FILM REGULATION

CLASSWORK: 

You have studied I, Daniel Blake. How would you relate this case study to an exam question asking for a discussion on "the impact of the increase of digital and online technologies on audiences in the media area you have studied" ?

• Matt Smith of Lionsgate, speaking on the FDA microsite www.launchingfilms.com, reports that the spend on digital has increased enormously. Audiences expect to see information about film releases online. What is more, distributors now cut their films for phone screens, using portrait rather than landscape. They also make them shorter as attention spans are shorter. Because of this, distributors screening a trailer add an advisory notice at the start telling audiences  not to jump sites (clicking off) as a trailer that's worth watching is coming up. 

• Film distributors target different audiences in different ways. For instance, to reach the target audience for Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake, eOne harnessed the news agenda via Trinity Mirror's titles to promote it, generating conversation around socio-political themes and positioning it as a must-see film for audiences that valued social realism. Grassroots marketing included......

• The film's trailers were slower in pace and used tracking shots that followed the characters so that audiences got a 'real life' feel for the harsh realities of life for the troubled characters caught in the benefits system. The use of natural lighting and close-ups showed the characters' emotions and harnessed audience's sympathy. The trailer included praise by Variety and Time Out, lending it the approval of a trusted source. Social media played a part: its FB page had 70,000 likes and the Twitter page 12,500 followers and the hashtag #wearealldanielblake circulated on the internet. The Twitter page retweeted fan messages and reviews, promoting further engagement and making the film feel more personal.

• Trailers employ a set of conventions that function as marketing tools. View Ken Loach's Sorry We Missed You trailer here How does the trailer sell the film? Comment on inter titles, accolades, references to the director's oeuvre. The trailer evokes 'real life' through its camerawork, editing and casting

PREP Year 12 Investigate how the 12A classification came about.
Sources: 

History of the Age Ratings Symbols here on the BBFC site

Why have they decided to make this change now?

Most of Europe, the US, Australia and Canada use similar systems - and the BBFC said 70% of the UK public are in favour of this change.

The BBFC said the impetus to make the change came from parents writing to complain their children were being denied entry to films they wanted to see.

The move was not in response to the controversy over Spider-Man in June, when some local councils overruled its decision to make the film a 12, the BBFC said.

Pressure from the film industry to let more paying customers through the turnstiles was also not a contributing factor, it added. BBC News 2002

Spider-Man seizes the under-12s: Censors update film ratings and leave decision up to parents  The Guardian 2002

Wikipedia

• Classification in the 1930s here 

Impacts and Influences: Media Power in the Twentieth Century, edited by James Curran, Anthony Smith, Pauline Wingate