The BBFC has for some time now been accepting 'Picture-in-Picture' (PIP) commentaries, a function commonly found on HD DVD and Blu-ray releases. These are also sometimes known as PIP, IME (In Movie Experience) or U-Control. These are usually submitted on standard definition DVD.
Some commentaries are submitted in a finished form as the consumer will see them, with the main feature playing in the background and the commentary footage playing in a window. Due to technical considerations, some commentaries are not submitted in this way. Instead, the PIP footage is submitted separately from the main feature.
This has proved problematic in some cases as it is often not clear what the PIP footage relates to when it is divorced from the main feature and viewed out of context. This can make examination of the footage extremely difficult. In order to alleviate this problem the BBFC will view most PIP commentaries with the main feature playing on a separate monitor side by side with the commentary.
However, it is not practical to do this for all such submissions. For 'scene specific' commentaries (i.e. submissions where PIP footage appears only occasionally onscreen) we must now ask for paperwork detailing which scenes of the main feature the commentary refers to, with accompanying timecode references if applicable.
If the PIP commentary is supplied in a finished form then there is no need to submit this supporting paperwork.
Please contact the technical department ( technical@bbfc.co.uk ) for further information.
Yours sincerely,
Dave Barrett
Head of Operations