BBFC Ofcom ASA
Reports
BBFC (British Board of Films Classification) is a non-profit organisation that solely measures the running time of the films to adjust the fees that will cover its cost. This organisation decides the films age suitability to which the Council of management members do not take part in the decisions of classifying along with them or even policy making. They classify films, video games and DVD’s to get their classifications rights.
BBFC classified Hot Fuzz a 15 film because it contains “very strong language & strong comic bloody violence”. The film contained weapons and five possibly traumatic scenes such as: a Santa Claus stabbing Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) in the hand, Tina (Lucy Punch) and Martin Blower (David Threlfall) also known as the ones who played Romeo and Juliet; had their chopped heads on the floor, Leslie Tiller (Anne Reid) & Tim Messenger’s (Adam Buxton) murder, Simon Skinner’s (Timothy Dalton) accident of a spire piercing his chin and through his mouth.
Hot Fuzz could have gotten a 18 (only for adults) classification because of some curse words being mentioned twice in the film however the reason why BBFC kept it as 15 was because the word was not verbally said at first but just written in a box and the second time of the word being mentioned was when Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) used it verbally but it was better “than aggressive swearing…Because of the context, and the fact that the film is comic throughout, examiners felt that there was no need to raise the classification to 18 on account of the language.” In addition, the film contained horrific scenes however because those scenes were very exaggerated and comic, the examiners could not treat it seriously like other films that are classified as 18.
Films have varied classifications because they all have different content and it must be checked to see what type of classification it needs so that the audience will know if they are allowed to watch it or if their children wont have to see inappropriate.
Ofcom is a British communication regulator that tries to ensure peoples safety and protection from scams, privacy invasion, and harmful or offensive material. It regulates: fixed line telecoms, TV & radio sectors, mobiles, airwaves which wireless devices operate and postal services.
Watershed is the time when unsuitable (sexual content, violence and more) programs can be shown on TV to which children are not supposed to watch. It normally begins at 9pm and it should finish before 5:30am for free-to-air channels however it can start at 8 O’clock for some paid channels.
Channels that normally air adult content will probably be an exception of starting R18 content at 9pm without PIN protection. Advertisements are expected to follow the same rules therefore adult content is not allowed to appear on children’s channels. Some advertisements (mostly the video games and R18 films) are not permitted even before the watershed. A failure to broadcast a verbal advisory of the show before it starts (which is unsuitable for children) can result in the broadcaster paying a fine.
Watershed affects Hot Fuzz (in both free-to-air & premium channels) because it will only air at 9pm which means that it will be only watched by a few numbered people since some of the target audience and the other age groups (that are not rally supposed to watch it) will go to bed. Ofcom might object Hot Fuzz because children receive negative influence or thoughts while watching some of the scenes.
ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) is a British Independent regulator of all media advertisements. They act on complaints while also keeping an eye on the media so that they can be informed about what they should take action on. They would mostly take action on misleading, disturbing, harmful or offensive advertisements so that they’ll protect the viewers of any harm or unwanted situation.
Their ambition is to make every UK advertisement a responsible advertisement however if it’s not a responsible advert (meaning that it’s not legal, decent, honest or truthful) they can remove the advert and if the advertiser persistently break the advertising rules, they can refer them to Ofcom or Trading Standards for further action to be made. They employ an independent council made up of people who have different types of views of things that judge the advertisements standards because ASA are trying to be fair by listening to the varied opinions of any advertisement so that they’ll decide to take any action or to just let the advert be.
The reason why it’s relevant to Hot Fuzz is because ASA could have seen Hot Fuzz’s advertisements as inappropriate for younger people under 15 so therefore Hot Fuzz has different trailers with different content for two different audiences (15 over and for 15 under). ASA might object Hot Fuzz because of its whole lot of bloody scenes and some strong language to which is inappropriate for a child to watch since it was only give them bad thoughts, a trauma or she neither might nor understand.