Since 1912, the British Board of Film Classification has been responsible for classifiying cinema film's for their suitable audiences and more recently since parliment passed the Video Recording Act back in 1984, videos and DVD's. Essentially the BBFC decides at what age it would be suitable for their viewers to view the film, though in some extreme cases they can ban anybody from seeing a film, most recently The Human Centipede 2 was banned by the BBFC, but was then unbanned when nessery scenes were cut to meet the censory standards of the BBFC. The age certificates are as followed; Universal, Parental Guidance, 12 when with an adult guidance, 15 and 18.
The BBFC has very strong guidlines concerning drugs, violence, language and sex. In regards to drugs, a film must not promote the misuse of drugs or the glorification of drugs, doing so means that the film will recieve a higher classification limiting it's audinece. If a film was to show the misuse of drugs and it's dangers then it would recieve a lower classification. Language is also an issue, the repeted and strong use of explicitives can offend the audience, not only is language heavily scrutinised but so are rude gestures, the frequentness and the severtiy of the explicitives can therefore influence the certificate rating. The BBFC can also be influenced depending on the sexual content of a film, anything from the implacation of sex or kissing are taken into account, as well as obviously real sex, the higher the sexual content the higher the certicate. Violence is also a factor, as violence can be somewhat disturbing, the severity of the voilence will have a detrimental effect on the certificate. 
The certificate for my film will be 15. This is as my film contains moment of minor menace, though it does not show any sadistic killings which would almost automatically raise the film to an 18. The film aslo contains blood, though it's not strong and re-occuring and there is going to be no sexual violence or strong portrayals of sexual activities, which would also give it an 18, this is because it is not vital to the plot that these things need to be included, thus limiting the audience. There are also no drugs within the film also. Though what a raises the film from a 12 to a 15 is it's subject matter i.e. a person killing children, just for the thrill of the hunt, would not be suitable for those of a younger age.
