BBFC Letter

BBFC Research

BBFC stands for the independent company 'British Board of Film Classification'. This company was first set up in 1912 by the British film industry. They began giving videos ratings in 1984 due to the Video Recording Act, which meant they had the say in what audience is suitable for each film (U, PG, 12, 15, 18) at home. BBFC is a 'not for profit organisation' meaning they only accept fees to cover their costs. They get the money from the price of their services. As well as deciding the certificate of films, they also measure the running time for films.

They decided to rate the films appropriately, due to young children or under-aged teenagers watching films that may mentally effect them in a negative way. Before each film is released they carefully watch through the film, discuss it and come to a conclusion on what the rating should be, taking into account the features such as violence, sex, language, drug use etc.

The BBFC don't have any legal power and the films have to be seen and classified through the council who have the final say for the certificates. If the council thinks that the film is either too highly rated or too low, they have the power to change it.

Certificates:

U - Stands for universal, and is suitable for children aged 4 and over. There should be no significant issues such as language, discrimination, drugs, sex, threats, violence or imitable behaviour.

PG - Stands for parental guidance, which is suitable for children if their parents think it is appropriate. It should not unsettle children 8 or older.

12 and 12A - 12 of course means that the film is suitable for people aged 12 and over, but 12A means that people aged under 12 can only watch a 12 at the cinema if they're accompanied by an adult. 12's are allowed a moderate amount of violence, sex, drug use etc, but only an amount appropriate for this age group.

15 - No one under the age of 15 can watch, buy or rent a 15 rated film. Unlike the ratings above, 15's are aloud stronger features such as strong violence and strong language, although the sex is moderate, and they can have strong drug use but not promote it in a possitive way.

18 - No one under the age of 18 can watch, buy or rent an 18 rated film. This is the highest rating, and can have extremely strong use of language, sex, violence, etc, although when a film is being moderated, if anything is in breach of the criminal law, risks harming individuals, or if there is explicit sex that can't be justified by the context, they will have to crop it out or not allow the film to be released.

R18 - a rating especially for explicit films including consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults. The films in a licensed cinema can only be show to adults and if brought from a sex shop may only be brought by adults.

Application of Post Production Techniques (Video & Audio)

Video
I began editing the film chronologically by starting of with the introduction scene. I chose to use some of the archive images/videos Wesley had supplied us with, and the shots I had taken on the day. I began the scene with a shot I had captured of "The Wooden House" and added a slow fade in transition using the video key frames. I then followed this up with a fast cut montage consisting of some of Wesley's models.

Then for each of the interview scenes, I added cut always on different video layers which related to the specific topics Wesley was talking about. These showed off Wesley's models, but also kept the audience preoccupied. They also worked brilliantly for covering up where I had cropped Wesley's interviews together.

Between each scene, instead of adding video transitions (fading out and in), I decided to add a few shots to separate the four sections before going straight into dialogue. The only transitions used were the fade in and outs on the first shot, on the last shot, and on the rolling credits at the end.

Lastly, I colour corrected and edited the contrast, lighting, and saturation on some shots to make them match the rest of the footage.

Audio

The first audio added to my timeline was attached to the video files, as I added an external Rode microphone to the camera during the filmming process, so the sound quality was already in sync with the picture. I kept the sound for the interviews, although removed it from the cutaways so it wouldn't distract from the dialogue.

I faded in all of the sound at the beginning of my timeline, and faded it out at the end (in sync with the videos transitions). Although, for the audio I faded each separate audio file over one another, to blend the sound and dialogue together.

I plugged my laptop into the college speakers to listen to the different audio levels, and adjusted them so that they were equal levels to one another.

As well as using the sound I had recorded through my external microphone, I also added royalty free sounds of birds in the introduction, and in between the garden and workshop scenes. Lastly I added royalty free music, which I ended up editing in sync with the introduction montage at the beginning of the film.

Edit Decision

Once we had shot the documentary, I began the editing process. This firstly involved uploading all of the files onto my hard drive. This included the images and video clips we had recorded on the day, and archive footage/pictures Wesley had supplied us with.

Once the files were saved onto my hard drive, I thought I would arrange them into 4 different folders. I firstly made a file called 'Keepers' and then arranged the files I planned to use into the following folders:

-Archive Footage

-Interviews

-Stills

-Video Cut Away's




This made it a lot easier to access/find the files I was looking for, and also meant I wouldn't need to search through all of the bad takes again. 

I then imported the files into Adobe Premiere Pro, and began cutting them together. I decided to structure the edit of my documentary into four different sections:

- The Introduction
- The House
- The Garden
- The Workshop

The main reason for this is because it was the order that Wesley originally gave us the tour in, and I wanted the documentary to be like a virtual tour of The Wooden House. I believed it would flow nicely, as we are first greeted by Wesley in his garden, then taken into his house where he tells us about his job and history, then into his garden where he gives us a tour of his work, and finally into his workshop where he shows us how its all done.