BBFC Research

BBFC stands for the British Board of Film Classification and before 1985 was know as the British Board of Film Censors. It is a non-governmental organisation which was founded by the film industry in 1912 to be responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom.

Below are images of the BBFC ratings and their details:

A film rated U stands for 'Universal' and is suitable for children aged four and over. There are films available for children under four and the BBFC state that the film is ‘particularly suitable for pre-school children’ which is called the 'BBFCinsight'. Only very mild bad language could be used such as 'damn' or 'hell'. They state that characters may kiss or cuddle in a U film but there will be no sexual innuendos or an overt focus to sexual behaviour. There may be mild violence and threat and 'bad' characters may carry weapons however not use them and the problems will be solved quickly and the emotional stress will be resolved with comedic music or interludes.No drug references will be used unless used in an educational documentary.

PG stands for 'Parental Guidance' and this means that some scenes may be unsuitable for very young children. A PG film should not unsettle a child aged 8 and over. Not all PG films have been made with young children in mind and it is the parents responsibility to decide whether the matters will upset sensitive children. The themes will not be inappropriate for children but may explore themes such as bullying or racism. Mild bad language such as 'shit' or 'son of a bitch' can be used and sexual references are not usually used however if it is decided that a child will not understand the reference then it can be passed at PG. Violence can be seen but the injury inflicted will not be seen in detail and minimal blood would be seen. Relating to behaviour children may copy, not threatening or anti-social behaviour will be glamorised. Illegal drug references may be heard but there will be no focus on this.

The 12A symbol means that a film is not suited to children under 12 years old and a child must be accompanied by an adult to see a 12A film in the cinema. Since the 12A rule cannot be enforced at home, DVD/Blu-ray discs are categorised as just 12. BBFCinsight is provided for all films to help parents decide if a film is suitable for their child or not. Discriminatory language may be heard but any aggressive discriminatory language will not be passed for a 12 film. Sex may be briefly portrayed in 12 films but verbal sex references will not go beyond what is suitable for young teenager. No nudity is used apart from if it is brief and discreet. Violence may be used but there will be no emphasis on injuries and minimal blood used. weapons easily accessible to younger children will not be glamorised and any assaults or rape scenes/references may be implied briefly and discreetly.Any moderate physical or psychological horror films can be passed at an age 12 rating. Any dangerous, anti-social behaviour or drug use will not be glamorised and scenes will not dwell on them or provide detail.

!5 films cannot be seen by children younger than 15. No theme is prohibited provided it is suitable for a 15 year old. Strong violence, frequent strong language, portrayals of sexual activity, strong verbal references to sex, sexual nudity, brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence, discriminatory language and drug use are all allowed in a 15 rated film. No gory or sadistic violence is likely to be used however there is no upper limit on the use of bad language. The films do not dwell on suicide or drug use scenes so actions cannot be copied while sexual scenes can be long in this category however will not be shown in great detail.

Films rated 18 are for adults and no one under 18 is permitted to buy or watch films rated 18. No 18 rated works are available for children. Issues in 18 rated films include very strong violence, frequent strong language,strong portrayals of sexual activity, scenes of sexual violence, strong horror, strong blood and gore, real sex (in some circumstances) and strong discriminatory language and behaviour. There is no upper limit on bad language used, strong and detailed portrayals of sex can be used, very strong, crude and explicit references are permitted at 18. 

Age rating for our psychological thriller 'Alter-Ego'?
The correct age rating for our thriller film would be a rating of 12A. This is because violence may be portrayed in the film and blood will be shown from the out set of the film (in our opening titles). However injuries will not be shown in detail. Any dangerous or self harming behaviour may be hinted upon but not shown explicitly on screen. The film would not be a PG as the general story line is for an older age viewing however the film would not be a 15 because there is only minimal blood or injuries shown and frequent bad language will not be heard. The only elements our film will include are mild bad language, minimal viewing of blood and injury and a mature story line not suitable for young children.

Sound used in our Thriller Opening Titles

Our aim was to use music which reflects our genre and the theme of our psychological thriller opening titles which is the dark and light aspects of a personality and the way modern young minds can be corrupted by the media. We looked at different opening titles to inspire our own use of sound, for example 'Se7en' and 'Dexter'. The use of sound in 'Se7en' was to create tension and suspense while creating different enigmas for the audience. In 'Dexter' the sound has a lazy beat which supports the idea of an every day morning routine like the titles of 'Dexter'. They also included extra sounds effects, such as the sound of his razor wiping over his skin. 

