The Video Recording Act

When video recorders where first introduced to the public enabling people to
produce their own videos and distribute outside of the British Board of Film
Classification or BBFC. This was a worrying loophole that was used by
companies to release films that would not be granted a film certificate or would
be too inappropriate and unchangeable. The concern was that these video
nasties as they were referred to could be supplied to children and people of all
ages due to their lack of certificate which deems the age it was appropriate for,
no 18 certificate means that anyone under 18 can purchase it, no certificate at
all anyone can purchase it. The video recording act put in the legislation
required to police such tapes and review them for the granting of film
certificates. An example of such is the film Cannibal holocaust produced by an
Italian film company and put straight to video was one such video nasty. At the
time of release the BBFC was running a voluntary service for films to be rated
and advised, big companies followed this however small companies like the
producers of Cannibal Holocaust did not follow suit. It was determined that this
movie was in breach of the public obscenity act and that cuts had to made due
to heavy animal slaughter and scenes of rape and sexual abuse. Eventually the
film was rated and edited by the BBFC who granted it an 18 certificate after
making 5 minutes and 44 seconds of cuts in order to render it an 18 certificate
for scenes of bloody violence, animal slaughter, strong sex and sexual
violence
Copy Right Law
Copyright law are legal constraints put in place which means that the creator of
a product( in context here a film or media product) has exclusive rights to it
which means it cannot just be copied by anyone, however this can be for a
limited time and there are fair usage policies in place also.
This is important in terms of the film industry as it protects the creators of films
from having their ideas copied and distributed without any consequences. For
example unlawful distribution over the internet is seen as a breach of copyright
law. However clips can be used as long as they are not in breach of the fair
usage policy. An example of this is the YouTube channel cinema sins which
analyses movies and uses clips from non- theatre movies and critiques them,
this falls under the criticism and parody section of the fair usage policy inside
copyright law (http://copyrightuser.org/topics/parody-and-pastiche/)
Copyright law protects the creators, it protects their ideas. The ideas the
produce can be applied as in someone can talk about the avengers for example
and apply it to something but cannot take the ideas laid out by the creator and
use it to their own means.
A more unusual breach of copyright law was seen in the lawsuit of S. Victor
Whitmill vs. Warner Bros. The man in question designed the facial tattoo for
mike Tyson,one of the characters also wakes up with this tattoo and used it
without written or expressed permission from Whitmill. Neither Warner Bros
norWhitmill could come to agreement and it was rumoured that the tattoo
would be digitally lifted from the characters face for the home release on DVD

and Blu Ray however for an undisclosed amount the case was settled.
The punishment for breaking copyright can range. In some cases you will
receive a polite email asking to remove the infringed content, your internet
service provider might have it removed, or worse you could be fined and sent
to jail.

The Film act

In 1927 an act of parliament was introduced to re invigorate the British film
industry in order to compete with Hollywood for economic dominance. In the
act it outlined what can and cant be classified as a British film. Some of these
rules include:
-The film must be made by a British or British controlled company
-Studio scenes must be photographed within a film studio in the British
Empire/Commonwealth
-The author of the scenario or the original work the screenplay was based on
must be a British -Subject
-At least 75% of the salaries must be paid to British Subjects excluding the
costs of two persons at least one of which must be an actor (This caveat refers
to the fact that a British film could engage a highly paid international star,
producer, or director whilst still being regarded as a British film).
The studios also had to release a 10 year quota. This was supposed to rekindle
and promote a vertically integrated film system where most of the films were
controlled by a smaller number of British companies instead of being so
dependent on American companies (horizontal integration). However what it
did lead to was the production of bang and boom films which used a large
amount of money to make but stood no chance in making it back and also to
meet the 10 year quota cheaply made and poor films made without effort and
focus to meet the government requirements.
However the film act was not all bad as it not only stopped Hollywoods
dominance, but produced many important film artists, perhaps the most iconic
of these was Alfred Hitchcock who began triggered the start of British sound
production with his film Black Mail, during production it was being made as a
silent film but then was ordered to become a part talkie, its use of naturalistic
and non-naturalistic sound laid the foundation for his future work. It is
important to note the Alfred Hitchcock later moved to Hollywood.
Overall I feel that the film act did more good than bad. During the initial stages
of its introduction I feel it didnt do any good for the British Film Industry in
terms of film quality due to the large productions not turning profit and the
cheap poor films made for the quota. However the Film act stopped Hollywood
from dominating the film world and has since meant that the British Film
Industry has had the opportunity to grow and improve and now we produce
great movies such as Gravity, The Kings Speech and the BFI backed
adaptation of Anna Karenina.
Importance of Ethical Issues
Use Of language.

