Unit 1 - A1- Legal Issues and Regulation

There are 3 main institutions in the film industry. These institutions are the following, ASA,BBFC,OFCOM. These are all independent bodies which control the different aspects of media. They control mainly in Tv series,Films,Music. The sections that they divide and grade the media with is listed below.

• U (Universal)
• PG (Parental guidance)
• 12A
• 15
• 18

There are plenty of things that you have to consider when choosing how to grade a film. There are 3 main things that you have to consider. The first thing you have to consider when grading these films is the bad language if any and the amount of bad language that is used. This is one of the main things considered because if young viewers were to watch films with bad language, it may influence them to begin saying the bad language which doesn't go down well with parents and it can lead to bad reviews.

The second main thing you have to consider when grading a film is the sex&nudity that it may contain. This is a huge factor in the final decision. A lot films can have inappropriate scenes that young viewers and young teenagers shouldn't be watching. This can cause a problem. Parents won't be impressed by the content that is being shown if there isn't an age restriction. 

The final thing you must consider when grading a film is the amount of violence it contains if any. Violence in films can lead too many things. If young viewers are watching these violent films, it will give them a huge influence of what they want to be. This can lead to mischief. Parents will not want their children growing up and doing what they have seen in these films. Therefore the amount of violence a film contains is a huge factor.

They don't make these decisions on their own. They tend to go out to the public and get feedback and their opinions and then finally make a decision.

ASA (Advertising Standards Authority):

The ASA has had a big contribution to the film industry. They have banned many adverts due to a number of reasons. This reasons are things such as them not being inappropriate or socially acceptable because they may contain bad behaviour which shouldn't be encouraged. The ASA's main objective is to assess adverts and ban them depending on whether they think the adverts are applicable for children to view.

BBFC ( British Board Of Film Classification): 

The BBFC have a big role to play in the final release of a film. They are the people who focus on the new releases and they grade them on what age a particular film can be viewed at. They tend to go out to the public and find out what they think should be the grade of a film. They use the PEGI website which adults can go on and ask questions about the age rating.

OFCOM ( The Office Of Communications ): 

OFCOM is a mixture a ASA&BBFC. OFCOM they specialize in banning adverts and grading what a film should be viewed at. They also specialize in grading communications and radio. They do this by analyzing if there is any bad language or if there is any content which shouldn't be viewed.