The shots in our thriller opening will be silenced so that the diegetic sound is not heard. Any sounds heard will be edited into the opening such as a thud from upstairs and a creaking door. Since there will be no sound but the soundtrack and these noises, this will make those sounds emphasized to the audiences. The soundtrack will begin when our company ident appears on screen which is inspired by 'Se7en' and is conventional in the thriller genre. The non-diegetic soundtrack usually plays quietly as background sound and then slowly builds into a crescendo which builds tension while the titles play and also gives the audience a clue to who the antagonist is. 

The soundtrack we have decided to use in our thriller is a piece of music on YouTube called 'Creepy Music Box' which requires no inquiry into copyright as it is stated below the video that use of the music is allowed. The music has also been edited using 'Garage Band' to suit our thriller titles. The changes made were to make the beginning of the music quieter while making the end more dark and dramatic to build to a climax. This suited our titles much better than the original music. The sound suits the thriller genre as a piano is used which is high pitched and while creating tension, it also (as the title of the music states) sounds like a little girls music box which supports our opening titles as they are about a teenage girl who's mind becomes corrupted by the media and begins to feel broken and lost like a little girl again.

Video of the soundtrack before 'Garage Band' edit:

Alter-Ego Thriller Opening Titles

Analysis of sound in 'Inception'

Video of the opening scene of 'Inception':

My 'prezi' analysing the sound in the opening scene of 'Inception':

Production Companies

What is a production company and it's role?
A production company provides the physical basis for works in film, television or radio. Production company's provide the funding for the film and sets the budget which is the amount of money which can be spent on the film. It also assists in the scheduling, scripting, casting and more aspects of a film.
The production company is also responsible for finding a director and most of the acting talent required. They are also responsible for anything which goes wrong while filming such as an actor getting injured or equipment getting damaged.

What makes an effective production company ident?

An effective production company ident usually contains the company's name, a moving animation and a change in the background which could be the colour or a different image. This movement or change in colour keeps the audience interested and this interest means that the audience will remember the company and the types of films they usually make. Two of the most famous idents are from 'Walt Disney Pictures' and 'Metro Goldwyn Mayer'. This is because the Disney palace with the fireworks and the roaring lion of 'Metro Goldwyn Mayer' have become iconic because the sound and imagery is memorable.

List of production company's and a film they made:

1. Dreamworks animation - Shrek
2. 20th Century Fox -Die Hard
3. Blue sky studios - Ice Age
4. Metro Goldwyn Mayer - Thelma & Louise
5. Universal Studios - The Bourne Identity
6. Paramount Pictures - Friday the 13th
7. Columbia Pictures - Ghost Busters
8. TriStar Pictures - Sleepless in Seattle 
9. Warner Bros Pictures - Gravity
10. Lionsgate Entertainment - American Psycho

Which production company would you choose to produce your thriller?
The production company which I think would best suit our Thriller would be 'Lionsgate Entertainment'. This is because I know that they have created a lot of Thriller films such as 'Abduction', 'American Psycho', 'The Lincoln Lawyer' and 'The Day After Tomorrow'. Since we are making a psychological thriller and 'American Psycho' is one of the most famous psychological thrillers we thought Lionsgate would be a good production company to be associated with.

Story board (Quick Plan)

Duration of:
Shot 1- 4 seconds
Shot 2- 2 seconds
Shot 3- 3 seconds
Shot 4- 3 seconds

Shot 5- 2 seconds
Shot 6- 4-5 seconds
Shot 7- 3 seconds
Shot 8- 2 seconds

Shot 9- 8 seconds
Shot 10- 5 seconds
Shot 11- 4 seconds
Shot 12- 3 seconds

Shot 13- 3 seconds
Shot 14- 3 seconds
Shot 15- 2 seconds
shot 16- 2 seconds

Shot 17- 2 seconds
Shot 18- 2 seconds
Shot 19- 2 seconds
Shot 20- 4 seconds

Lighting

Before the day of filming we will check the weather as this will effect the amount of natural light coming through the windows of our location. If it is a gloomy day then we may need to use the main lights in the house to get clear shots however if the day is bright, we may not need any other light but natural daylight. We are planning on editing the shots to create an effect of film noir and during 'film noir' films, shadows are commonly used to create a dark and grungy atmosphere. This means that extra light from lamps may not be needed as this could make our shots too bright and not created the desired 'film noir' effect.

