What we rate our film as

Our Production

We have decided that our film would have a 12 certificate. This is because we are using some violence and we are also debating whether to have any blood and gore visible. Another reason why we think we should give our film a 12 age rating is that we are not planning on using any drugs in our short film. We have also decided that we wont be using any nudity in our production or any sexual activity. After we decided all of this we looked at the BBFC and compared our results to that of the BBFC. It became clear that the 12 certificate would be the correct age for our production.

Audience classification and Regulatory bodies

Audience Classification

The NRS Social Grade

Here is a link to How we are applying it to our audience.
The NRS social grades are a system of demographic classification used in the United Kingdom. They were originally developed by the National Readership Survey in order to classify readers, but are now used by many other organisations for wider applications and have become a standard for market research.

The classifications are based on the occupation of the head of the household.
Grade Social class Chief income earner's occupation

• A Upper middle class Higher managerial, administrative or professional.
• B Middle class Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional.
• C1 Lower middle class Supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative or professional.
• C2 Skilled working class Skilled manual workers.
• D Working class Semi and unskilled manual workers.
• E Those at the lowest levels of subsistence Casual or lowest grade workers, pensioners and others who depend on the welfare state for their income.

The ACORN system

ACORN (Acronym for A Classification of Residential Neighborhoods) is a geodemographic information system categorizing all United Kingdom postcodes into various types based upon census data and other information such as lifestyle surveys.

Here are the catorgies that the ACORN system use in desending order.

• Wealthy Achievers
• Urban Prosperity
• Comfortably Off
• Moderate Means
• Hard Pressed

Everyone in the united kingdom is under one of this Catorgies. This is then used by the media to target specific people that they which to use for there product.




BBFC (British Board of Film Classification)


The BBFC is a non governmental orgainisation funded by the film industry and is responsible for the classification of films in the united kingdom. It was founded in 1912 and gives people a perspective on what the film is like and what it includes. A classification is basically a guideline for parents so they can see what the film or game entails. Cinema's use these certificates so that children who are under the age of the certificate wont be viewing things that they should not see.



For a film to have the correct certificate applied to it they have to pass through a few processes. The film is first view by a group of examiners who analyse sections of the film and then give them the age rating that suits that section best. The producers of the film then have a chance to change certain parts of the film to achieve the ceftificate that they wont. If they do not decide to change certain sections of the film then consequently the age certificate will be higher.


A film with a 12 certificate is classed as a 12 if it contains infrequent drugs, infrequent use of strong language, brief nudity, discreet sexual activity, and moderate violence. An example could be The Dark Knight this is because it contains some violence.

A film with an 18 certificate is classified as an 18 if it contains very strong violence, A major extent of drug abuse, Very strong language and sex scenes. An example of a film with an 18 certificate would be any of the Saw films. This is because they contain very strong violence and a strong use of blood and gore.

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The Effects Model

Effects models

The hypodermic needle model

The intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. Just think of it as a big needle full of the product and it directly injected into your head.

Two-step flow

The people with most access to media, and highest media literacy explain and diffuse the content to others. This is a modern version of the hypodermic needle model.
Uses and gratifications

People are not helpless victims of mass media, but use the media to get specific gratifications. Some people are worried that the media is gaining to much power over people.

Reception theory

The meaning of a "text" is not inherent within the text itself, but the audience must elicit meaning based on their individual cultural background and life experiences.


Obstinate audience theory

This theory assumes that there is a transactional communication between the audience and the media. The audience actively selects what messages to pay attention to. The Zimmerman-Bauer study found that the audience also participates in the communication by influencing the message.