What Age Rating Should I Make My Film?

What Age Rating Should My Film Be?

Over the years there have been many fantasy films made, to many different audiences. But if I were to be making a fantasy film I would have to know what my target audience was, the target audience that most Fantasy Films are aimed towards. So I Looked at the BBFC Website to read up on the age ratings and decide which was best.

BBFC Rating: U 

 
A 'U' rating means that the film is suitable for all ages, but mainly aged 4 and over as adults would not know what particular children may find disturbing. In 'U' rated films you would have a very restricted use of threat and violence, which would be poor for my story as I would not be able to show many realistic scenes of danger, making the stakes very low. However, lots of children's media is fantasy based which means I would have a larger target demograph.

BBFC Rating: PG 

'PG' stands for Parental Guidance and it is similar to 'U' in that it is mainly directed towards children. However, this again means I am limited in what I can show in terms of violence and threat as a 'PG' rating gives the parents a choice over weather their child should watch it. However, yet again fantasy is always a popular genre with children so that is also noteworthy.

BBFC Rating 12/ 12A 

'12' and '12A', are ratings for the films that are for a slightly older audience. The difference between a '12' and a '12A' is that the former is used on home videos, whilst the latter is used for films when they're still in theatres. This is probably the best target audience to aim for because it averages between the amount of people who can see it and how much I can show, which is a nice balance to have when making a film.

BBFC Rating 15

A'15' Rating would be perfect if I were planning to do a more mature film. However, the guidelines are more strict when it comes to '15's, as no one younger than this age is allowed to watch one of these films in a cinema. This means the amount of people that can see my film would be greatly restricted. I would be able to up the stakes however, as the threats would be much more serious and realistic.

BBFC Rating 18

Finally we have the '18' rating. This is the highest BBFC age rating that can be shown in commercial cinemas. '18' Films tend to show graphic scenes of a sexual and violent nature, which is not the sort of thing I want my trailer to be focusing on, so I would probably not use this as my target audience as you don't get many fantasy films with '18' ratings.

Conclusion

Altogether I feel that a '12/12A' rating is the best for my trailer as it means I can have a really good balance of what I can show and who can watch it. As another note there have been many famous and popular films that have been made with a '12/12A' rating.