Molly Owens A2 Media Studies

Legal Considerations for my Media Trailer Category

Age Classification




















For my trailer itself, I am planning on rating it a 12A, as I am planning on it not going outside of the following criteria of:

• Discrimination - Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly condemned. 
• Drugs - Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail. 
• Horror - Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained. 
• Imitable behaviour - Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied, or appear pain or harm free.  Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised. 
• Language - Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’) must be infrequent. 
• Nudity - Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context must be brief and discreet.
• Sex - Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Frequent crude references are unlikely to be acceptable. 
• Theme - Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for young teenagers. 
• Violence - Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and must have a strong contextual justification. Moderate violence, without detail, may be allowed, if justified by its context (for example, history, comedy or fantasy). 

However, the feature length of my film would work out as a 15 as its horror theme's would be more than moderating touched on. But for my trailer I only want it to be subtly their to allow the audiences imaginations to fill in the gaps.

Legal Responsibilities are a massive responsibility that I have to take into consideration when I am making my trailer is the sensitive issues surrounding filming children as I am using two children within my trailer.
Engaging Child Actors
Any child under the age of 16 needs a licence from their local authority to perform in any film. The application for this licence will include, amongst other things, a medical certificate and detailed statement on the likely performing hours.
Health and Safety 
I must complete a detailed risk assessment for each individual filming location that I have because there will be different factors to consider. For example, there are less risks when filming in a house, compared to filming in an outdoor location like a forest. However, there are always different possibilities that could happen to I will do my best to cover all possibilities through my risk assessments.
Film Censorship and Regulations
Film censorship has definitely changed over time, this is due to something called desensitisation. An example of this is previous films that have been banned for reasons that would appear so petty in today's society.
The first films banned is called The Wild One, this film was submitted to the board in 1953 and was banned for 14 years for the reason of it containing influences of current post war culture. The film is now rated PG.
The second film banned is called The Garden of Eden, this film was released and shortly banned in 1954 for reasons of nudity. As Britain emerged from the austerity of the post-war years, long-held values came under pressure so nudity was a big deal at this time. However, the board's decision was only ever advisory. Local councils could choose to allow these films to be shown, a choice more and more of them began to make.
The third film banned was called Women in Love and this film was banned again for nudity, but specifically male nudity. 1969 was another watershed moment as full-frontal male nudity in Ken Russell's film Women in Love was finally passed by the censor.
The fourth film to be banned was Rambo III, this was banned for too much violence as the censor stated 'there was heavy use of guns'. All of these films reasons' for being banned show that today's society has become desensitised and in some cases more accepting to films released today.
Within my trailer I must ensure that there a no copyright issues, by doing this I must insure that there are no clear brands visible or used within my trailer. As well as insure my ideas are fully original.

According to some psychiatrists, the modern horror film serves many of the same function for the adolescence that the fairy tale serves for the young child, for instance to warn off evil in familiar places. Horror films are designed to elicit strong emotional reactions from viewers, including fear and dread; and this they do, Nearly everyone reports having been disturbed at some time by an image from a film or television program,

According to Professor Glenn Sparks, one reason for the appeal is how you feel after the movie. This is called the excitation transfer process. Spark's research found that when people watch frightening films, their heart rate, blood pressure and respiration increases.

After the film is over, this physiological arousal lingers, Sparks said. That means that any positive emotion you experience - like having fun with friends - are intensified, he said. Instead of focusing on the fright you felt during the film, you recall having a great time and you'll want to come back for more.

However, if your experience was negative, you might not. For instance, let's say you were on a date that wasn't going well or you got into a car accident on your way home, Sparks said. Again, because your lingering arousal heightens any emotions you experience, the negative feeling might sway you to skip a scary film in the future.

Some people are simply wired to enjoy high levels of physiological arousal, Sparks said. According to the literature, he said about 10& of the population enjoys the adrenaline rush.

Similarly, wiring may explain why other hate horror films. Specifically, some individuals have harder time screening their unwanted stimuli in their environment, Sparks said. For instance, they might be hypersensitive to the temperature in a room or the tag on their shirt. These same individuals are more likely to have intense philological reactions to horror films.

Research suggests that more men enjoy horror films. This might be because men are socialised to be brave and enjoy threatening things. Men may derive social gratification from not letting horror film bother them, Sparks said, It's the idea of mastering something threatening, he said.

"Men often like horror films as date films because women are more likely to seek physical closeness when they're scared, and men can show off their strength and bravery," Cantor said. (This is referred to as the cuddle effect)

In one study males like a horror film more when they saw it with a female who was scared, and females liked the film more when they saw it with a male who wasn't scared.

