Less Wrath of the Titans…British Airways start submitting pre-cut airline versions of their VOD films to the BBFC

Read more BBFC News at MelonFarmers.co.uk

See article from bbfc.co.uk

For reasons unknown, British Airways has started submitting cut versions of films to the film censors of the BBFC.The films are submitted for a Video on Demand rating and are noted as an Airline Version. Assuming that the British Airways video system works on NTSC with the same running times as cinema versions, then the first 3 examples have been pre-cut as follows: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Pre-cut by 1:02s It received a PG certificate without BBFC cuts. Note that the longer and uncut cinema version was also rated a PG with the same consumer advice: contains mild action adventure Salmon Fishing in the Yemen was more illuminating. The Airline Version was pre-cut by 1:23s for a 12 rating (the same as the cinema version) but the cuts resulted in a change of consumer advice. The Cinema Version reads: Contains one use of strong language and moderate sex references. The Airline Version advice reads: CContains infrequent strong language and moderate sex references. The Wrath of Titans. The airline version was pre-cut by 2:24s. The 12 rating and consumer advice was unchanged from the uncut cinema version.

The Language of Angels…The Angels’ Share suffers ludicrous strong language cuts for a 15 rating

Read more Latest UK Cuts at MelonFarmers.co.uk

18th May 2012. See article from bbfc.co.uk

The Angels’ Share is a 2012 UK drama by Ken Loach.The film has just been passed 15 for very strong language and strong violence after BBFC category cuts for: UK 2012 cinema release The BBFC commented: Company chose to reduce the number of uses of very strong language (in this case ‘cunt’) in order to obtain a 15 classification. An uncut 18 classification was available. Comment: Beyond Absurd And as goatboy said on the Melon Farmers Forum: Beyond Absurd! We must protect the 16 and 17 year olds from a word they probably hear every day! Update: Ken Loach has some strong words for the BBFC 23rd May 2012. Based on article from minivannews.com Film director Ken Loach has criticised British film censors for asking him to remove swear words from his new film, The Angel’s Share, in order to qualify for a 15 certificate. The Scotland-set comedy tells the story of young, unemployed father to be who discovers a talent for whisky tasting. Speaking at Cannes, the director said: We were allowed seven ‘cunts’ but only two of them could be aggressive ‘cunts’. You get into the realm of surrealism here in terms of language. The British middle class is obsessed with what they call ‘bad language.’ But the manipulative and deceitful language of politics is accepted. I’d call those bad words. Embracing the ancient swear words that have gone back for centuries and words we all enjoy should be embraced. The film’s producer Rebecca O’Brien said the film’s script represented natural language spoken by young people: If they’re looking for diversity in Britain they should look no further than this film and Glasgow and see that there are different ways of speaking and see that that should be acceptable to all and sundry and should not be censored.

Jaws…Getting scarier with age? The BBFC reckon so anyway

Read more Latest UK Cuts at MelonFarmers.co.uk

Thanks to Gav & DoodleBug See article from bbfc.co.uk

Jaws is a 1975 US thriller by Steven Spielberg. With Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss. See IMDb. The film is set for a re-release as part of the celebration for the 100th Anniversary of Universal. But as if to celebrate a modern age of extreme child protection, the BBFC have upped the age rating to a 12A for cinema release. Previously the BBFC have rated the film as PG (known as ‘A’ when the film was first released) from 1975 until the 25th Anniversary DVD released in 2000. The same version was released without BBFC input in 2005. But now its 12A rated for moderate threat and occasional gory moments. No doubt the BBFC will point out that had a 12 rating existed in 1975 then Jaws would have been rated as 12 all along.

An Interview with David Cooke…Speaking of many of this year’s film releases

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See interview from telegraph.co.uk

