Group 23 Foundation Portfolio: Assessment 3: Research of target audience and genre

When looking into target audience I decided to see how the BBFC classifies 15 and 18 films to see which would be most suitable. I found out the following:

15
Discrimination
The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory
language or behaviour.

Drugs
Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not
promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily
accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example,
aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Horror
Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic
or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour
Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and
self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be
copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language
There may be frequent use of strong language (for example,
‘fuck’). The strongest terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be
acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated
use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity
Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without
strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a
non-sexual or educational context.

Sex
Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail.
There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour,
but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable
unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is
sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme
No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is
appropriate for 15 year olds.

Violence
Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction
of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to
be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also
unlikely to be acceptable.
There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence
but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and
have a strong contextual justification.

18
In line with the consistent findings of the BBFC’s public
consultations and The Human Rights Act 1998, at ‘18’ the
BBFC’s guideline concerns will not normally override
the principle that adults should be free to choose their
own entertainment. Exceptions are most likely in the
following areas:

• where the material is in breach of the criminal law,
or has been created through the commission of a
criminal offence

• where material or treatment appears to the BBFC to
risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour,
to society – for example, any detailed portrayal of
violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use,
which may cause harm to public health or morals.
This may include portrayals of sexual or sexualised
violence which might, for example, eroticise or
endorse sexual assault

• where there are more explicit images of sexual
activity which cannot be justified by context. Such
images may be appropriate in ‘R18’ works, and in
‘sex works’ (see below) would normally be confined
to that category.

In the case of video works (including video games),
which may be more accessible to younger viewers,
intervention may be more frequent than for cinema films.

Sex education at ‘18’
Where sex material genuinely seeks to inform and
educate in matters such as human sexuality, safer
sex and health, explicit images of sexual activity may
be permitted.

Sex works at ‘18’
Sex works are works whose primary purpose is sexual
arousal or stimulation. Sex works containing only material
which may be simulated are generally passed ‘18’. Sex
works containing clear images of real sex, strong fetish
material, sexually explicit animated images, or other
very strong sexual images will be confined to the ‘R18’
category. Material which is unacceptable in a sex work
at ‘R18’ is also unacceptable in a sex work at ‘18’.

The Horror Genre
First of all, i decided to research the history of horror to see if i would rather do a more classical style horror or stick to the more modern stereotype of horror. The following is a brief timeline of the main events of horror:
1890's-1920's - first horror films made around this time, first Frakenstein made in 1910 and first vampire film Nosferatu made in 1922 both are silent films.
1930's-1940's - film companies started to use sound which helped the horror genre alot as they became able to use sound more powerfully to bring across emotion and tension in a scene. During this era Universal released their series of horror films namely Frakenstein, Dracula and The Wolfman. Also during this time some horrors started to combine elements of other genres such as the sci-fi/horror The Invisible Man in 1933. Although not the first werewolf film The Wolfman became one of the most influential. some of the most popular films of this time are I Walked With A Zombie and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
1950's-1960's - most horrors during this time focused on religion, apocalyptic settings, madmen or alien invasions. Such films from this era are Rosemary's Baby, Peeping Tom, Psycho and Invasion of The Body Snatchers. Britain started to become more well known on the horror seen aswell with the release of Hammer Horror's Dracula starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. It was also during this time that the modern zombie came to be with George A. Romero's Night of The Living Dead. Low budget gore-shock films started to emerge with the likes of Blood Feast and Two Thousand Maniacs.
1970's-1980's - the occult proved a popular subject in the 60's and thus the horror films of the 70's followed the same route the most well known of these being The Omen from 1977. George A. Romero continued with his modern zombies by releasing the sequel to NOTLD, Dawn of the Dead. Ridley Scott directed Alien the first obvious Sci-Fi/Horror combo in years. The slasher genre started to show popularity towards the late 70's-early 80's with films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween proving the genre was popular. The 80's brought home video techonology and with it these films made there way to the home. However this also lead to most of the more violent films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween being banned and put on the 'video nasties' list along with Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead and Abel Ferrara's The Driller Killer. In all 72 films were on the list however today only 11 remain as the rest have been released either uncut or with cuts made such as Cannibal Holocaust having 5 minutes and 44 seconds removed to remove the majority of the animal cruelty (actual animals are killed in the film) and the rape scenes.
1990's-2000's - filled with mostly sequels of films from the 80's such as Child's Play and Leprechaun. Splatter genre became more popular thanks to Scream and the emergence of the japanese horror films in the western market. One japanese director became well known for his violent and exetremely gory films, this man is Takashi Miike, a good example of his films includes Ichi The Killer a film about a sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer with a Glasgow Smile. He kills his victims in flamboyant ways and in most cases masturbates over the corpse. Japan has since become well known for its gory films with one being reported to the police in America leading to the Japanese police investigating the film makers who had to prove that the killing deicted in the film was not real and was staged. The film was the second in the Guinea Pig Series Flower of Flesh and Blood and it was the actor Charlie Sheen who reported it thinking the killing was real. America remade normal J-Horrors such as The Ring and The Grudge whilst dabbling in the gore that was proving popular with the Saw and Hostel films. However the Japanese gore films still prove to be more shocking especially as unlike American gore films the J-gore films sometimes combine pornagraphic material to create the ero gore genre however this does rarely get made into a live action film and is generally kept within the anime and manga scene from Japan most not making getting an official release on western shores.

Notable examples of sequences/stills from Horror films that show useful camera hots/movement, editing and sound

href="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=7159507">An American Werewolf in London Transformation

Dave | MySpace Video
American Werewolf In London Transformation Scene