Censorship VS Classification

1. From where does the BBFC get its funding?

The BBFC get it's funding by charging film distributors.

2. What types of texts do the BBFC classify?

They classify Video;s, games films and DVD's

3. What are the problems / issues that the BBFC must deal with when classifying material? Look at the types of things they classify, ability to account for all types of content, changing context etc.

Violence
Language
Sex
Sexual Violence
Drugs
Horror
Imitable Technique
Racial Issues

4. Note the range of classification categories and what they mean e.g. U, PG, 12A etc.

Universal = suitable for children
PG = Parental Guidance, these films may vary between different parents. A child may watch this film if thought to be acceptable by theire parents or carers.
12A = Suitable for people who are 12 years old an over
15 = only ages 15 and over, as there may be use of strong language
18= no one under the age of 18 permitted to watch the film, as it contains sexual scenes and strong violence

5. Look at how different themes /content within texts are classified. Make notes. Why might a DVD featuring content of skateboarders and BMX bikers performing dangerous stunts be classified as 18 but a film containing a sex scene and use of the ‘f’ word only get a 15 rating?

The BBFC's current guidelines identify a number of specific areas of concern which are considered when awarding certificates. These are themed, language i.e. sex, violence, sexual violence, harmful actions. The BBFC also continues to demand cuts of any material which it considers may breach the provisions of the obscene publications act or any other legislation. Some of these materials in films that are in 15 rated one like sexual activity might not breach the publications act and that's why its rated at 15 compared to possibly lighter ones like bike moves that are rated at 18.

6. Why might a film be given a rating of 15 upon release at the cinema but 10 years later be classified as a 12?

As time goes on, the way people behave begin to change and things become more acceptable within society. Norms and values within a societ also develop and change, issues such as teenage pregnancy and sex now has less stigma attached to it and has become more acceptable.

7. Who is responsible for classifying films in the USA? How has this changed over time? (Look back to the studio system of the 1940’s).

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPPA) is the instituion that is resposonsible for classifying films in America. Thier was a period of time during the 1960s that young films makers getting into the industry and producing films of gross nature which was before the creation of the MPPA but after the studio systems of the 1940s so in between both. They included sex, voilence and drug use which made other classfication industires become stricter towards these types of films.

8. Research the following case studies exploring why they were brought to the attention of the BBFC:a. Canis Canem Edit (2006, Rockstar)b. Crash (1996, David Cronenberg)

Migrain Magazine Analysis

MIGRAIN:
Cosmopolitan:

• Beyonce is placed in the centre, as she can be used as a focul point
• The masthead is slightly covered by beyonce, this is because the magazine is well known to its readers, so the full title doesn't need to be exposed.
• The colour of the masthead is pink, this will appeal to the reader as its targeted audience is females
• Audience: The topics shown in the magazine tells us that the magazine is targeted at an older age group. It is aimed at women from the age group of 18-24 as the issues raised are of adult topics i.e Sex and relationships. They fall into the social class category of A, B, C as the price of the magazine is quite high and can only be afforded by this class, because of their occupation.
• Having Beyonce may appeal to people who don't normally read the magazine because they may be a fan of her and want to find out new and hot gossip about her. This will cause profits to increase and will cause shops to have a higher number of sales
• The use of the word 'sex' portrays Beyonce and women in general as sex objects. It represents women as inferior to men because of the clothing worn by Beyonce. Eventhough it is covered up, its still short..
• She is stereotypically represented as promiscious to a certain extent.
• We can tell this is a gossip/advice magazine as it is made clear from the issues and headlines raised.
• The use of the word 'shocking' may attract readers as the word shocking has a strong feel to it. It will make the readers more attracted to buy it as it gives the feeling of seriousness.

Heat:

• The use of casual clothing may appeal to the readers and may allow them to associate themselves to the celebrities on the cover
• It also makes it clear for us to see who the magazine is aimed at from the clothing and the issues talked about in the magazine
• The celebrities are represented as normal people, so the article written on them allows the readers to feel that its not just them who's going through this problem. It gives them that reassurance.
• The masthead is more exposed on this magazine as it is a new magazine and its not very familiar with the public. So by showing the masthead clearly allows the public to become more used to the magazine and in later issues they may cover it as the public become more familar.
• Audience: This magazine is aimed at females from the age group of 24-30 as the colours and issues contained in the magazine portray this. They fall into the class catergory of C1,C2, D, the lower working class. As mentioned before this is shown by the misen scene, the clothing of celebrities.
• It also shows that the readers of the magazine have a keen interest in soaps, as articles of Eastenders are included in the magazine

Theories/Theorists:

• Male Gaze: This is a term associated with Laura Mulvey, she suggests that the media portray women in a sexual way. She believes that this is done for the entertainment and satisfaction of the male.

