Research and Planning: Age Rating

I have decided to research the BBFC Age Rating System, what makes a film a 15? what makes a film an 18?

Due to my film being a thriller, to be appropriate and befitting I believe it would have to be rated either 15 or 18.

If I watched a 15 rated film, what would I expect to see? (extract from BBFC.co.uk)

• strong violence
• frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
• 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

If I watched an 18 rated film, what would I expect to see? (Extract from BBFC.co.uk)

• very strong violence
• frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***') and / or very strong language (e.g. ‘c***’)
• strong portrayals of sexual activity
• scenes of sexual violence
• strong horror
• strong blood and gore
• real sex (in some circumstances)
• discriminatory language and behaviour

I was unaware, but there is also an age classification called R18 which in common tongue is porn, even pornographic content has a content restriction, for example, in an R18 film, consensual sex is allowed but some certain extreme features are not allowed such as Urolagnia and uses of illegal drugs.


I predict that our thriller piece will only have an age rating of 15, if we include any violence into it then it will be implied, there will be limited dialogue, definitely not enough to include swearing. The film would be 15 but the opening could even be a 12, it will be dark and have a tone of crime but it won't include gore nor blood, only a scene where the murder of a woman is implied.