BBFC - British Board of Film Classification

A Film that is rated 15 means that no-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a 15 rated DVD. 15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age. No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds. 15 works are stronger than 12 or 12A rated works as it may contain:

strong violence portrayals of sexual activity strong verbal references to sex sexual nudity brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence discriminatory language or behaviour drug taking

Discrimination:
Discrimination is defined as, the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, esp. on the grounds of race, age, or sex. There will be discriminatory language and behaviour used in our film Behind closed doors. Within the definition discrimination the unjust of age is a topic which does come under it and as our film has a rape scene in it, it conforms to that topic as an older male takes advantage (unjust) of a younger female.

Drugs:
Behind closed doors will not show any misuse of drugs within the short film, however in a 15 it is allowed for the misuse of drugs to happen on a wider range, this is what differentiates a 12/12A to a 15 rated film.

Horror:
Horror is defined as, an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust. There will be psychological threats and disturbing scenes which might affect the audience, with horror being the feeling of fear, we want to create and antagonist and protagonist where the audience is feeling scared for the protagonist and disturbed and shock in the actions of the antagonist.

Language:
There will be no use of strong language within our film, as we feel there is no need for it and there are easier ways which we can portray the characters through the use of their actions to get our message across.

Violence:
There will be violence in our film; however it will be of the sexual kind, as rape comes under a sexual attack which in turn comes under sexual violence. Our film is rated at 15 therefore without the sexual violence our film would be a 12A at the most.

Nudity:
Although there is a sexual scene, we will not be showcasing any nudity within our film as it is not necessary or vital that we include it within our rape scene. We will be able to pull off the rape scene with or without the nudity and we have opted not to include it.

Theme:
The theme of rape is one which is not allowed in the 12A category as it is deemed too strong for viewers; however no theme is prohibited, if it is appropriate for 15 year old teenagers. Rape is one theme which is suitable for 15 year olds and thus educating them on the rights and wrongs of rape.

Analysis:
There are as many pros as there are cons in terms of the BBFC for this film, as a lot of the topics which make a film a 15 are subjected to be in our film, however there are many which arent going to be in our film, but what makes Behind closed doors a 15 rated film is that the whole topic of rape and discrimination against younger people does come under the 15 category and is seen to be too violent for the 12A section. This shows us that we have to be careful in how we go about making the film as we will need to make sure that we dont overdo anything as we know we are doing to be touching such feelings that could create tension within the audience as may feel attached to the characters or relive moments which have happened to them in their life before.