News corp is the world's largest media conglomerate companies by market capitalisation. The founder of the company is Rupert Murdoch. News Corporation is a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Australian Securities Exchange and as a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange. Revenue for the year ended June 30, 2007 was US$28.655 billion Almost 70% of the company's sales come from its US businesses.

Who owns what:

United Kingdon:
The Sun
News of the World
The TimesSunday Times
News Corporation Ltd.

Television
20th Century Fox Television
BSkyB
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Sports Australia
Fox Television Stations
Foxtel
Star Group Limited
SKY Network Television New Zealand
Sky Italia
Fox International Channels Italy
STAR TV
Fox Kids

Internet
Fox Interactive Media
AmericanIdol.com
AskMen.com
Fox.com
Foxsports.com
MySpace
MyNetworktv.com
Photobucket.com
Scout.com

Disney Channel

Who owns it..?
The disney channel is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The Walt Disney Company was founded on October 16th 1923, by brothers Walt and Roy Disney as an animation studio it is marketed to mostly children; however, in recent years the diversity of viewers has increased with an older audience. The key people that are involved with this channel is John E. Pepper, Jr. (Chairman), Robert Iger (CEO & President) and Anne Sweeney (President, Disney-ABC Television Group and Co-Chair, Disney Media Networks).

Brief history:
1983- Disney channel first aired on television and only aired for 18 hours a day. The first programme that was aired was the mickey mouse club.
1984- Disney Channel received a special citation from the United states president, Ronald Reagan
Dec 1986- Disney channel started airing 24 hours
1989- The all new mickey mouse club began: launch of some famous faces, such as Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguleria
1995- The channel was viewed in more than 8 million homes
1997- They dropped the 'the' out of the network name and split the channel into three programming blocks: Playhouse Disney, Zoog Disney and Vault Disney
Jan 1996- moved from premium cable to basic cable
1998- Zoog disney was introduced to the Disney channel, so two logos were created.. The two logo's coexisted until 2002
2001- The channel made a deal with ABC to air their original programmes
2002- Disney channel began to aim their programmes at all age groups, and aired musical programmes under the name 'pop concerts'
Sept 2002- Vault Disney was terminated
Oct 2002- The logo was changed
2002- A website was created
2002-2003- ratings grew high with programmes such as, Even Stevens, Thats so Raven and Kim possible
2005- That's So Raven became the network's highest-rated series of all time, as well as making history as the first Disney channel Original Series to beat the 65th episode limit and get 100 episodes and a spin off
2007- Disney Channel redesigned itself with new design elements and new bumpers
2007- a huge year for Disney Channel, especially because of the premiere of some of the most popular of the Disney channel movies to air, including Jump In and High School Musical 2.
2008- Condé Nast Portfolio was able to note that the Channel "has been adding a million viewers a month—every month—for the last five years"
July 2008- Disney Channel Spain started its broadcasting at the Digital terrestrial television free platform after several years at Digital+ ,a payment cable TV company
2008- 2009- Disney Channel starting Ex-YU Countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia, FYR Macedonia) named Adria

The logos:


The First logo creted







The second logo created







The current logo




Texts it produces:

• Thats so Raven
• The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
• Kim possible
• The mickey mouse club
• Hannah Montana
• Cory in the House
• Incredibles
• High school musical
• Cheetah girls

Career And History Of Jane Tranter

Jane Tranter, the second most important person at the BBC was born on 17th March 1963, in Oxford. Being at the age of 45 she is an english television execuetive, who is the head of fiction at the BBC. Her job is to oversee the corperations output in drama and comedy programmes as well as films and programmes acquired from overseas, across all television channels, mainly the BBC.

Tranter joined the BBC staff in 1985, after studying english literature at Kings college London and a secretarial course in Oxford. She started of work as a secretary in the radio department and 2 years later made a switch onto television, working as a floor manager on popular programmes such as EastEnders and Bergerac.

In that same year she was promoted to assistant script editor, working on the BBC's popular medical drama Casualty. Her outstanding ability suddenly caught the eye of producer David M. Thompson, who promoted her to act as script editor on the anthology drama series Screen One.

In 1992, she left the staff of the BBC to take up a position as a drama script editor at Carlton Television, working for Tracy Hofman, controller of drama. At Carlton Tranter oversaw the Timothy Spall-starring comedy-drama Frank Stubbs Promotes and the Victorian-era medical drama Bramwell, both of which became highly successful popular hits for ITV. Her success as an executive producer at Carlton led to the BBC making a bid to bring her back to their staff, and she returned to the Corporation in 1997.

In 2000, she was promoted to the BBC's overall Head of Drama, ultimately responsible for overseeing the Corporation's entire drama output across all channels, from the in-house departments and independent companies, in series, serials and one-offs. In 2003 she was responsible for a programming budget in the region of £324 million, and in 2002 alone was ultimately responsible for 473 hours of television.

In September 2006, Tranter was promoted to the newly-created Head of Fiction position at the BBC. This made her ultimately responsible not only for drama, but for comedy, films and acquired programmes from overseas.