Film, video and game ratings

BBFC - film, PEGI - games, OFCOM - TV - regulatory bodies

*Legal - watershed
*Obscene Publications Act (1959)
*Lady Chatterly's Lover - 1963 version of fifty shades of grey

*Videos Recordings Act 1984 - (video nasties) before this 1984 Act there was no ratings or regulations
Rambo II 1988 Hungerford killings
*James Bulger murder - Childs Play 3
Evil Dead
Rated in the cinema but not rated when released on video
Lots of films that were released on video were banned - way to stop people seeing it

Natural Born Killers (1994) - claimed to be the influence for many massacres in US and France (John Grisham - author)
The Basketball Diaries - (1995) - Columbine Massacre

Cool violence - Reservoir Dogs, NBK, Grosse, Point Blank etc


Essay
In this essay I am going to be looking at whether the media should be regulated. 

Obscene Publications Act 1959 was created for an offence of publishing obscene material. The Act has been used in a few high-profile cases, such as the trial of Penguin Books for publishing the book Lady Chatterley's Lover which makes Fifty Shades of Grey look tame. The book Lady Chatterley's Lover tells the story of an adulterous love affair and uses sexually explicit language that lead to it being banned in the UK. The language used in the book was used to provoke the censors. But in 1959, the Grove Press attempted to print the original edition which included the offending words just to test the American Obscenity laws. After the trial, Penguin Books bought out a new uncensored addition.
It also applies to television which is obscene, whether it is in a persons possession or it it published/broadcast. The definition of obscene is "likely to deprave and corrupt" the audience for which it is intended for such for instance if there is sexually explicit material, violence or drug taking.

The watershed means the time when TV programmes that are broadcast might be unsuitable for children will be broadcast. The watershed begins at 9pm and in general to 5.30am the following morning, during this time programmes that are shown are unsuitable material for children. By unsuitable material this can include everything from sexual content to violence, graphic or distressing imagery or very strong language. When language that is very offensive is going to be broadcast it has to be after 9pm whether it be on radio or on TV when children are most likely going to be listening.
An example of a programme that is broadcast after the watershed is Game of Thrones as this contains gory violence an sometimes sexually explicit material which isn't appropriate for young children to be watching.

Videos Recordings Act 1984
Video recorders were first introduced in the UK n 1978, at this time there was no rules governing what could be released on video or to who video's could be supplied too. Before this Act was introduced in 1984 there was no ratings or regulations on videos. With some of the grotesque films that were released in the 80's there were available to anybody including children of any age.
Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994
In response to the publics concerns about violence in the media which is connected to the murder of toddler Jamie Bulger in 1993 in which the two main convicts Jon Venables and Robert Thompson had been inspired by the film Child's Play 3 which Jon Venables' father had rented prior to the murder of Jamie Bulger. This resulted in a campaign for the law on "video nasties" to be tightened.

The Hungerford Massacre
On 19th August 1987 in Hungerford, Berkshire, UK an unemployed man Michael Ryan went out and killed sixteen people, including his mother before committing suicide himself. When this happened back in 1987 the Press reported that the killer was obsessed with the Rambo film First Blood, which is described as featuring similar events to what happened in Hungerford. But there is no evidence that the killer owned a video recorder. There has never been a firm motive for the killings and it remains one of the worst firearms events in UK history.
This is also similar to the Columbine High School massacre that occurred on 20th April 1999 in Colorado. A

Advert Analysis - Ikea - Playin' With My Friends

Structure

In this advert that is actually a music video for the band Masters In France, and they decided to make it they were clearly approached by Ikea to use their song in this advert. And it was created to show people coming together and hanging out no matter what age they are.

In most of the video the kids are shown playing with their 'friends' which consists of other children and also their toys - which in the end turns out to be their parents/grandparents/brothers/sisters etc. 

Also within this advert we see the children collecting the plates and cutlery for dinner which is what most children generally do help out with doing in households.

There is one child in particular in this video that almost seems to narrate what is going in and that is the child that you see in the first opening shot, she almost acts as the mother who has invited everyone around for tea as she seems to be quite authoritative and you see little characteristics in her showing what the mother usually does like taking peoples coats and hanging them up.

Techniques

The advert uses lots of different techniques such as the bright colours, use of Ikea products, a catchy song and odd flamboyant animal characters. Firstly the use of bright colours helps to catch the audiences attention as everyone loves a bright spacious kitchen as it is considered one of the most important rooms in the house. With the use of Ikea products it shows that they cater for children with steps to help them reach things from the cupboards and child height tables and chairs and also the simplicity of their products that they manufacture create a sense of easy living. 

Characteristics of the product/services

The unique selling point of the advert is the fact that its showing that people can hang out together no matter how old they are. Its being inclusive of all age groups. Another USP of this advert is the characters such as the robot, teddy bear, monkey and others. This captures the attention of young children as they are attracted to cool toys and bright colours.

Audience

The target audience for this advert is aimed at a wide range of people from young children to elderly adults as there is an elderly lady in the last shot of the video. Because of the wide target audience  it is showing that Ikea caters for all age groups, it has toys for children and then it has all the household amenities for adults because they are the main audience as they will be the people that will be buying the products.

Regulation

This particular advert that Ikea have produced was created with Ikea's new strategy which is to focus of different activities that you can do throughout the home rather than creating different campaigns for different rooms in the house. This was said to be the first 'entertaining' one that they had created and with it being about children it was imagined through the eyes of children.