Summer blockbusters are seldom rated 15 — they get a 12A, ensuring that the movie is accessible to the masses — so Prometheus is a rarity. Yet even this relatively adult rating has caused disapproval among sci-fi die-hards who feel that anything less than an 18 certificate is a cop-out by the director. They are sanguine about this at the BBFC. If we rated Alien now, says Cooke, it would be a 15. For a film to get an 18 certificate today it has to be either utterly terrifying throughout or there would have to be a level of sadistic violence. It seems that over the past 30 years or so we have become far more tolerant of blood, guts and gore, not to mention bad language. [In fact the BBFC have rated Alien as 15 since 2003]. The examiners will watch a film under natural conditions so that it feels as if we are actually going to the cinema, he says. We always view it straight through, though obviously at the end we can go back and look at stuff. There is a cinema at the BBFC headquarters in central London, where examiners watch about three films a day. But sometimes — as with Prometheus — they go to the film company to watch the movie, to ensure its security. That film has been passed with no cuts. But even if it had been censored, you’d barely be able to tell. When we make cuts, people think in terms of ‘snip-snip’, says senior examiner Craig Lapper, but these days, with digital, there are so many other ways you can make a film more acceptable. You can suggest soundtrack changes and things like colour darkening, putting shadows in to obscure the more gory elements of a scene. So in The Woman in Black, the adaptation of Susan Hill’s ghost story starring Daniel Radcliffe, we didn’t hear the crack of the woman’s neck as she hung from a noose — and, thanks to the cunning use of shadows, neither did we see her face. I won’t say what the film was, continues Lapper, but there’s a forthcoming British movie that was a little bit too gory to get a 15 certificate. So I nipped round to the place where they were editing it and they [the film-makers] increased the shadows so that you could no longer see someone’s jaw hanging off. …Read the full interview

X Rating…XBox Live video marketplace to use BBFC ratings

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See press release from bbfc.co.uk

Xbox LIVE will use the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)’s well-known ratings for content sold via the Xbox LIVE Zune video marketplace, allowing users to make informed choices about the content that they purchase for themselves and their families. David Cooke, Director of the BBFC, says We’re delighted to add Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE to the roster of customers using BBFC services. In the digital age the variety of content platforms available means that, more than ever, the BBFC has a role to play as a trusted guide to content. The public, especially parents, have told us it’s important for them to see classification ratings they can trust before choosing entertainment for themselves or their children and by joining the BBFC’s voluntary service Xbox LIVE is helping its users make informed and confident choices about what they watch. Microsoft’s goal has always been to provide parents and caregivers with the tools and resources necessary in managing age-appropriate entertainment experiences on Xbox 360 for children, says Stephen McGill, Microsoft Ltd’s Director of Xbox and Entertainment. Alongside use of the forthcoming PEGI ratings system for video games, deploying BBFC classifications for film and video content on Xbox LIVE will allow parents to make more informed choices regarding what they and their families watch on our service. The BBFC’s service for streamed and downloaded content was launched in 2008 to provide its trusted and recognised classifications, category symbols and Consumer Advice to set-top box, video-on-demand and other online content providers. The BBFC worked closely with the home entertainment industry to develop a voluntary regulatory service that would bring the benefits of the DVD classification system to content delivered online. When the public was surveyed about the new service, 82% of parents said that they preferred to download films that were classified with the trusted BBFC symbols and content advice. Government ministers and other Parliamentarians are on the record as supporters of the BBFC’s work in this area. Microsoft Ltd joins other key affiliates to the BBFC service including Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Europe, Warner Bros., Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Universal, BT Vision, Tesco/Blinkbox, TalkTalk, Picturebox and Netflix, bringing the total number of members to 38.

End Game…VSC announces that it is finally set to take over video game censorship from the BBFC

Read more VSC and PEGI Watch at MelonFarmers.co.uk

See article from gamepolitics.com

The Video Standards Council announced this morning that the Department for Culture Media & Sport (DCMS) has confirmed their intention to appoint the organization as the regulator for rating games in the United Kingdom using the PEGI system used for the rest of Europe. The DCMS has informed the UK Parliament of their intentions.Laurie Hall, Director-General of the VSC said: This news is very welcome and gives us the mandate to undertake the role of statutory video games regulator in the UK. It is role that we will relish and which will ensure that children and younger people are protected and kept safe from inappropriate video games. It has been a long and arduous task to arrive at this point and we thank all those involved in helping to establish PEGI as the legally recognised system. All the necessary administrative and technical systems are in place and we are simply awaiting confirmation of when we can officially start. The VSC has been rating video games since 1994. We will use our wealth of skill and experience to good effect in our new role as the national video games regulator. No official date has been set but July this year has been mentioned several times.

