A.

3- CODES OF PRACTICE AND

REGULATION
Liam Coote
 R E GUL ATI ON - OFC OM
Ofcom is a well known UK broadcast regulator who is also known as
‘The office communication’. Ofcom was officially founded under the
office of communication act 2002 to make sure that every individual
who is communicating over the phone or even by postal is protected
and treated fairly. They are also the government approved company
which are seen to look after the postal industry, communication and
broadcasting. These include the likes of post office, TV cable and
home broadband, mobile operators, radio and on-demand television
such as BBC iPlayer. The reason why they do this is because they
want to make sure that the consumer using this type of
communication is being treated fairly and not have to pay for
expensive types of communication. This will overall all everyone within
the UK to have the same type of communication at the same rate.
With Ofcom being a great success, they are seen to handle a range of
things within the use of communication which allows everyone to stay
safe and be treated fairly. For example, I have found that Ofcom take a
range of aspects into consideration when protecting individuals such
as-
Ensuring that there are a range of communication services
available in the UK
Ensuring a range of TV and radio programmes are broadcast,
appealing to as many people as possible
Ensuring that TV and radio services are provided by a range of
organisations
Ensuring that viewers and listeners are protected from
offensive or harmful broadcasts
Ensuring that video on demand services don't broadcast
harmful content
The use of Ofcom is seen to be very important for companies who may be
going through the use of pre production on developing a a type of advert.
The reason for this is because they will want to make sure that they have
the right target audience for the specific media product which will then
allow them to find a suitable time frame to place the show on TV which is
due to water shed. If they fail to do this it may cause their target
audience to not see it or cause Ofcom to not believe it is suitable .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8uuAK6gba8
For example, we can see that the use of Ofcom had had to ban the use
of “David Blaine piercing ice pick through hand”. The reason for this is
because we can see the use of harmful content which is shown which
can cause the use of copycat behaviour. This then shows us that this is a
water shed programme meaning it should be shown between 9pn and
5:30am.
Here, we can see a range of areas that ofcom look into to
making sure that anyone communicating is safe. For example,
we can see that the use of ensuring that viewers and listeners
are protected from offensive or harmful broadcasts. This is
seen to be very important as they will want to make sure that
everyone under 18 is not watching any explicit content. They
have now included the use of water shed. Water shed is seen
to be placed within the times of 9pm to 5:30am which will show
the use of harm and offence, offensive language and sexual
behaviour. They will make sure that programs that include any
of these aspects are not shown after time period to make sure
it fits the viewers interest.
 RE GU L ATION - B B FC BBFC has been very successful and has been able to join very well-known businesses
within the media industry such as VoVo and YouTube. The reason why they have done
this is to make sure that parents and children can pick the right video to watch but
BBFC is seen to be an independent, non-
will also give them a voluntary age rating. 
governmental body which classifies films.  BBFC
stands for British board film classification and has All music videos by artists signed to Sony Music UK, Universal Music UK, Warner
being classifying cinema films, tapes films and more Music UK and all UK independent labels that are unsuitable for children under 12 will
since it was set up over 100 years ago (1912) where be classified with a BBFC age rating, which is displayed next to the video when it is
published on YouTube. This is very important for the BBFC due to them wanting to
parliament then passed video recordings act in
make sure that they are making sure that the right target audience is watching this
1984.  They are seen to be here to help everyone in specific video because, if not they may be shown the wrong content which may be
the UK choose age-appropriate films, videos and harmful to the audience. 
websites, wherever and however they watch or use
them. This significance of this is it allows films to However, we can see that some UK artist are signed by US records, this then
have a certain age restriction which will cause kids means BBFC will not be sent the specific music video causing them to not be
classified. This overall show us how BBFC only concentrate of UK films, music videos
under the specific age to not be able to watch it.
etc.
This is then due to the use of content being shown
may harm or be offensive to the specific age being
restricted. 
They also believe that adults should be free to
watch what they want to watch due to it being
under the law. Therefore the maximum age rating of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX8fKLjC__c
films can be 18.  We can now see that BBFC mainly From above we can see the trailer from Human Centipede, it was so
concentrate on under 18 because as we know there graphic and so disturbing that the BBFC banned it from being released.
is seen to be a number of age rating films out there Eventually, the director agreed to cut some of the worst scenes out, and a
consisting of a U, 12A, 12,15 and then 18.   From shorter version is now legally available to watch in the UK.
this, we can see that the BBFC are the people who
look and watch the films which have been produced
within the UK where they then give the film an
overall age rating. If they believe that the film is notWhen planning my short film, I will need to make sure that the use of no harmful scenes are
a suitable film to be screened, it will then be bannedplaced within the film which may affect our specific target audience to not be able to watch
it.  If this is done successfully, our short film will be able to be shown within the UK
from all cinemas.  cinemas without any complaints.
 RE GU L AT ION -  U KC C S