The shots which the teenage girl are in will be more brightly lit than those shots containing the alter-ego. This is to physically show the contrast between the two characters and represent the girl as innocent or pure and the alter-ego as dark, complex and sinister. To make the shots of the teenage girl brighter, we will turn on the main house lights as well as lamps and other light sources so that the shot is as bright and light as possible while the shots with the alter-ego will be made darker by using no unnatural light and also covering any windows with a sheet or dark curtains to block some natural light too. Hopefully the audience will be able to recognise this contrast and when the shots are dark it should give the audience a feeling of tension and uncertainty. 

The lighting used in our thriller opening sequence is conventional of psychological thrillers. 'Sin City' and 'Se7en' are both lighting inspirations to our Thriller opening titles because they both make a great use of lighting/colour and the effects on the audience which lighting can create. For example in 'Sin City', although the titles are similar to a comic book strip, they are still only black and white with red typography and this reveals straight away that the movie is going to have dark themes while the red typography tells you that it is likely to contain violence.

Below is a video of the 'Sin City' opening titles:

The film 'Se7en' has been an inspiration to us from the beginning of planning. The lighting is something we especially admired because we thought it reflected the atmosphere we want to create with our own title sequence. The lighting is dark and full of shadows and a black & white or a sepia effect is used which gives a distorted effect and also reminded us of a 'Film Noir' style as these films are purposely made dark and black & white to show the corruption of life in the 1950s. The effects make the sequence look quite gritty and distorted and we thought that this suited the idea of a psychological thriller because it could suggest the corruption and darkness of a psychologically ill person's mind.

Below is a video of the 'Se7en' opening titles:

Company Ident

Below is an image of the original hand drawn AMOA Productions ident. Our ident is a still image and will appear on screen before the sequence of main titles. We decided on this image because the tree stood on it's own without any leaves looks quite sinister and evil which represents the genre of thriller film opening titles we want to create. 

Our ident is also very unique as I did some research on different idents and found that most idents represent the world or the universe. Other common features popular idents contain are the sky, clouds and different landscapes or city-scapes.
 

Not only does the bare tree in our ident look sinister and represent our genre of thriller but it also represents the way our company AMOA Productions is new & fresh and will keep bringing out new ideas similar to the way a tree keeps growing and changes it's appearance each season.

Our company ident is similar to that of Jerry Bruckheimer's as their main point of interest is also a bare tree. Their company ident also looks sinister which is added by the shot of lighting and the pathetic fallacy of the stormy sky. Video of the Jerry Bruckheimer ident:

Typography

Using the website 'www.dafont.com' we chose 5 different types of typography for our thriller title. Each typography is distorted which suits our theme of a psychological thriller. The story of our thriller is also quite sinister and mysterious and these typographies suit this idea because they all pose questions to why they are distorted and how their look relates to the title and story of our thriller. For example:

1. Typography one has a regular, 'Arial' style font which we thought could represent parts of the normal teenage girls personality however it also has lines which distort the title and this could represent the girls alter-ego tearing it's way out of her. 
2. Typography two has a similar effect to number one apart from the title looks as though it has been smudged or effected by something which would distort it which relates to the teenage girls mind.
3. Typography three has letters which seem regular apart from they are not printed in a straight line and the letters also have sharp little flicks coming off of the points. We liked this font because the sharp flicks made it look sinister and deadly which are styles we hope our thriller opening will accomplish.
4. Typography four is distorted using a second white shadow behind each letter. This relates to our thriller because we are using magazines which we will rip up and use as props and the white shadow looks a lot like ripped paper in the shape of the letters. We liked this typography because it could relate to the way that the alter-ego is always lurking behind the girls normal personality.
5. Typography five has a similar effect to 4 apart from instead of a paper effect, it has a shadow of lines behind it. This gives a similar idea of the alter-ego always lurking inside of the girl. 

