With video and DVD classifications showing a 15 per cent increase in 2001 it is too early to fear a serious threat to the industry from the so-called new media, BBFC Director Robin Duval said in the Board’s Annual Report published today.
Commenting on the increase in submissions Mr Duval said:
“Not so long ago it was considered fashionable to suggest that the new digital media would soon spell the end of the video industry. Videos and DVDs would be replaced by watching films on mobile phones or downloading them directly from the internet. But the figures published in the BBFC’s Annual Report reflect the fact that the majority of people still want their favourite films on high quality video or DVD. Last year’s rise is part of a steady trend which has seen a 125 per cent increase in submissions on four years ago with no sign of a recession. The advent of DVD has given a huge boost to the industry, and a lot of back catalogues are now finding their way back to the BBFC for reclassification on DVD.
“The number of works cut by the BBFC rose slightly to 2.8 per cent of submissions. Many of these were sex videos which showed an increase as a result of the relaxation in the Guidelines following the High Court decision against the BBFC in 2000. The ‘R18’ category, however, only accounted for just over six per cent of all works classified by the BBFC. Of the 14 cinema films cut, the majority were cut to obtain a lower category. The ‘15’ rated Before Night Falls, a biopic of the Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, was cut for animal cruelty. Only one ‘18’ rated film, Baise-Moi, was cut in 2001.”
The BBFC’s President, Andreas Whittam Smith, in his introduction to the 2000 Annual Report raised the question of making the ‘12’ rating advisory. Towards the end of 2001 a pilot in which children younger than 12 were allowed into ‘12’ rated films accompanied by an adult was held in Norwich.
Mr Whittam Smith said this year in his introduction to the 2001 Report:
“I believe that over time the public will wish the Board’s decisions to be advisory rather than mandatory. That is why we have been exploring the case for making the ‘12’ certificate at the cinema a useful guide for parents rather than an outright prohibition based on age. For such a system to work, it would be essential for film distributors routinely to provide Consumer Advice with all advertising and promotional activity. We carried out a successful two months trial of this system in Norwich. As we have received a favourable response, we have started a second round of public consultation.”
The release in December of TheLord of the Rings with its national publicitycarrying the advice that the film might not be suitable for children under the age of eight provided a practical test of how Consumer Advice might be delivered. The BBFC has since been working with the industry towards the provision of ‘Consumer Advice’ more widely in 2002, particularly in junior category films on posters and in advertising.
Robin Duval concluded:
“This Annual Report is the last one for the President, Andreas Whittam Smith, who takes the opportunity to look back on his four and a half years at the BBFC. As he points out it has been a period of considerable change with the Board becoming more open and accountable. He presided over the introduction of the first set of publicly researched and backed Guidelines and over other modernising initiatives including the current ‘advisory 12’ experiment. He will be much missed. I am joined by everyone at the BBFC in wishing him every success in his new role as First Church Estates Commissioner.”
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