Music to be Muffled with Red Tape…Government proposes that music, sport and religious videos should be expensively vetted by the BBFC if it is felt that they would be rated 12 or higher

Read more UK Government Watch at MelonFarmers.co.uk

See article from culture.gov.uk See consultation paper [pdf] from dcms.gov.uk

As announced in the Queen’s Speech, the Department for Culture, Media, Sport and Censorship is seeking views about the exemptions in the Video Recordings Act and about how advertisements shown in cinemas are censored. Consultation Open date: 09 May 2012 Closing date: 01 August 2012 Please send your comments or if you have any queries about this consultation to: AdsExempt@culture.gsi.gov.uk or by post: Advertising and Exemption Consultation Department for Culture, Media and Sport 2-4 Cockspur Street London SW1Y 5DH Cinema Advertising Censorship The government is asking whether the BBFC really needs to get involved in the censorship of cinema adverts. At the moment it is mandatory that the BBFC rate such advertising, but the Government is asking if the more general system of advert censorship provided by CAP and ASA is sufficient. Option 0: No change Under this option cinema advertisements would continue to be referred to the BBFC for age rating whilst also being subject to mandatory self-regulation overseen by the ASA. This regime has been in place for a number of years and it could be considered that it should remain on the grounds that it appears to work effectively to ensure that children are not exposed to inappropriate content via cinema advertisements and consumers’ rights are properly observed. Some may feel also that the statutory backing is an essential element of the regime. However, as set out earlier in the preceding paragraphs, others may consider that the age rating role provided by the BBFC in relation to cinema advertisements is already adequately covered by the self-regulatory approach of the industry and that it therefore represents an unnecessary burden on business. Option 1: Remove the requirement for BBFC classification of cinema advertisements This option would potentially remove the financial and administrative burdens on the cinema advertising industry of having to submit each advert to the BBFC for an age rating. Arguably, this would also make matters simpler for industry, reducing the additional time constraints resulting from both BBFC and CAA clearance. The BBFC has indicated that the current average classification cost is around ฃ111 per ad classified. There is an additional administrative burden for industry attached to this process in supplying the BBFC with hard copies of the adverts requiring classification. The impact on the BBFC of removing the classification requirement would simply relate to their resourcing of this function. However, could removing the requirement to age rate adverts shown in cinemas by the BBFC result in a reduction in consumer and child protection? The industry bodies and the CAA believe the existing advertising clearance system as set out in paragraphs 4.6 to 4.23, underpinned by the ASA’s non-broadcast advertising code (CAP Code), is robust enough to ensure there are no regulatory gaps, particularly in relation to child protection, and that suitable consumer safeguards will be maintained. This option would also not place additional enforcement burdens on local authorities On music censorship the government is nominally considering 4 options: option 0: Leave the existing exemptions in place and untouched, on the basis that either the present arrangements do not give rise to concerns to an extent that would justify legislative change, or that removing exemptions would place unnecessary or disproportionate burdens on industry for limited benefit. option 1: Remove the exemptions from age rating for music, sports, religious and educational video works. This requires primary legislation to achieve. Removing the exemption would mean that producers would have to submit all film material to the BBFC for classification before making them available for sale in the UK regardless of genre. option 2: Lower the existing content thresholds for exemption so that more products are brought within scope of the age rating requirement (as we have done recently for video games). This can be achieved by secondary legislation. option 3: Ask other parts of the video industry to introduce a self-regulatory parental advisory system for the currently exempt genres, similar to the BPI’s PAS labelling scheme for the music-themed products. Option 2 is noted as the Government’s preference

Supporting the Industry that Feeds It…BBFC receive praise from the trade group, the British Video Association

Read more BBFC News at MelonFarmers.co.uk

See press release from bbfc.co.uk by Lavinia Carey, Director General of the British Video Association (BVA)