1

2

3

4

5

We created a poll so that members of the public and our peers could text in the number of the typography which they preferred; this would also allow us to gain the needed opinion of our target audience:

This poll revealed the most popular typography to be number four. We think that this typography is a good choice as it reflects the story line of out thriller opening titles. In our thriller opening, we are planning for the teenage girl to be reading a magazine when she hears strange sounds coming from her bedroom and when she goes upstairs to investigate the sounds, she finds her sinister alter-ego in her room surrounded by ripped up magazines. The typography suits this because the white shadow behind it looks as though it is ripped paper which relates to our idea of ripped up magazines. This correlation works very well and since the magazines are a main feature in our thriller opening, the typography is perfect. The title also relates well to the thriller genre as it has typical 'type-writer' font which is used for crime or mystery thrillers and the ripped paper also links to a disorderly mind which works well with the psychological thriller genre of our opening titles. 

Job Roles

It is important that the job roles are divided equally so that every person in the group has an equal amount of work. This also allows the work to be completed efficiently and to the best of a persons ability. Without job roles, the work may not get completed and it would be unfair for one person to complete more work than another.

Kelsey McPherson - Editor - Kelsey is good for this role because she has had previous experience with editing software. She has also received positive feedback from past editing projects.

Holly O'Connell - Director - Holly is suited to this role because she is good at explaining her ideas and organising groups of people.

Elle Abrahams - Producer - Elle is good for this role because she is organised and is good at creating ideas. She is also good at organising a team of people. In planning, Elle did the location, risk assessment and the shot list while also editing

Georgia Allman -  Co-Producer - Georgia is suited for this role because she is creative and has good organisational skills.

The jobs which I had to complete were the location analysis, risk assessment, analysis of typography and storyboard. I also wrote the profiles of girls who auditioned and wrote a small analysis of our ident.

Filming Schedule

 

Date	Scene	Details	Location	Props/Actors
29/11/2014	House	Shot of the outside of house to show location and to show that the character is a typically normal teenage girl.	Outside the house
29/11/2014	Quick shot of the bedroom	Shot of the magazines on the floor which have claw marks and hand blood on	Bedroom	Fake blood
29/11/2014	Living Room	Shot of the living room with the girl reading a magazine and watching tv	Living Room	Magazines
29/11/2014	Living Room	Shot of the girl flicking through the magazine where some titles may appear	Living Room	Magazines
29/11/2014	Living Room	Girl hears noises from upstairs	Living Room
29/11/2014	Living Room	Girl walking towards the door	Living Room
29/11/2014	Living Room	Girl beginning to walk upstairs	Living Room
29/11/2014	Living Room	Girl opens the door to upstairs	Living Room
29/11/2014	Stairs	Girl walks upstairs	Stairs
29/11/2014	Stairs	Girl on the stairs	Stairs
29/11/2014	Stairs	Walking to the bedroom door	Stairs
29/11/2014	Stairs	Girl opening the door	Stairs
29/11/2014	Bedroom door	Bedroom door has titles appear on it	Bedroom door
29/11/2014	Bedroom	Girl opens door to alter-ego	Bedroom
29/11/2014	Bedroom	Alter-ego on bedroom floor	Bedroom
29/11/2014	Bedroom	Close up of girls facial expression	Bedroom
29/11/2014	Bedroom	Alter-ego revealing their identity	Bedroom
29/11/2014	Bedroom	Shot of the A3 poster on the wall	Bedroom
29/11/2014	Bedroom	The alter-ego ripping the poster off the wall	Bedroom

 

Analysis of a Title Sequence

1) The typography of 'Dexter' is very revealing of what may happen in the series. This is because the writing looks like smears of blood which tells the audience that they can expect danger and blood shed. The edges of the screen are tainted with darkness while the centre is lighter. This makes the titles stand out more clearly while also revealing that things or people may be darker than they seem.

2) This screen shot shows the normal action of a man shaving in the morning. While this is normal, the image of it immediately makes you squeamish because of the previous shot of the bloody title. The blood dripping typography makes you think that the man may hurt himself and it shows vulnerability because a sharp and potentially dangerous object is near a vulnerable pat of the human body.

3) This shot shows more drops of blood and although we know that they are from the man catching himself with razor, the extreme close up of the shot makes the audience uncomfortable and makes it seem like the blood is an important part of the sequence. It could show foreboding and hints that future events will also involve blood shed.

4) This shot is a close up of the man eating meat which also could make the audience uncomfortable because you do not usually see a persons mouth close up while they eat which means this is a unnatural shot. The fact that he is eating meat after images of blood also hints towards the idea of cannibalism.

5) This shot shows the man's hand being unnecessarily clenched while making coffee. This reveals that the man is angry or is a violent person and the close up shot is used to clearly show this.

