Audience Criteria

As all films are different, have different story lines and are of different genres, each film will be suitable for a different aged audience. The British Board Film Classification has created guidelines for the film industry so parents and distributors alike can keep an eye on what children are watching and make sure it is appropriate.

The categories are:

- A film rated a U is suitable for all ages. No violence or distress will come across in this movie and parents should feel at ease to allow their children of any age to watch a U rated movie without any adult supervision. U stands for Universal. An example of a U rated film is "The Princess Diaries" However, it does mention on the back of the DVD: "contains mild language." This certificate would not be suitable for our film, as horror films contain scenes that would not be suitable for all ages.

- A film rated a PG is not much different from a U rated film, but it may have some very mild violence. It is the parents job to judge whether or not the film will be suitable for your child. The film will indicate what makes the film a PG not a U so the parents can make an informed decision. An example of a PG rated film is "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and it indicated that the film contains: "mild language and peril, some scenes may be unsuitable for younger children." This certificate would not be suitable for our film, purely because we would want to create a tense atmosphere and have scenes of a distressing nature that would not be suitable for all ages.

- A film rated 12 or 12A is only suitable for people of the age of 12 unless accompanied by an adult. A 12 rated film will not be suitable for children under the age of 12 for various reasons and these will be indicated before the viewing commences. 12A's are used for classifying cinema viewings where as DVDs are classified by 12. An example of a 12 rates movie is "Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix" and it mentions: "Contains moderate fantasy violence and horror." This certificate may be suitable for our thriller film, however it would restrict us to only a few story lines. More recently, a remake of "The Women In Black" has been created and is a truly thrilling film, which was rated as a 12.

- A 15 rated film is only suitable for those aged over 15 years old. Am example of a 15 rated film is "Hot Fuzz" and it states: "Contains very strong language and strong comic bloody violence." This certificate would be ideal for our thriller film as it will allow us to be flexible with our thriller techniques. As we are of this age, we will be able to assess what is thrilling and what is not.

- An 18 rated film is strictly only suitable for those aged 18 and over as it will contain scenes involving either extremely strong violence, scenes of a disturbing nature, strong language and sex scenes. This certificate may suitable for some thriller films, but mainly wet ones. This would be hard to create for a school project and may lean too far into being a horror film, rather than a thriller.