a lot less shocking than it would have say 50 years ago, due to the desensitisation of the audience, therefore it became less of a horrible thing to be shown. Films such as The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Accused, Irreversible and I Spit On Your Grave all have scenes of rape within the film.

 To deal with Rape in a way in which shows we do not condone it, more like raising awareness and by showing the disgust on Vera's face when she sees the tape, we believe this will portray our personal beliefs on Rape. We will portray the scene in a way which shows it is not acceptable and never allows the audience to empathise with the protagonist, just the victim. I believe if we tackle the subject in a way which isn't too graphic, but is suggestive of rape, this will allow us to keep our rating at 15. We will use rape as a plot device and we will in no way portray this as enjoyable and we will certainly not condone rape.

Shooting pack 25/11/2015

Shooting pack 25/11/2015

Today we will be shooting the opening scene of our short film and recording the voice over of the protagonist via a zoom recorder. The scenes we are shooting is in the location of the 19th century underground toilets, we will film Morgan sat in the toilet cubicle experiencing a playback, we will also film a male character doing the same thing. The next scene we will shoot is the point of view perspective of someone injecting heroin into themselves. We will then edit the footage and prepare for the next shooting day. As we are shooting in a public place it was important to ask permission from the cleaners who maintain the toilets as we did not want to disturb the public. In order to ensure the public's safety as well as ours, we have been given permission to have the toilets for thirty minutes, this means we will have to film efficiently in order to finish in the allocated time. 

Props and equipment we will need:

1. Bag of white powder to look like cocaine
2. Syringe
3. Teaspoon
4. Lighter
5. Tripod
6. Camera
7. Tape
8. ECG tabs
9. Large hat for Morgan

Scene breakdown

Scene Breakdown

I created a scene breakdown to assist during the production to ensure that we know what props we need for each individual scene and to make our production run smoothly. 

Drug taking in films

Drug taking represented in films

In the short film we have a  point of view perspective drug taking scene that was inspired by the film Pulp Fiction. We did not want to glorify drug taking in anyway and therefore we cut out the method of how the heroin is injected and demonstrate the negative effect of the drug use on the character rather than portraying the character as joyful after the experience. We did this to ensure that the age rating of our film would maintain a 15 certificate. In order to understand the props we would be using and the way we would portray it, I researched into films that feature drug taking and identify whether it was a negative portrayal or a positive experience for the character, I also wanted to see how the drug taking had been displayed, whether it was suggestive or you could see the character doing a step by step taking of the drugs.

Disorientating effect

Our inspiration for the drug scene came from Pulp Fiction where Vincent takes injects a needle into his arm and pulls back the needle and extracts a small amount of his blood in the process. The Pulp Fiction drug scene cuts from a step by step procedure to Vincent looking relaxed and 'out of it' and is accompanied by a chilled sound score to suggest the drug taking is an enjoyable and relaxing experience for Vincent. I did not want to reflect this sort of message to the audience and therefore I added an effect which disorientates the viewer in a series of flashes and white noise is layered over the top of the scene, the scene itself is uncomfortable for the audience to watch and therefore wont encourage them to participate in drug taking. Visually I did like Tarantino's depiction of the drug scene as a focus pull of a flame allows it to transition to the injecting of the heroin. The whole procedure is pulled together with a series of close up shots and shallow depth of focus. I particularly liked how during the drug taking, we only see close up shots of hands and infer that it is Vincent taking the drugs due to the cutaways to him during and after the drug scene. Similarly within our short film, we infer that Morgans character is the one experiencing the drug taking due to the camera tracking into her and fading black and then coming out, she also holds her hand in the place of the heroin shot to indicate this further. When we came to shoot the drug scene I identified that we  couldn't replicate the Pulp Fiction scene entirely as our drug taking is one continuous shot of point of view perspective, we did however, emulate the use of props which included, a spoon, lighter and needle and emulated the extraction of the blood using red food coloring for the blood. We originally shot a similar scene to Pulp Fiction where we use the lighter to heat up the makeshift heroin, however, due to the limited time of our film(5 minutes), I decided to cut it out and have it cut to the injection of the drug, but kept the heroin, spoon and lighter within the scene for mise-en-scene purposes. The scene in Pulp Fiction also has a dark background in which casts shadows and gives the impression of melancholia as it is dark and an obscure setting. Within our film the scene is in a darkened room, however, the light source is low key but close to the camera giving it an element of brightness, to control this I  added a blue filter which has made the final product look depressing and raw, it almost gives the feeling of being on drugs, it is harsh and distorted filtering.

Ambient sound of  needle head clicking into place

Cross Fade from the lighter to heroin on the spoon

Vincent is paying no attention to the road.

Pulp Fiction

Short Film:Playback

Research into films with drug taking in them
I researched into various different films and identified the way drugs has been presented within them. On the BBFC website it states that films depicting drug misuse has been a major concern since the 1900's as it was thought that drug on film would arouse curiosity, in recent times, the concern is glamorizing the use of drugs in film. At a U and PG certificate there must be know portrayal of drugs and if referencing it must be in an educational way. From a 12 onward there may be a portrayal of drug misuse in a 12 however it must not provide instructional details. The same applies for a 15 rated film which was important to research as our film consists of a drug scene.
Trainspotting



Requiem for a dream

representation of drugs in films

Drug films tend to consist of either drug distribution or drug use, films range from ultra realistic to the utterly surreal, some films can be unabashedly pro or anti drug, while some others can be less judge mental. Drugs that tend to be shown in these type of films are usally higher class drugs such as

• crack cocaine
• lSD
• Heroin
• cannabis

There is convincing evidence that the media influences individuals behaviour, things such as smoking in films promotes uptake of the use by adolescents, this has lead to the use of rating and to restrict access to films that have this type of content.

