AOB 6 Regulation

The BBFC stands for British Board of Film Classification. Each film needs to be censored under UK law. There are _ many different censor ratings. These include 'Uc' which is suitable for pre-school children; 'U' which are suitable for children (4+), 'PG' which means it is up to the parents whether their children should watch it; '12' which is suitable for children 12 and over; '12a' allow children under 12 watch it in a cinema if they are accompanied with an adult; '15' are only suitable for ages 15 or over; and '18' are suitable for people over the age of 18 and 'r18' are suitable for over 18's and are only allowed to be sold in licensed outlets.

The censorship is stricter when films are released on video. As well as higher classifications there may also be scenes cut out. This is because once the video is at home, there is a chance that it can be viewed by underage people. Also when the video is at home it can be viewed again and again, and people could learn and copy from it. So to avoid these higher classifications were put on films and some scenes cut. Films will be cut and edited if the film is put on TV.

The Exorcist was banned outside of the cinemas. The Exorcist featured video nasties. These were extreme violence criticized by religious groups.

When the exorcist was released on video in 1981. Years later it was resubmitted for classification. The BBFC refused it to be released and no more copies of the film were to be sold. This was due to the 'video recording act 1984'. In 1998 the film was resubmitted again and gained an uncut 18 certificate in June 1999. This showed the relaxation in the rules for censorship in the UK.

There are worries about films being released on video and DVD. The classification is usually a lot stricter on video and DVD than in the cinemas. This is because there more possibility of underage viewing and people can watch the film out of context. for example people can watch it as many times as they like and then learn from it. For example the film 'Jackass' is rated an 18 to stop young people trying to copy the stunts that they do. Stunts filmed by Jackass for the TV program we not allowed to be shown on the TV.

Trailers for films may have a higher classification than the film. Films are classified where context is taken in to account. In trailers, the clips may be taken out of context. A horror films trailer may only show all the scary or gory parts in the film.

The Exorcist


In the exorcist the young girl becomes possessed by a demon. After finding out this, the mother asks the priest for advice. He with the help of another priest performs an exorcist.
The Exorcist was released in the UK on the 16th March 1974 and the 26th December 1973 in the USA. It was only released into a handfull of theaters, as Warner Bros. was concerned about the films intensity. The Exorcist became a hit of the 73/4 winter movie season. Although the film received negative publicity many people who saw it enjoyed it. As well as the negative publicity these was also controversy behind the scenes. There had been on going arguments with the director, William Friedkin, and the producer, William Peter Blatty. 27 years after the initial release William Peter Blatty got his way and a new version came out with never seen before bits. The Regulatory body is the BBFC (the British Board of Film Classification). They classify films into the various ratings. The exorcist is classified an 18. This means that they think the content in the film is suitable of people over the age of 18. Horror films resulted in a lot of grief for the censorers. This meant that really offending scenes must be removed before it could be censored. The scenes were deleted for the cinemas and then added into uncut versions when the film was released on video.There is still need for film regulation today, for the same reasons there is regulation. Although today cencorship isnt as strict as it used to be.

AOB5 Podcast

AOB 4 - Representation

Under The Church

Someones Going Down

Skills used in making this poster are:

The first skill we used was designing and making the set. To make the set we used simple cardboard boxes into houses, churches, scenery and people.

The next skill is photography. We used two different cameras to take pictures of the cardboard buildings. We also used different lighting arrangements to add the horror effect. We used 3 point lighting and specials.

Once the photos were taken we edited them in photoshop. We used different filters, and adjusted the levels, added layers and adjusted the hue and saturation. We also changed the layout of the poster and adding in text.

*Title: Under The Church

Tag line: Someones Going Down

Synopsis: The new vicar, while looking around his new church, comes across a secret passageway. He decides to take a look and it leads under the church. Once he is down there odd things start to happen to him and the town.

To make the image look more realistic by using the lighting and camera angles.

Posters I looked at while creating mine:

AOB 2 Structure AOB 3 Meaning - The Shining

In the shining there is the Exposition, the complication, the climax and the resolution. The exposition of the shining is when everything is established. The audience meet the characters, the location and new job. The complications begin when the father, Jack, is told about a caretaker from a few years ago. Other complications are 'Tony' and the room 237. The climax's of the film would be the chases in the maze, Jack and Wendy (the bat) on the stairs and the Jack with the axe. The resolution of the film would be when Wendy and Danny escape and Jack freezing to death.