Use of language in the film industry refers to swearing racial slurs and
innuendo to a lesser extent. There are strict guidelines as to what and what
cant be said in a film as laid out by the BBFC in their language guidelines. It is
acceptable to use racist language if it is in an appropriate context for example
Quentin Tarantinos film Django Unchained uses frequent racist language
however due to be a film about American slaves where that language was the
norm it is acceptable. It is mostly strong swearing that determines a films
certificate as far as language goes, referring back to Django Unchained, it has
an 18 certificate (due to bloody violence and frequent swearing) whereas 12
years a slave has a 15 certificate as it has a lack of frequent swearing and
bloody violence.
Equal Opportunities
The BBC has a strict health and safety policy in place to protect its workers. In
the same way media companies will have policies in place to ensure that
everyone has an equal opportunity regardless of race, religion, sexual
orientation, gender, age and political background. Some companies are better
at enforcing this than others like channel 4 for example which publicly releases
their figures the representation of ethnic minorities amongst permanent staff
in 2010 was 13% (2009: 12%). Women continue to form the majority of staff at
57% (2009: 55%). There have been cases of equal opportunities not being
given for example with the BBC when a radio producer told presenters via an
official email to not let elderly callers onto the show.
Encouraging Diversity
The film industry is a predominantly white industry. For example complaints
were raised about the 2015 Oscars and the lack of POC winners and nominees
with Selma winning a golden globe for best picture but none of the cast and
crew being nominated for awards in their own right. Encouraging diversity aims
to have pople of all races and ethnic backgrounds equally represented. Issues
in the apst when diversity has not been present has been in the white
washing of certain roles such as in EXODUS Gods and Kings a movie set in
eqypt but starring Christian bale who is white. And in multiple movies following
the life of Jesus in which the actors have been white despite the fact the Jesus
would have been of Arabic descent. Encouraging diversity is controlled high up
the film industry food chain and is mostly out of the hands of casting directors,
to quote Mitchell W Block and film professor "Hollywood doesn't give you
points for being innovative, they just give you points for making money. If you
can't deliver the global audience, your career will be shortened," he says. "If
you're a shareholder in Warner, you don't want to see innovation at the $150
million level."
Representation of Gender
Stereotypically men and women are represented differently in the film industry.
Men are seen as dominant heroic controlling characters whereas women are
often viewed as weaker sexual objects.
For example 28.8% of women in films wore sexually revealing or provocative

clothing versus 7% of male actors. It is rare that a female lead in a movie will
be entirely independent on a male character in most cases a female is never
truly the lead, she is simply viewed as a sidekick or an asset under the rule of a
man, women in power in viewed as bossy in comparison to men in the same
position being viewed as strong and powerful leaders.
An example of poor gender representation can be seen in the avengers movies
or to be more specific the character of Black Widow. She is seen as powerful
but dependent on men. In the first avengers movie she completes her role in
the movie despite obvious male gaze influences in her tight outfit slim figure
and gratuitous scene where she undresses on camera and hardly relies on the
skills of men to aid her. However in the second installation when a love interest
is introduced she becomes a poorly developed male dependent sex symbol.
She falls under the film stereotypes of women such as worrying about men,
being submissive to a male love interest and being overly maternal i.e. having
a hard wired desire to have children in the future. The third point is the most
prominent point seen in the second avengers with a scene in which her
character is overly upset because she cannot have children, this re-enforces
the idea that all women want to stay at home and have children. It is perfectly
possible to have a female enjoy a love life and not succumb to the stereotypes
such as the character of Gamora in Marvels Guardians of the Galaxy who
remains an impenetrable Femme Fatale for the majority of the movie before
allowing herself to have a love life alongside her regular character, the love life
does not define the character. It is rare to find a movie where a female lead
does not fall in love at some point, however it is common where a male lead
cannot fall in love but instead for example enjoy casual sex without incident
(Tony Stark Iron Man).
Representation of Religion
Representation of religion is similar to the representation of gender, in the
sense that it is important to not misrepresent. To use a modern day scenario for
a documentary film maker producer making a piece on Radical Muslims they
would need to also interview normal or opposing Muslims in order to maintain a
balance in their work. Religion can often be a basis for satire like for example in
the film Four Lions which follows the journey of Radical Muslim as the attempt
to train an and execute terrorist acts in the UK to no result. This film could be
seen as a misrepresentation of Religion but due to its purely satirical nature it
discourages terrorism and shows how pointless it is which promotes an antiterrorist message.
How Should Men and Women be represented?
Bluntly, men and women should be represented as equal.
The problem within the film industry is that they have complete freedom of
what they can and cant do within narratives however roles for women are
limited to a few categories such as sexualised objects, mothering characters,
sidekicks and love interests. Men and women should be viewed as equal and
neither gender sexually purely for the satisfaction of an audience, this problem
is non-existent for male actors but an enormous problem for female actors and
roles with most 26.8 of female actors having worn sexually revealing or
provocative clothing.

References
http://copyrightuser.org/topics/parody-and-pastiche/
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=721006
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/case-studies/cannibal-holocaust
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/education-resources/student-guide/issuesintroduction/language
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2015/01/09/hollywood-lacksdiversity-into-the-woods-exodus/20693591/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/a-b-wilkinson/oscars-2015-so-hollywood_b_6550568.html
https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/gender-inequality-in-film/