The BBFC has been awarded the 2012 British Video Association (BVA) Special Award. BVA Director General Lavinia Carey explains why the BBFC should be recognised on its 100th anniversary. 2012 BVA Special Award — BBFC In 1984, when the BBFC was 72 years old and the BVA was just four, it made a significant change to its name, replacing Film Censors with Film Classification, that indicated the beginning of the end of a peculiarly British tendency to want to protect people from themselves by strictly controlling their entertainment and ensuring films screened in cinemas were sufficiently wholesome for public viewing. This name change took place during the long reign of James Ferman as Director, while Lord Harlech was the BBFC’s President, succeeded the year after by the Earl of Harewood. By the time I joined the BVA in 1993, the video industry had gone through a tumultuous period of adjusting to the introduction of statutory regulation through the BBFC with the passing of the 1984 Video Recordings Act, which must have seemed at the time like a step backwards after an apparent era of enlightenment. Yet this was a cloud with a silver lining. It heralded the development of the most strictly regulated video industry in the free world but one which provided a defence against future storms to come. The moral panic whipped up by the media in 1994 and the hand-wringing within our sector, having been accused of stimulating violence among young people, required the BVA and BBFC, and supported by the Video Standards Council, to work more closely to explain to politicians, journalists and the public that our business could hardly be more severely regulated without banning many popular and acclaimed titles. Amendments were made to the Video Recordings Act later in 1994 expressly to give the BBFC ultimate power to cut scenes or reject works entirely where they are found to fail the test of suitability for home viewing. This modification was far less harsh than the draconian amendments proposed by the then Liberal MP David Alton. It was accompanied by a collaborative solution to make BBFC classification decisions clearer to adults through the introduction of consumer advice on theme, language, sex and violence within the content printed on BVA members’ new releases. This pilot was later rolled out on a voluntary basis across the entire video industry and remains in place today as an example of best practice in packaged media. James Ferman ruled the roost. Despite his zeal for authoritarian adherence to the spirit as well as the letter of the law, which intimidated some film and video distributors of the day, he had the wisdom to reach out to the public in a series of road-shows to consult with audiences and critics alike, resulting in more relaxed interpretation of the law that allowed the over 18s greater freedom to decide what they watched, while tightening up on the lower age ratings to give adults greater confidence in the classification system when making decisions about the suitability of titles they were buying and renting for children’s viewing. With successive Directors, up to the present day with David Cooke at the helm, the BBFC has greatly increased its collaboration with the BVA and its members. We enjoy unparalleled cooperation, with the BBFC-BVA working party, first set up in 1998, as a valuable sounding board for both sides to air ideas, concerns, solutions, news and views. This has resulted over recent years in a much faster and more flexible classification process, plus many innovations, ranging from directors’ cuts, the distributors’ extranet for online submissions, the launch of the unique BBFC.Online system for voluntary classification of content as well as internet retailers and aggregators who make our content available to users, up-dated fee structures for its voluntary online classification scheme, 3D BD and for previously viewed works, to the findings of its 2011 customer survey which sought ways to improve its service to industry still further. These initiatives, many proposed by the BBFC itself, have contributed to a sense of working in partnership — eons away from the rigid and remote regulator-versus-regulated relationship that existed 15 years ago. Distributors trust the BBFC and the majority acknowledge that self-regulation in this country would not achieve the same public confidence that exists in our classification regime today. Furthermore, industry recognises the value of the BBFC’s efforts to keep in touch with public opinion. In recent years, it has developed tailored user-facing websites for children, students and parents, with educational resources and extended consumer advice which provides more detailed information about the content of age-restricted works and the explanation for the category given to individual titles. The BBFC has employed an outward-facing and commercially focused approach to achieve the status of a modern, responsive organisation. Its aim to stay ahead of the curve in our rapidly evolving industry by keeping up to date with the latest technology and through a positive working relationship with all its customers is applauded by BVA Members in the year of the BBFC’s 100th anniversary.

Total Recall…From the Archives: BBFC recall their decision to rate Paul Verhoeven’s action film 18 uncut

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See article from bbfc.co.uk

The distributor had requested a 15 rating But the examiners’ reports show that they had concerns about scenes of violence at this category. They also recommended against cuts to a film expertly and technically executed. Examiners considered the impact on the audience of the combination of action and violence as well as the likely appeal of the film to teenagers. But ultimately the Examiners concluded that the levels of punchy and upfront violence would best be represented by an 18 certificate. …read the full article

Researching the BBFC Research Facilities…Best to take an assistant with a photographic memory

Read more BBFC News at MelonFarmers.co.uk

Thanks to Rob See My Trip To The BBFC from bookofthedead.ws See also BBFC FAQ: Can I research BBFC film files? from bbfc.co.uk

Much as I would like to make a post here praising the people at the British Board of Film Classification for their hospitality and helpfulness, I can’t. So I’ve written out the story anyway lest anyone else find themselves in the same situation. So, a friend sent me a link to the BBFC website, which seemed to offer the ability for anyone to come in and view their records of any film they’d classified: The BBFC has over 60,000 historic records of classification decisions made since 1 January 1913. Some are noted in Film Registers and there are paper files from around the late 1950s onwards. The file for any work which is over twenty years old is available for research purposes on the Board’s premises. The files do vary in size and content. Anyone wishing to view the Board’s records should email helpline@bbfc.co.uk and should provide a list of film titles and release dates. We will check the availability of each file and contact you to make an appointment to come in and view the records. No file can be removed from our building. We only charge for this service if we have to recall a box from our external archive and the cost is ฃ17.24 for up to four boxes. You will have to complete a Copyright Acceptance Form before viewing and you should refer to it for terms and conditions.   Are you sure they sent us to the right place for the BBFC research facility? I took the day off work and caught the train to visit the BBFC… …Read the full article: My Trip To The BBFC