Legal restraints in film making

There are many different sections in which to carefully observe and follow when doing film production. Among the rights established under the Human rights act there is the right for privacy for friends and family life. These are the major acts which must be respected.

• Video Recordings Act 2010 (VRA). This is the most recently updated act and the BBFC update the Acts once every four years.

• The Human Rights Act 1998. This establishes the right to freedom of expression and include the prevention of disorder or crime and the protection of health and morals.

• The Obscene Publications Acts 1959 and 1964. Which make it illegal to publish a work in the UK which is ‘obscene’.This is where a film has tendency to deprave and corrupt.

• The Protection of Children Act 1978. This Act makes it illegal to make, distribute, show or possess ‘indecent’ photographs. This Act applies to those under the age of 18 years of age. This is to any film, to be restricted in accordance with the recommendations of the BBFC or the licensing authority.

• The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. This Act makes it illegal to have in possession an 'extreme' image. The Act defines such an image as one which is pornographic and grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character and which portrays in an explicit and realistic way. For any such image, the distributor can be prosecuted for this offence.

• The Public Order Act 1986. This Act makes it illegal to play any recordings or sound that might be offensive, threatening or abusive. For example, Racial and religious hatred, sexual orientation etc.  Such offensive recordings that would be the cause of  any implications that might occur.

• The Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937. This Act makes it illegal to show any ‘organised or directed’ scenes of cruel infliction of pain or terror on any animal.

• The Animal Welfare Act 2006. This Act makes it illegal to show animal fighting in the UK since the time of 2006.

• Coroners and Justice Act 2009. This Act makes it an offence to possess non-photographic fantasy images of child sexual abuse (ie. cartoons, drawings, other depictions etc).

There are other such legal restraints like Copyright. This is one of the most important and widely recognised legal implication that occurs in the film production world. It is enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it.

Another aspect that can link into legal restraints is the Hypodermic Needle Theory which suggests that 'media messages are injected straight into a passive audience which is immediately influenced by the message.' The 1990s story of James Bulger (Jamie) reinforces this  theory as the killers who did this, claimed to have been influenced by the movie 'Chucky'/'Childs Play'. This shows that age restricted films are extremely important because it can help prevent tragic events happening such as this. In our own trailer we are going to rate it a 15 because it incorporates distressing scenes which are not age appropriate for minors and audiences under 15 years of age. We have not made it an 18 because this trailer raises awareness to younger audiences as well, and this can make them more aware of certain situations that could happen. Again by rating our film a 15, we can prevent any traumatic scene being seen by minors and this will not influence a younger audience to do the same thing.