Drugs gave played a substantial role in film narratives, it is clear that the way drugs have been presented on screen has varied over the past century, shifting from positive to negative drug usage and different representations, all of which are often a reflection of greater societal and cultural trends.

• The on screen popularity of Cocaine reflected the high usage among the starts and grew in the use of upper class and the elite. 

up in smoke

• Marijuana 
• cocaine 

drug users in this film are portrayed as lazy 'stoners' that have unrealistic solutions to the on going problems and commit crimes such as driving under the influence of drugs. 

Trainspotting 

this film is another film that shows drug use of high class drugs such as 

• Heroin 
• marijuana 

The drug users are shown as lower class citizens that have a difficult life and under go consequences such as death, neglect and jail/court. 

Clean and Sober.

• The main character is a successful real estate sales man but is addicted to cocaine, he embezzles $92,000 from his company from a escrow account and looses $50,00 due to his cocaine addiction, he wakes one morning with a girl who has had an heart attack in result of a cocaine addiction and he tries to cover up the fact drugs have been used. The police do still find out what has happened and then Daryl tried to flee the country but he has no cash and his card gets declined he then attends a drug rehabilitation program which lasts about a month and guarantees anonymity.

For further information about drug use in films i have looked on the BBFC website and this is some information I have found.

The BBFC prohibit detailed portrayal of drug use that could cause pubic or mental health problems even at 18 level, and particularly children. Any misuse or glamorization of drugs maybe cut out of films that show misuse of drugs or any danger that they could be showing.

I Spit on Your Grave- handling of rape

In our film, we have come up with the idea to have a number of experiences that effects a persons life in some way. These experiences range from having a physical disability to committing a murder (to reinforce the thriller generic conventions of our film), however we also thought of a subtle rape scene to be included in our film. From this idea, it has allowed us all individually to research into rape scenes of films that handled the situation in a appropriate way and some that may be seen as inappropriate.




OUR FILM

In our film, we have decided to handle the rape scene in a low key way, which gives enough evidence to suggest what is happening without actually showing anything inappropriate. We have chose to do this by having a point of view shot from the criminals perspective, showing the victim laid down on a bed, struggling and panicking hysterically. from this we see nothing but the unzipping of each persons trousers where the scene cuts off back to our original film. We have done this so we can portray the thriller side of our film; whilst also maintaining the content to be appropriate to our age rating/ audience of 15. 

1. I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE
Storyline (description taken from IMBd)

Writer Jennifer Hills takes a retreat from the city to a cabin in the woods to start on her next book. But Jennifer's presence in the small town attracts the attention of a few morally depraved locals who set out one night to teach this city girl a lesson. They break into her cabin to scare her. However, what starts out as terrifying acts of humiliation and intimidation, quickly and uncontrollably escalates into a night of physical abuse and torturous assault. But before they can kill her, Jennifer sacrifices her broken and beaten body to a raging river that washes her away. As time passes, the men slowly stop searching for her body and try to go back to life as usual. But that isn't about to happen. Against all odds, Jennifer Hills survived her ordeal. Now, with vengeance, Jennifer's sole purpose is to turn the tables and inflict upon them every horrifying and torturous moment they carried out on her... only much, much worse.

I Spit On Your Grave has the power to show rape in a realistic way, due to the high budget and age rating of the film; meaning they can show the audience a more gruesome and detailed attack. Because of this, I Spit On Your Grave has been rated one of the most controversial films to be released; which further can be argued how well they handled the storyline. The directors appropriately rated the film according to the graphic content of the film (nudity, violence, sexual assault etc) therefore suggests that this film overall handled the rape attack appropriately, however from further research into the film and looking through comments from the audience of the film, it can be argued that many people saw it to be inappropriate, where one individual dubbed it as 'pornography'. 

Prep for Filming- 20th November

For our filming on Friday we are planning to complete our chase scene. This is one of our biggest scenes to shoot consisting of Morgan running through an old car park before we see a horrific accident take place.

Equipment/props:

• black joggers
• black hoodie
• balaclava
• torches/lighting
  

 

Location

• old market car park
• lift/staircase

Research into photo storyboards

A photo storyboard is very similar to a regular storyboard, however a photo storyboard includes actual photos from the short film/film that is being created.

Photo storyboards can include:

• location photos
• character photos (placed in location)
• give a more accurate picture in terms of timing

Regular storyboard

Regular storyboards are significantly useful in planning/creating an image of what a film could look like. These types of storyboards can be used for almost any type of media that is being planned, however only give a certain amount of detail of what is happening in a film/music video etc.

Photo storyboard


Photo storyboards are essentially a large comic of the film or some section of the film produced beforehand to help film directors, cinematographers and television commercial advertising clients visualise the scenes and find potential problems before they occur.Photo storyboards also be used when planning music videos in order to 'map out' timings which makes it a lot easier to piece together the overall desired piece of work. Furthermore it gives an in depth look at what a director has created in terms of characters, setting, timing etc. therefore is much more beneficial when reviewing an overall piece of work as it allows an early account of the potential outcome.






 
Advantages of Photo Storyboards:

1. Allows other workers/crew members visualise an idea by looking at shots of location, characters etc.

2. a problem can be easily be identified when each scene/shot can be seen (makes it easier to mark changes etc)

3. In depth ideas can be presented as it allows images of desired shots or character costumes in comparison to ordinary storyboards where they don't show as much planning.