The perks of being a Creative Media student

Level 3 Creative Media Production student Ryan Eagle talks about hearing from an employee of the British Board of Film Classification about how they apply age ratings to films and TV shows.

“One of the perks of being in a Level 3 Creative Media Production course is being able to get insight from people who work within the ever-expanding industry.

Creative Media Production students, including myself, were treated to a virtual conference event from an employee at the BBFC, who is part of the team of people who classify films and TV show ratings. 

It was a fascinating experience to hear how they work and the impact they have. For example, the rating on a film or TV show could impact the income of that film or show as the lower the rating the more widely diverse and accessible the film or show is to audiences. 

Their role is to protect audiences when rating films and allowing for their classification helps determine the target market for the film and often the producers take into consideration their advice on cutting scenes to get their picture into a lower band to make it more accessible to possibly then increase their chances of a higher profit. 

The BBFC also deal with the complaints regarding ratings and they often get between 30 and 50 complaints a year for the major film of the year, for example Joker in 2019. One of the most complained about rated films released was the second Nolan Batman film, The Dark Knight, receiving around 200 complaints due to the rating being a 12A, despite the high levels of brutal violence which would suggest a higher age rating group classification. 

It was an enlightening experience to have had the talk and would highly recommend for those who are interested in the BBFC.”