Certificate Research

• From researching the different certificates that films can have, it is clear that a lot of them are unsuitable for a horror film as they would mean that people of a too young age would be able to view them and they would be too frightening for them. The certificates that would be unsuitable (PG, U, 12) are below; PG - Parental Guidance, would enable people of any age to view our film, which would be a very bad decision, as a parent may take their 7 year old to view our trailer, without them realising what our trailer may entale. U - Universal, would also be unsuitable as Universal means that there is nothing unsuitable for children, which in our trailer, there probably will be, so we do not want children to watch it. The Certificate 12 would also be unsuitable as by rating it as a 12, our target audience of 15-24 would probably not watch it as they would assume it is not very scary due to it being such a low age rating. Also some parts would probably be too scary for a 12 year old.

• When you view a horror film the certificate is generally higher than these ones, as the content of the films is completely different. If you watch a film with any of the above certificates, it would probably not scare you very much, as that is not what the aim of the film is. Horror films are generally aimed at an older audience because of the terror it may cause.

• The two certificates above would be more suited for our film, as we are aiming to do a horror film, and by having either of the other 3, the target audience wouldn't be a high enough age, so not many people would want to view it, as it would be too scary for them. 15- is a good certificate to have, as many 15 year olds go to the cinema nowadays, and the 15 certificate allows you to include murder and blood. Although 18 is a good certificate for a very scary horror film, we do not want to limit the audience members ages that much, as we may get less people viewing it compared to if it was a 15.

Conclusion

• In conclusion, I think the certificate we will most likely use for our film will be a 15, as people of this age are more likely to watch horror films, and it would reach a wider audience as people may believe an 18 will be too scary for them. Also if we were to do an 18, less people would be able to watch it as it would be a too high age rating for them, but with a 15, anyone from the age of 15 upwards are able to watch it, so we would get a wider audience with this lower certificate. Also the main ages of people who view a horror film are 15-24, so we would be fitting into this group of people with our trailer.