BBFC Research & Target Audience

From our research of the BBFC and our analysis of psychological thrillers, my group has decided to rate our film a 15. Three out of the six films that I studied were rated 15, which suggests that most psychological thrillers are aimed at 15+. In addition, we want to aim our film at teenagers so by rating it an 18 we would be eliminating our target audience.

Contrastingly, we have chosen to use a teenager for our main character unlike most of the films that we have watched. We chose to do this because we wanted to challenge the conventions, as a lot of psychological thrillers are 12A/15 so teenagers are allowed to watch them according to the law. However, most psychological thrillers use middle-aged men as the main characters rather than teenagers. We know that teenagers like to be scared as they are the target audience for most slasher horror films, therefore a psychological thriller aimed at teenagers would appeal to them because they like to be scared and a psychological thriller with a teenager as a main character would scare them more than a middle aged character because it is more reminiscent of their own lives.

Research & Planning

BBFC CERTIFICATION GUIDELINES:

Suitable for 12 years and over

Discrimination: must not be endorsed by the work as a whole and any misuse must be infrequent and should not be glamourised

Horror: moderate physical and psychological threat providing they are not frequent or sustained

Imitable behaviour: dangerous behaviour (e.g. hanging/suicide) should not dwell on detail that can be copied

Violence: no emphasis on injuries or blood

Examples from films that I have studied:

Suitable for 15 years and over

Discrimination: must not be endorsed by the work as a whole and any misuse must be in frequent and should not be glamourised

Horror: permitted unless sadistic

Imitable behaviour: dangerous behaviour should not dwell on details which could be easily copied

Theme: no theme is prohibited provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds

Violence: may be strong but should not dwell on infliction

Examples from films that I have studied:

Suitable for adults

No limitations unless in breach of the law (e.g. criminal law)

Examples from films that I have studied: