BBFC

The British Board of Film Classification is an independent, non-governmental body which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912 and videos/ DVDs since the Video Recordings Act was passed in 1984. The British Board of Film Censors was set up in 1912 by the film industry as an independent body to bring a degree of uniformity to the classification of film nationally. Statutory powers on film remain with the local councils, which may overrule any of the BBFC’s decisions, passing films we reject, banning films we have passed, and even waiving cuts, instituting new ones, or altering categories for films exhibited under their own licensing jurisdiction. In 1984 Parliament passed the Video Recordings Act. This act stated that, subject to certain exemptions, video recordings offered for sale or hire commercially in the UK must be classified by an authority designated by the Secretary of State. The President and Vice Presidents of the BBFC were so designated, and charged with applying the new test of ‘suitability for viewing in the home’. At this point the Board’s title was changed to the British Board of Film Classification to reflect the fact that classification plays a far larger part in the BBFC’s work than censorship. The BBFC is a not for profit organisation, and its fees are adjusted only as required to cover its costs. In order to preserve its independence, the BBFC has never received subsidies from either the film industry or the government. Its income is derived solely from the fees it charges for its services, calculated by measuring the running time of films or DVDs submitted for classification. The tariff must be approved by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

the ring

The Ring – 2002

The ring is a psychological thriller which was directed by Gore Verbinski and written by Ehren Kruger. It was influenced by the Japanese and a horror that they made; the ring is an English interpretation of a film. This film made it global and had an international audience.

The ring is based around a video tape which if watched would kill the watcher within 7 days. After the viewer of this tape has finished watching it they receive a phone call from a little girl which appears on the video whispering ‘7 days’.

Katie the first girl within the film to die has her friend Becca over for the night, and becca starts talking about the video tape which she believes to be a myth, well that was until Katie told her she watched it. At first when Katie told Becca that she had watched it with her boyfriend and one other lad becca didn’t believe it was true, until the phone rang and she got really scared.

As the phone continues to ring and ring Katie answered it, but to her relief it turned out to be her mum so she had nothing to worry about. As she finished the conversation with her mum, the TV in the front room came on, making a noise as if it had a lot of interference. As Katie walks out of the room after turning off the television it came back on, she left it and walked upstairs, to find water flooding out of the bottom of the door to her bedroom, as she opened the door there is a close-up of the door handle making it very tense as you could see her scared face within the handle as she was stepping in a puddle of water. As the door opened there was a creepy face which turned into a montage.

Katie’s cousin, Aiden, started to draw pictures of Katie dead in a coffin underground. To his mums surprise they were drawn 3 nights prior to her death during school, making his teacher very worried due to the way that his drawings were not of the nature that they were meant to be in. the way that he drew these pictures of Katie’s death was as if he knew it was going to happen, as Katie told him that she didn’t have much time.

When Katie’s funeral scene starts there is a dark sky with white flowers as if to show her purity. As the funeral caries on the mother of Katie talks to her sister asking her to find out what happened due to how close Aiden was to Katie, she thought that she might know. Katie’s mum starts telling her sister that although there was no proof why she died, she didn’t believe that there was no explanation for her heart to just stop beating she was adamant that something had to of happened to cause it, although there was no medical proof as doctors were baffled as to why it had just mysteriously stopped.

As well as Katie, Josh her boyfriend died the same night, which was supposedly a suicide the only thing was, there was no way that he would of killed himself due to the way that he was too happy and full of life to do such a thing. The one thing that baffled Katie’s aunt was that they all died the same time of night (10pm) and all died with the same expression on their faces. As well as this, in Katie’s room there was a book sat on her desk which is full of models with their faces scribbled out which is seen as a symbol of the girl in the video marking her territory, as well as this there was a local photo shops card within the front cover. After she got them developed she realised that the last picture on the camera role that was taken had blurry faces. This suggested to the audience that it was only turning their faces blurry on photos after they had watched the tape.

After seeing the photos she travelled down to the inn where Katie and her friends had stayed a weekend, which was where the blurry picture was taken. The inn owner informed her that all the guests in the tavern had complained about reception as it was in the middle of nowhere and therefore put video players in each room. As well as him telling her this, he also told her that all of the videos that were used within the rooms of this inn were left by all of the guests that once stayed in the inn. As she found the tape she asked for the room that Katie and her friends had stayed in, after purchasing that room she went and sat in the room and watched the tape, as it finished the phone rang and as with Katie it whispered ‘7days’. She then stole the video to try and find out more about it due to the way that she believed strongly that it was the reason behind Katie’s death. As she showed Aiden’s dad the tape the phone didn’t ring straight away, after he left it rang, and she left it to go to voicemail. At first he didn’t believe her that it was a dangerous video tape due to the way he was so sceptical, it wasn't until he was stood in a shop and looked into a CCTV camera and saw his face was blurry that he started to believe her.

She tried to copy the video so that she could do more than one test on the video but the numbers on the recording machine went funny and changed as if the recording machine was broken. After trying to copy the video she went to the psychiatric hospital that Becca was at since the night of Katie’s death to ask her some questions to try make a bit more sense of what happened to her. Turned out that Becca could tell that she had watched tape and as she asked what happens when you die she answered ‘she’ll show you in 4 days’. It was very clear to Katie’s aunt that Becca was afraid for her.

When looking at the video in a closer detail, she could see that there was more image off to the side of the screen showing the lighthouse which is situated on Moeskoe island. When paused you could see the fly on the screen moving still, and she picked it off the screen and her nose started to bleed as if the interference off the screen had effected her in some way or other. Whilst she researches about the island, she finds some interesting news headlines about the drowning horses on the video, it was said in the articles that they suffered from hallucinations and they jump out of their pen and ran straight to the lake where they drown themselves. When she looks at what she is doing with her pen she realises why Katie had scribbled out all of the faces in the book full of models; it was an after effect of the video. Another side effect of watching the video is seen in the kitchen when she tried to take a drink of water whilst on the phone to Katie’s mum; she started to choke out electrodes (the relevance to the video becomes clear later on in the film).

After this she goes to sleep and wakes up after dreaming about a girl with long black hair over her face (like in the video) sat in a white room in a char in the centre surrounded by a puddle of water just like the night that Katie died and there was water coming out of her room. After she woke up she walked into the front room to find her little boy (Aiden) watching the tape. From looking at drawings that Aiden had drawn after speaking to the girl from the video she came to the conclusion that before you die you see the ring, which is the sunlight coming through the lid of the well that is closed.

As it cuts to the next scene you can see the heavy rain which is falling onto the car windows suggesting that there is something bad that is going to happen. Within this scene you can see that the horses within the articles in which she read on the internet about moscoe island are actually killing themselves rather then the owners drowning them. The owner of the horses is called Anna Morgan, she is also the mother of the girl within the video. After this she goes to the morgans house where she found out that most of the video was filmed and made within the house. As she asks Richard morgan the husband to anna morgan about the tape which had part of the house in, he looked and sounded quite worried as he asked what had happened to it. After this she is sent away by Richard morgan as he was telling her that he never had a daughter even though there was a swing outside. The drawing that Aiden had drew in the car before she crossed on a ferry to the moscoe island was of the Morgans house with the daughters face scribbled out. It turns out that Aiden had been able to see and speak to the girl as he got information like the horses kept her up all night and that she now lives in a very dark place. After trying to make sense of the information that she had got from her son and that she had picked up along the way, she went and spoke to the psychiatric nurse on the island to find out a bit more about their daughter. As Richard had said he hasn’t got a daughter he was pretty much right, Anna his wife couldn’t carry children and therefore adopted a girl from another country, Samara. All samara did was just cause a lot of trouble, as she had a few things wrong with her, she was described as the devil. She was referred to the psychiatric ward on the mainland due to the one on the island being unable to help.

As she goes back to the Morgans house she finds herself watching a tape which had a meeting between her and her doctor speaking. On this tape was the white room that she had been dreaming about, the same setup of where she was sat with the water around her, but this time she could hear what the doctor was saying and what Samara replied back to him. Samara told the doctor that she liked to hurt people and won’t stop doing it. As the video was close to an end Richard smacked her on the back of the head as if to stop her watching any more. After she woke up from being unconscious she walked upstairs to the bathroom where Richard was setting up a load of wires. He started to say that the pictures would never stop and that he had to leave. Meanwhile the bath was filling with water; he then turned the electric switches on, and electrocuted himself so that the pictures would stop.

After this, she makes her way to the barn as she clicks the fact that she didn’t like the barn because the noises kept her up at night. In the barn was the same ladder which was on the video tape. She was kept alone and was blamed for her mother turning crazy, the only thing that kept her company was a TV and a video player. Underneath the wallpaper there was a tree which she had seen before on Shelters mountain which is where the tavern was. After that they travelled back to the tavern where they first started, when they thought all was lost she accidentally knocked over the glass full of marbles onto the floor which formed an arrow on the floor boards over the well. As with Katie the TV flickered on with water flowing out and over it. The nails and screws in the floor boards start to lift up and out and bugs start to appear from everywhere. After this she falls down the well and lands in lots of water, desperate to get out she starts looking round the walls to find a way to escape. When frantically looking round she saw nail marks on the wall from where samara had scratched the wall with her nails in probably what was to try and escape. The lid on the well closes and the ring appears. She finds herself holding samaras hair in the water and feels her body slowly turn in to a skeleton. Samara was killed by her mother by a black bag being out over her head and throwing her into the well.  Samara was the one that made the tape as she wanted to be heard, she survived seven days down the well before actually dying and therefore that’s the reason why she gives people 7 days to live after watching the tape. Just as they thought that it was over they found out from Aiden that she was never meant to be helped and that she never sleeps therefore meaning that it wasn’t over.

After finding out that it wasn’t over, she rushed round to the guys house to try and help him, only to find him dead in the chair with the same expression as all the other people died with. Before you see this you see the Tele flicker on after he turns it off. The phone rings and he ignore it due to the way that his TV is currently turning on and off. He starts walking towards the TV when water starts flowing out of the TV from the screen and the top leaving a puddle all over the floor.

She climbs out of the TV and crawls until she can stand up, and you can see him backing off as far as he can, until he ends up dead on the chair.

The end of this film you can see that they can get out of dying by making a copy of the video that makes you die after 7 days and She makes her son copy this video so that he can survive. 

Shropshire star

The shropshire star prints 6 editions per day and publishes a paper 6 times a week. 

The price for these papers are all 42p, making it affordable for the people that would want to buy it. There are many different ways that this paper is published, this is through major shops such as waitrose, asda, tescos sainsburys etc, and also through corner shops, and through deliveries from news agents (costing 2.34 a week).  There are many people that would therefore read this paper due to the way that there are so many different ways of accessing it. 

 the edition newspaper that i am currently getting this information from is the one that dates 'Thursday the 16th of February 2012. It is also the county edition. 

 there are six different editions for this paper, these inlcluding Midday, Powys, Oswestry, North Shropshire, south/Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury. 

 readership:

Location	Pop	HH	Adult AIR	AIR %	RPC	Men	Women	Age 15-24	Age 25-34	Age 35-44	Age 45-54	Age 55-64	Age 65-74	Age 75+	ABC1	C2DE	AB	C1	C2	DE	Circ
Albrighton	6750	2476	764	11.33	2.9	390	375	266	79	96	77	80	88	78	418	347	189	229	204	143	268
Bridgnorth	20276	10693	4811	23.73	2.5	2454	2358	422	352	749	882	991	834	582	2474	2338	1125	1349	1301	1037	1909
Church Stretton	6394	3117	1645	25.73	2.5	839	806	126	70	178	270	319	326	358	1012	633	532	481	356	277	668
Cleobury Mortimer Rural Area	6489	3244	809	12.46	2.5	412	396	74	44	128	152	172	139	99	437	371	219	219	209	162	321
Ellesmere	6224	3246	2162	34.73	2.6	1103	1059	251	167	354	395	403	330	262	1070	1091	504	566	569	522	840
Ironbridge	6861	3611	2516	36.68	2.6	1283	1233	274	191	441	497	498	360	255	1212	1305	518	694	705	600	982
Knighton	9936	5135	1702	17.13	2.6	868	834	149	90	215	304	379	313	252	896	807	419	476	434	373	649
Llanfyllin	9128	4912	2395	26.23	2.6	1221	1173	232	184	347	411	486	407	326	1252	1142	521	731	620	522	916
Ludlow	18778	10278	5323	28.34	2.5	2715	2608	526	378	732	943	987	958	798	2602	2720	1171	1431	1419	1301	2092
Market Drayton	20442	10119	4955	24.24	2.6	2527	2428	757	491	813	852	868	654	518	2582	2372	1147	1435	1325	1048	1929
Much Wenlock	3074	1537	1044	33.95	2.5	532	511	91	63	156	201	208	180	146	580	464	273	307	266	198	421
Newport (Shropshire)	15737	7452	4854	30.84	2.5	2475	2378	864	362	724	849	885	642	527	2856	1998	1363	1493	1154	844	1936
Newtown	22890	12377	4605	20.12	2.6	2348	2256	568	380	713	802	927	681	532	2239	2366	919	1320	1199	1167	1800
Oswestry	33281	17483	8968	26.95	2.5	4574	4394	1081	830	1577	1613	1613	1213	1042	4470	4499	2004	2465	2349	2150	3600
Shifnal	8229	3921	2692	32.71	2.5	1373	1319	258	192	446	496	512	464	324	1446	1246	663	783	711	535	1059
Shrewsbury	56927	30503	21267	37.36	2.5	10846	10421	2780	2063	3984	3850	3499	2728	2362	11182	10086	4860	6322	5290	4796	8632
Shrewsbury Rural	35416	17725	14733	41.60	2.6	7514	7219	1688	983	2496	2795	2863	2237	1672	8468	6265	4186	4282	3593	2672	5773
Telford	112399	58866	42902	38.17	2.5	21887	21015	6244	4984	8238	7818	7104	5037	3477	17907	24995	7062	10845	11811	13183	17059
Welshpool	14016	7456	3499	24.96	2.6	1784	1714	385	291	537	598	665	536	488	1771	1728	673	1097	879	849	1356
Wem	7168	3729	2774	38.70	2.5	1415	1359	314	231	424	496	481	418	410	1482	1292	688	794	691	602	1124
Whitchurch	15889	7988	5507	34.66	2.6	2809	2698	608	494	918	1048	1017	780	642	2749	2757	1242	1508	1486	1271	2157

The format of this newspaper is fairly simple. there are many bright colours used and there is a lot of sans-serif fonts which makes it look more informal and as if they are basically just your friend telling you the news, and not a newspaper. There is a lot of bold text used which would make the audience want to read the certain articles as it would make their attention drawn to that area of writing. The sort of thing that is involved in this paper is the use of advertisments, information about the council, information about the local house, information about local jobs etc. He photographs that are used are there to illustrate the stories that have been written, therefore making it less daunting to read as it it broken up by pictures, it is also used to suggest that it is that much a a close society that we may even know the people in the paper therefore making us as a consumer want to read it. From looking at the language use within the paper there seems to be a Shropshire dialect that makes it target pretty much everybody within the Shropshire area at all ages. There is no biased representation of any social group, making it very easy for a lot of people from different social backgrounds to relate to the stories within the paper, making them want to read it due to the way there is no false representation between any social group. Within this paper, as well as news there is a television section, a sports section, a family announcement section (making it more personal to the local audience), an advert section,job vacancies and a general news section, which covers local and national news. this means that the newspaper doesn't have a niche audience. The owners of the Shropshire star (the MNA) own various other media, these including, radio, Television, websites etc.

The local and regional newspapers are read by most of the country as it is influential meaning it makes millions. The Shropshire Star is considered the most trusted medium for the news that they get due to the way that there are many different things that make them trustworthy as we can see that there are no lies as we know about the stories in the first place. by looking at facts and figures i came to the conclusion that the most read type of newspaper is a local one, this is due to the way that over 33 million people a week buy and read the local paper all over the UK. As well as these people that buy and read the newspapers there are 42 million people that rely on their local newspapers websites every month. In the UK altogether there are 1200 different regional and local newspapers that are sold. there is also 1,600 different websites in which that the people can look at the news online, making it more of a convenience for them if they cannot leave the house and want to read up on a story; this figure has doubled in the past 5 years. Throughout the UK there are more than 6,100 copies of the local newspaper sold ever minute. local papers are the first media people normally turn to, to raise an issue or problem with the readers, this is so that they can get more support as it is normally quite a small close society of people. one of the most important things that 85 % of the readers of most local newspapers is that they would expect to have a lot of information about the council issues and they expect them to be updated whenever something happens, as this is one of the only places that they can read this information. Local media employs over 30,000 people including 10,000 journalists which is more than the BBC. Over 60% of the readers of the local papers can make references to the paper for the advertisement section. Roughly 83 daily papers need to be paid for these including the Shropshire star, and roughly 11 are free dailies, free dailies are supported by the adverts that are within the newspaper and therefore do not need to be paid for by the consumer. The regional press has diversified and own over stand alone magazines and niche publications, as well as this there are over 1,600 websites which has doubled in the past 5 years, they also have the TV and radio. This could be a way that they make a larger audience due to the magazines and niche publications don’t give out a very big audience.

The magic figure that shows the amount of regional newspapers is read by adults in the UK is 71%.

The coverage between all ages is pretty big, which is surprising due to the way that they have decreased by 15% in the last 5 years.

Age:	Stats
15-24	21,815 readers(13%)
25-34	14,576 readers(8%)
34-44	29,076 readers(17%)
45-54	30,752 readers(18%)
55-64	30,699 readers(18%)
65+	44,919 readers(26%)

As well as this the coverage between the 4 main social classes has decreased by 10-12%.

Social classes	Stats
AB and C1	85,536 readers(50%)
C2 and DE	86,301 readers(50%)

Out of the entire British adult population 71% read a regional paper, of this only 47% read a national paper as well. Regional press has a high Solas readership. 26.7% of those who read a regional paper do not read a national paper. the readership solas is kept high due to the way that there is just enough national and international news.

It is slowly becoming global through things like the web and holidays, but is also shrinking at the same time due to the local lifestyle a lot of British people lead.

The top 20 publishers own approximately 90% of all regional and local papers in the UK, and 95% of the total weekly circulation. The MNA (the midlands news association) own the Shropshire Star and fall ninth in the weekly circulation stats by selling roughly 1.5million copies a week.

There are many new ways of attracting new consumer’s, this is through things like, websites such as twitter and facebook, podcasts, mobile phones, the e-edition, blogging and video streaming. There is a symbiotic relationship between the newspapers and the consumer.

The Shropshire star was the first paper to go more technical with the printing methods that they used. In 1964 after the war ended they were the first paper to publish a evening newspaper. This is what made them push for a better publishing system. Instead of them making it by using the method of hot metal printing which would only restrict them with time and what people could do it, as it took a lot of skill to make it, they moved into a method of photocomposition and weeb offset. This was a breakthrough at this time due to the way that it had never been done before. With them changing the way in which they printed the pages it meant that they had a lot more time to spare. The only bad thing that occurred when this was first introduced was that the people that could work the hot metal printing were then out of a job as it was over taken by the journalists that would sit and type it up onto a computer. The new Shropshire Star saw a huge growth in sales after this due to what were extraordinary colours used on the papers. Shropshire Star was also the first papers to not only print a picture the same day it was taken but they were the first to do it in colour, which was a breakthrough for the paper. the first picture that was printed in colour on the day it was taken was when the queen visited Shropshire. the newspaper that i analysed above has the same sort of inclusion of the queen in. 

In the 1980’s newspapers all became computerized. Journalists took over all the printers, and the first internet editor was employed in 1999. From this it started off a revolution in the news industry due to the massive success it turned out to be in the first few months; over 1million views a month.

Nearly 172,000 adults that read the Shropshire Star a night spending an average of 33 minutes reading the newspaper. The Shropshire star is the most popular newspaper within this region, the next popular being the sun. to publish this newspaper there are many different offices all over the county which all come together to publish a newspaper everyday. The Shropshire star gets involved with the local events, charity events such as the rainbow appeal, which sums up the community within a couple of pages of the Shropshire star. there is a high proportion of local news within the Shropshire Star with a high level of meanings which relate to the local people. 


The shropshire Star uses the editionising technique to keep a more local focus within the newspaper. It was split up into the following:
- north and south shropshire
   - Oswestry
   - Shrewsbury
   - Bridgnorth 
   - welsh border


but is not split up into the following. 


Edition:      Daily circulation stats:        Readership:
County        7,628                                  19,415
Border         7,685                                  19,521
South          4,939                                  19,521

There is a feeling of independence that is promoted through the Shropshire Star which is done by the pro-community attitude that is presented within the stories rather than the political views which are shared within the national papers such as the Sun. 


There is a good value for money for the shropshire star, it is normally roughly 40 pages, it often has 9 stories on the front of the newspaper, and roughly 17 pages per page inside. the consumer would normally spend on average reading the paper for 33 minutes per day, this would be due to the good value for money for the amount of stories that they get within the paper. there is also a variety of content within the paper and also a way of delivery to get them, which would only cost £2.34 a week. 

The mode of address within this paper is quite direct and friendly with the way they are directing speech the audience. 'Ben ticks off London eye ambition' this shows that there is a friendly sort of way that the local newspaper has tried to make the newspaper suit to the local people, by using names it makes the newspaper come down to a friendly level of news giving. as well as this there is  high level of simple and compound sentences which makes the audience feel as if they are not being discriminated in any way. there is also a lot of puns and alliteration that makes the audience feel a bit more happy reading the paper for example the use of the heading 'jaw blimey!' relating to the story about a pensioner who found a radio controlled shark in his garden, the use of puns and alliterations make it more fun for the reader keeping them involved and interested in keeping on reading the articles. The use of supplements within this paper is directed at a certain type of audience. in this paper there is a 20 page edition about the queen right in the middle so that it can be removes easily.

the local newspapers tend to make the paper more personal to the local readers, like parents of children in education, this is through the way in which that they cover things like sports days, local charity events which the school have run etc. making it easier for people to have a clear idea of that is going on in their local schools, as they get journalists into the schools to cover their stories. by the papers doing this it gives them a chance to make their local community come across as a great place, due to the way in which it covers the different outlined issues of education, charity stories and people helping the environment within their living area. this is due to the way that they make it look like the community is well looked after by everyone in it. By them doing this it also shows that they care about the local community. unlike national papers the regional and local papers like the Shropshire Star cover environmental issues that may occur. As well as this the Shropshire Star covers the history in a few editions of the paper, this is shown through the supplement in the paper dated Thursday 16th February 2012. Within this paper there is a section for many different people, there is a family events page, announcements on deaths, births, christenings etc which appeals to the audience as it makes it seem more personal to the reader. In most local papers there is a service covered for the community with things like council tips, applications for jobs, opening times for the local pharmacy's, shops etc. this is useful to the audience as it means that they don't have to fish through the yellow pages. There are many different extra content which is added to a few papers, these including things like a competition and sometimes offers, and vouchers for your local Tesco or something. There is a range of different ways that they make the information within these papers public, this is through things like emails when you subscribe to their news, their website, twitter and their Facebook pages (social networking), by making their news public on places like twitter and Facebook they are also broadening there audience span as more teenagers would see it. as well as this there is a media pack in which you can download from the MNA website.