The film is split up into the beginning, middle and end. In the beginning we meet the characters, we have the interview and we move to the hotel and have the tour. This is ellipsis and it only takes several minutes to show all this. The middle section shows the family at the hotel. Jack is getting on with his book and starting to see things strangely. Near the end of the middle section, Jack turns mad. The The ending shows Jack completely mad and trying to kill his family. The story ends with the mother and son escaping and Jack dying.

There are different devices used to tell the story.

One of them being 'ellipsis'. As I have already mentioned this is when a large period of time is shown in a matter of minutes in the film. Most films have ellipsis as they show days weeks or months in a couple of hours of film. This is done by only showing what is important.

The film is linear meaning that the beginning of the film as at the beginning and the end of the film shows the end. Although the film is linear it uses flashbacks. Danny with 'the shining' has flashbacks which shows him what has happened and what is about to happen. At parts in the film, the audience are unsure whether these are flashbacks are of the future as well as the past. In the shining there are maguffins. These are things that put in the film just to confuse the audience. Examples of this are the blood coming out of the elevator and the 'animal' and the man in the bedroom. Another device is Deus ex machina. This is when the views thing 'oh right' when everything comes together at the end. There are arguments that the shining does and doesn't have this. An example of this is that Jack has always been the caretaker; and arguments against this is that these things were only put in there to confuse the audience.

The film is another adaptation of a noval by Steven King. They chose Jack Nicholson to play Jack Torrence as people knew he was good at acting 'madness'. He had recently been in a film where his charactor had gone mad. This would attract audiences because they knew the acting would be good.

Stanley Kubrick has a definite style of film making. A feature of his style are long tracking shots. For example when the camera follows Danny on his tricycle peddling around the hotel corridors. The shots of this are filmed using a steady cam, so that the filming stays smooth. Another feature is that he allows the actors to create the characters. The actor makes the the character more realistic. Music is also important. In the shinning there always seems to be some sort of back ground music playing. This can create the suspense and fear.

In the scene of 'Here's Johnny', the film creates meaning. The clip make the english feel fear. This is created by many things. One being the music. There is always music playing, in this scene it is a low hmm, creating suspense. As well as the music other sounds create fear, such as the axe crashing in to the doors and the screaming from Wendy. The actions of Jack creates fear. He has an axe and is smashing down a door. The camera thrashes from side to side following the axe smashing into the door. The axe itself creates fear. Connotations of an axe are chopping, violence and murder.

The film also uses new advances in technology. For example steadicam. This allows a very smooth shot even when the operator is moving quickly over an uneven surface. The Shinning was one of the first films to use steady cam.

AOB 1 - Development of genre

See bolow

The Wicker man

On the remote Hebridean island of Summerisle there is an anonymous report of a missing girl. Sergeant Neil Howie goes from the mainland to the island to investigate. The story follows the Sergeant and his investigations around the pagan island, only to find out that it was all a trick and he is there to be sacrificed.

The film fits into the horror genre because it features typical horror film features, such as strange happenings, fire and death. It also falls into horror as it does a good

 job of horrifying the audience. 

The film was hated by the film company because it shows a pagan cult killing a Christian man. The time when this film came out, the majority of people were Christian and to s

ee this film made them hate it. 

Witch Finder

The witch finder was made in 1968 and was directed by Micheal Reeves. It was produced by Tigon Films and in America is called 'Conquers Worm'. The reason for the film was to make more money. The film was another made of the Poe triange. These had the same genre, same director and same actors.

The film Kicked off a new wave of Poe interpretations. 1968 was the end of the hippy ideal which meant a rise of anti-authority. The film involves alot of violence, although the hippie view is love and peace and that war and violence is bad. By the end the charactors become mad for violence.

The film shows the witch finder going around from town to town finding people who have any evidence of being witches and then punishing them resulting in death.

The film falls into horror as it shows alot of violence and killing. The film had to be heavily cencered by the BBFC as the film had too many long screams. The film also shows alot of corrupting power. The film shows the witch finder finding people to convict and then is bribed in to things along the way. The film has messages about corruption.

The original lead role was writen for Donald Pleasance, but the AIP wanted Vincent Price to play it. This resulted in changes in the script. The changes in the script make Vincent Price more assertive, and not a simpering goverment worker as the script was origionally.