Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience of our media product would be aimed at students of further education (such as high school, college, 6^th form college and university) and therefore the certificate of Broken Developments is 15. There is no excruciating violence or offensive language and another reason as to why the certificate is a 15. We also aim Broken Developments at people who are in services to the public such as teachers or shop assistant as it could bring a thrill to them, as it isn’t overly sophisticated and fairly low budget. The certificate of 12A is a cinema release suitable for 12 years and older whereas a 12 is video release suitable for 12 years and over. The ‘A’ in ‘12A’ stands for ‘accompanied’ or ‘advisory’ which means children under the age may go and see the film but accompanied by an adult (somebody over the age of 18). The overall tone of a DVD or cinema showing may affect the classification. If the film is very dark or unsettling which could disturb the audience it is less likely to be passed as a 12. On the other hand, if the product is positive or reassuring it may prevent the product being changed from a 12 to a 15. The use of strong language in a 12 or 12A is usually infrequent and aggressive use of strong language may force the DVD release to be pushed up to a 15. Moderate language is acceptable in the 12/12A category such as “bitch” or “twat”. In addition, 12/12A’s may include brief or discreet sexual scenes suitable for young teenagers and some moderate sex references or innuendos may be included but frequent crude sex references are less likely to be tolerated by a 12/12A. Dangerous behavior such as hanging, suicide or self-harm may be present in a 12/12A but should not linger or dwell on the circumstances or detail of the event so copying is unlikely and it seems harm-free and painless. The use of drugs should not be glamourized within a 12/12A but infrequent sight of drug misuse is acceptable.

On the other hand, a 15 displays different qualities and toleration in relation to topics of strong language, sexual behaviour, drugs and violence. For example, a 15 can include; frequent strong violence, portrayals of sexual activity, strong verbal references to sex and sexual nudity, discriminatory language or behavior and drug taking/misuse. Frequent use of strong language is acceptable in a 15 such as “f**k” though frequent use more offensive language such as “c**t” will normally not be tolerated and will not pass as a 15 and is more likely to be passed as an 18. Use of sexual violence is tolerated though as long as it has a strong contextual justification via a courtroom or serious situation. As well as this, violence may be strong though easily accessible weapons should not be glamourized and strong sadistic or sexual violence is less likely to be acceptable and it should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury however, strong gory images are unlikely to be accepted in a 15. As well as a 12/12A, the use of suicide, self-harm or hanging should not be dwelled on as teenagers are thought to be extremely impressionable and therefore many 15 films do not concentrate on the detail of the event to prevent copying.