The shots used for the 'Dexter' opening titles are mostly all close up or extreme close up shots. This is effective because it allows the audience to notice things in a way you would not if they were mid-shots. The audience will notice the tension and anger in the mans movements and the extreme close up shots make the audience feel uncomfortable as though they are intruding on his life. The shots are also very slowDuring the sequence you don't see the man's face until the end and this is effective because it shows clearly that it is a mystery or crime thriller. The shot of the man cutting the orange with unnecessary force also hints towards the genre of crime because it shows violence. The lighting used is quite exposed and bright which means the movements and actions are clear and details are shown to the audience; this could also create an uncomfortable atmosphere. The clothes used are everyday wear but they are used to show the crime genre too. For example in the screen shot below, the white t-shirt is stretched across the man's face which could represent a mask. This links to the idea of crime and mystery of the man's identity. Throughout the sequence a the 'Dexter' theme song is played which uses a combination of piano, bassoon and string instruments such as the violin. This creates a strangely upbeat song however it has a sinister element because of the use of electric instruments which give the song a metallic sound. Behind the music there is a use of diegetic sounds such as the man eating and the razor dragging across his skin. The sounds are unnaturally loud which is uncomfortable for the audience because these actions are quite personal.

Below is a video of the 'Dexter' opening title sequence:

Thriller Opening titles Pitch

Our pitch went quite well because we explained our points and our ideas clearly. We also made sure that we included our main idea, typography, job roles, the style and genre of our thriller and the unique selling point (USP). We explained where the titles might appear throughout our opening sequence and where and when our main title will appear. To improve our pitch we would make sure that we learn what we are going to say so that we are not reading our notes.

Feedback:

Question 1 - Do you like the name of the film? 
(No/ 1 /2 /3 /4 /5 /Yes) and Why?

• Shannon circled the number 5. She thought our name suited our story line and liked it because it sounded interesting and intriguing.
• Cameron circled the number 5. He liked our name a lot and said that it was interesting, fits the narrative and leaves the audience with questions.
• Sam circled the number 5. He liked our name because it sounds quite sinister and suits the narrative.
• Leona also circled the number 5. She loved our name and said it was because it fits the story line and suits the genre of our Thriller.

This tells us that our choice of title for our Thriller is very good because it suits the narrative/genre and creates an enigma.

Question 2 - Would you watch the film?
(Yes or No) and Why?

• Shannon circled YES. Reason: It's an interesting narrative and is creative.
• Cameron circled YES. Reason: It seems like a new and different idea.
• Sam circled NO. Reason: It sounds a bit cliche.
• Leona also circled NO. Reason: Too cliche.

This feedback is very mixed. Two people told us they thought the idea was new and interesting whereas two other people said that our idea was cliche. Due to these mixed views, we will look into our narrative and try to twist it to make something unexpected and not cliche happen.

Question 3 - What do you like about the story?

• Shannon: It is a creative idea and it sounds scary/freaky.
• Cameron: He likes the use of just one actor playing two parts.
• Sam: It's well thought out but it is similar to some other thrillers.
• Leona: It seems thrilling and may be scary too.

This feedback tells us that the narrative is very likable and the ideas why they like it are very vairied which is good because it tells us that it appeals to people in different ways.

Question 4 - Are the titles clear? 
(No/ 1 /2 /3 /4 /5 /Yes)

• Shannon circled: 4.
• Cameron circled: 5.
• Sam circled: 4.
• Leona circled: 5.

This tells us that our titles are very clear to our audience which is good. This means that we will not change our typography and we will continue will our poll to decide which typography out of 5 different ones is preferred. 

Question 6 - What would you improve?

• Shannon did not answer this question.
• Cameron said that he would want more events to occur.
• Sam said there should be a better back story.
• Leona said make it less cliche and it should to be more exciting.

We decided that our opening titles shoudl create and enigma and so the backstory will be explained during the actual film. As for wanting more events and excitement, we will look at our narritive and try to twist it to make something unexpected happen.

Question 7 - Rate the film out of 5 stars.
1-5* - 5* being the best?

• Shannon said 4*
• Cameron said 4*
• Sam said 4*
• Leona said 3*

This tells us that on average our film is very likable and using the rest of the feedback above we will make the necessary change to improve out Thriller and attempt to make it appealing to as many people as possible.