The British Board of Film Classification

The British Board of Film Classification states the guidelines for a 15 rated film are:-

·         No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate to 15 year olds.

·         There may be frequent use of strong language – the strongest terms are rarely accepted. Also continued aggressive use of strong language and sexual abuse is unacceptable.

·         There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

·         Sexual activity and nudity may be portrayed but without strong detail. The depiction of casual sex should be handled responsibly. There may be occasional strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.

·         Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain and of injuries. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.

·         Dangerous combat techniques such as ear claps, head-butts and blows to the neck are unlikely to be acceptable. There may be no emphasis on the use of easily accessible lethal weapons especially knives.

·         Sustained or detailed infliction of pain or injury in horror in unacceptable.

·         Drug taking may be shown but clear instructive detail is unacceptable. The film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug use.

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/592478/index.html

The British Board of Film Classification states the guidelines for a 18 rated film are:-

·         There are no constraints in theme, language, nudity or horror. However the board can cut or reject content such as detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts that is likely to promote the activity.

·         The board can also instructive detail of illegal drug use which basically means the more explicit the images of sexual activity, unless they can be exceptionally justified by context.

·         When sex material genuinely seeks to inform and educate in matters such as human sexuality, safe sex and health, exceptions to the normal constraints on explicit images may be made in the public interest. Such explicit detail must be kept to the minimum necessary to illustrate the educational or instructional points being made.

·         Material which appears to be stimulated is generally passed at ‘18’, while images of real sex are confined to the ‘R18’ category.

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/592497/index.html

We need to take this into consideration to avoid creating a 18 rated horror movie as otherwise we would have cut our target audience so we have decided to have no sexual activity or visible violence as we would have run the risk of our film being certificated at a 18 which means our 15-17 year olds would be unable to watch the film as it would be illegal for them to watch it.