Parents need to be especially careful about what their children watch, according to both experts. Cantor's research found that college student who watched horror film or programs before 14 years old, had trouble sleeping and felt anxious about typically safe activities or stopped engaging in the altogether.

"Until the age of 5 to 7, seeing is believing," said Cantor, who wrote the book 'Teddy's TV Troubles' specifically for calming down children after they've been scared by the media.

Even if it's 'make-believe', she said, it's still scary for young children. For older children, realistic threats, such as kidnappings and child molestation are scary, she said. Teens, like adults are more scared over abstract threat, such as disease and the supernatural, she said.

In a biological sense fear is related to death. For the human organism all emotions can be said to be reaction to what Jeffrey Gray calls 'reinforcing event,' i.e. rewards and punishments, or the removal of such rewards and punishments. A fearful response is an indication that the perceiver believes that his well-being is in danger, and that he is threatened by death or injury that can lead to death indirectly.

Biologically fear is a warning signal that death, injury or destruction is imminent and it is designed to cause the perceiver to avoid the dangerous situation. Fear, psychologically, is also a warning and it basically functions to prevent the possibility of personality disintegration. A victim of fear perceives a threat to his identity which he experience as a loss of control. According to Arno Karlen it is "a traditional Western fear that any loss of individual or social control will start a snowballing loss of controls in general" and such an effect in itself is sufficient to arouse more fear and complicate the situation for the victim. That is if fear is capable of generating more fear and a victim of fear can find himself in a nightmare of his own making is he allows his imagination to get out of hand and does not successfully gain control on the situation.

The trailer 'Mama' begins with a soft piano sound, the door creak is a typical convention of a horror film. The mysterious music almost sounds as if someone is breathing. The house is located in the woods which again is a typical horror movie location, showing its isolation from normality. The low key lighting of the room highlights the light at the end of the corridor, denoting the importance of that room as well as creating a sense of mystery and wonder within the audience. The close up shot of the boot gives the audience a slight hint to what the story is, as well as emphasising innocence and vulnerability of the young child. The music is a soft piano sound which implies that the atmosphere is calm however could be used to build tension, the music crescendos when the little girl appears. The low angle shot of the abandoned girl makes the man look inferior to her, which would create fear within the audience, also giving a sense of danger about her. The non-diagetic voice over explains whats happened to the girls, making them seem fragile and vulnerable. The high angle shot denotes the innocence of the young girl, she's frightened and inferior however the mise-en-scene of her 'filthy' appearance would leave the audience suspicious. The panning high angle shot of the girl sat in the corner, again, highlights the vulnerable state of the children. This girl is covering her face implying that the other girl has a more important role than her. The music slightly changes to sound almost 'religious' like a choir signing in a church, which could suggest a supernatural atmosphere which would also creep out the audience. The medium shot is used to show the 'typical' young girls bedroom, everything appears to be normal, decorated with pinks and blues sticking to conventions of what any normal child's bedroom would be like, however the audience know they are not normal children. The shot of the doll is used again to show the normality of the environment. The music changes back to a soft piano sound as the children return to normality, showing a conventional family and home. The over the shoulder shot is used to show the 'strangeness' of the young girl, her repetition of 'Mama' implies to the audience that something isn't right. The slow paced fade shot transitions are used to build up tension whilst showing the chain of unusual events. The speed of the shot transitions begin to get faster whilst the events become more serious. The birds-eye shot of the woman and girl sitting at the bottom of the stairs implies she is inferior, and the 'Mama' is looking down on her as if she were her prey. The low key lighting of the medium hallway shot highlights the creepiness of the events, showing the only light coming from windows/doors. The focus shot of the butterfly also implies that this will be a significant feature of the film, as it appears several times. The shot of the whole house emphasises the isolation of the area, which is a typical horror film convention, the dark setting is also typical as scary events usually happen at night. The light flicker is where everything seems to go wrong, the fast pace editing and cuts are used to create suspense for the audience whilst we get a hint who 'Mama' actually is. The medium shot of the young girl strips away all her vulnerability as she releases a sinister laugh, implying to the audience that conventions have been broken and she is not the innocent young girl that usually would appear in a horror film.

Questionnaire Summary

Question 1: What age group are you?

Question 2: What is your preferred type of setting for a horror film?

Question 3: What is your preferred type of narrative / theme?

Question 4: Do you prefer a horror film to be in the form of found footage or not?

Question 5: What is your favourite aspect of a horror film?

Question 6: What do you dislike about horror films?

Question 7: What do you like about horror films?

Question 8: Do you prefer low budget looking horror films or high budget?

Question 9: What is your biggest fear?

Question 10: What is your favourite horror film?