The use of UKCCS is well known as the UK copyright

service where they offer a truly independent,
reliable, fast and secure witnessing service for your
work. This is an effective way of making sure that
your work that you have produced is protected from Businesses are seen to automatically get the use of The UK copyright service
infringement and misuse. This will make sure that  when they  have created-
no one can copy your work that you have produced
• original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work, including illustration
causing you to be the rightly owner of it. In addition
to this,  it is seen to be a low-cost way of protecting and photography.
your work which will allow the individual to not • original non-literary written work, such as software, web content and
have to place a high amount of money in to databases.
protect a certain amount of work.  
• sound and music recordings.
UK copy right service are seen to be a worldwide
business who look after thousands of creative • film and television recordings.
organizations and individuals across the world • Broadcasts.
where the service supports international copyright
protection. This is very important for businesses • the layout of published editions of written, dramatic and musical works.
due to them wanting to make sure that their work is
From above, we can see that the use of sound and music recording are seen
in safe hands and cannot be copied. If a business
to be backed up with the use of copyright services which allows their music
does not register up, it may cause their work to be
videos and sound to be protected and not be used by other individuals. 
copied by individuals but due to them not having
copyright they will not be able to fight against it.   When businesses/ individuals have the use of copyright services, they will
have a mark  on their work with the copyright symbol (©), their name and the
overall, we can see that the use of UK copyright service is very important for many
year of creation. Whether they mark the work or not doesn’t affect the level of
people who may be producing film, television recordings, sound and music recording
protection you have.
as they will want to  make sure that their work that they have produced does not get
used again. For us when developing our short film, we will want to make sure that
this has been put into place due to them being market leaders it will allow us to have
 R E GU L ATION - P RSC Within PRS, we can see that they investigate areas such as
protecting music. For this business, they are seen take this very
The use of PRS is seen to be here to protect the seriously as they are committed to protecting the value of music and
copyright of PRS members. The team helps UK ensuring their members' rights are represented. This is why we can see
enforcement agencies and other anti-piracy teams to that they are fighting music piracy and tackling the challenges that digital
investigate copyright infringements and, when technology has brought to the industry. 
necessary, take legal action. Due to the use of digital technology coming into place over the few years,
They are also seen to pay royalties to their members The organization has always been at the forefront of this change;
when their work is performed, broadcast, streamed, they were the first collecting society to license YouTube back in 2005
downloaded, reproduced, played in public or used in and, more recently, the first to license SoundCloud in 2016.
film and TV. They are seen to support them by Digital platforms such as these give consumers the ability to listen to
influencing policy, supporting and hosting awards music anywhere in the world, so it’s important we administer multi-
and events, and investing in new technology to territory agreements with digital service providers to simplify the
ensure we’re fit for the digital music age. The international licensing of our members’ rights.  Due to digital platforms
significance of this is it will allow individuals expanding and growing it causes the use of date to grow, the
who have produced the use of music to be protected In addition to this, we can see that the use of PRS and MCPS are taken into
significance of this on PRS is that they will need to be able to manage
within the future from anyone who may copyright.  consideration. PRS for music is the home of the Performing Right Society
large data volumes, and also that this data is accurate, so that we can
(PRS) and the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS). PRS is seen to
PRS is seen to look at a range of areas such remunerate our members fairly.
collect the members work when it has been performed or played to the public
as protecting music, supporting music, PRS whereas MCPS will look and collect when the members work has been copied
and MCPS, licensing music and influencing policy.  by the public. 

Overall, we can see that their Member Anti-Piracy System (MAPS) tracks links to unlicensed and
infringing sites that are using our members' work. Once logged-in, members can easily see where their
work is being used illegally and trigger a delisting notice to Google. For us when developing our
short film, if we use the use of non-diegetic sound such as music within the background, we will need to
make sure that we have the right to use it because if no, it may cause our film to be taken down and not
 As we can see, the use of
ADVE RT ISIN G STAN DARD S- advertising codes have
AS A been put into place
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the UK’s where businesses or
independent advertising regulator. The ASA makes individuals have to follow
sure ads across UK media stick to the advertising to make sure that their
rules (the Advertising Codes). With there being a overall advertisement is
range of advertising codes to allow the use of suitable and can be
advertising to occur, we can see that the use shown to the public.
of CAP (Committee of Advertising Practice) is the There is seen to be two
sister of ASA and they are responsible for the writing key types of advertising
of the advertising codes.  codes that everyone has
to use such as Non
The use of advertising codes are seen to be very broadcasting code and There is seen to be a number of Adverts that
important for businesses when they want to Broadcast code. have been banned from ASA such as The
advertise due to them having to make sure that they Kentucky fried chicken UK advert.
follow the rules because if not, it may cause the loos This year, KFC’s ad, featuring a chicken
of advertisement which has been done.  dancing to a rap soundtrack, received
complaints that it was disrespectful to
We can see that ASA are very passionate with what chickens and distressing for vegetarians,
they do, and they make sure that every vegans and children and that it depicted a
advertisement within the UK is a responsible ad for chicken who was heading for slaughter. 
the viewers making sure it doing hurt anyone. They 755 Complaints - Not upheld
are seen to respond to concerns and complaints from https://www.asa.org.uk/news/top-10-most-com
 2018,and
consumers and businesses wetake
resolved 33,727
action to bancomplaints relating to more plained-about-ads-from-2017.html
thanharmful,
ads which are misleading, 25,000 ads. In addition,
offensive or we resolved 27,014
irresponsible. cases on our own initiative. 
•As a result of that work, 10,850 ads were either
changed or removed (an increase of 53% over the
previous year). 
•98% of the complaints we received last year were
from members of the public. 72% of them concerned