Ever wondered how movies get classified and rated? Apparently its just some people in a office watching them, talking about them and deciding. Who would have thought!
Today we went to IFCO aka the Irish Film Classification Office, where movie ratings are born. We met a lovely young man who walked us through the process of rating movies and how the office determines what is permitted for each level. There are a multitude of classifications that line up easily with the American system. There is G, PG, 12A, 16A, 18 which aligns pretty well with America’s E, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17. The A in some of them means advisory which means the movie is suitable for kids under 12 with parental advisory, same with 16. The 18 level is a strict policy meaning you must be over 18 to see the movie, even with a parent and ID’s will be checked. This is the rarest classification though apparently and is reserved for movies like the Saw franchise.
After the man explained the classifications we watched a short film about the famine where two sisters were on a hunt to find gold in the West of Ireland. The search did not end well as (spoiler alert!) they both go crazy and there is a murder… We were then tasked with rating the movie and I picked 15A as there were themes of suicide and murder but little violence actually shown. Apparently, I could work in this office because I was spot on with the actual 15A rating given! Unfortunately, they did not offer me a job on the spot but I’m sure its coming via email…. Overall, a very unique activity that gave me a keen insight on film classification… which isn’t a thing I had wondered about really… but still cool nonetheless!