Codes of Practice and Regulation:

The codes and regulations of a film include all the legal documents such as health and safety, copyright for music/sounds, insurance for the actors and crew, clearance documents, contracts for shutting streets or booking locations from the government, actors/crew’s will if they die and stuntmen/women documents. A clearance document is a list of what may be used or needed in regards to permission from exterior parties. They include the description of what you need, the source, whether you have permission or not and any notes/comments regarding it. For example, On the image below, an airport signage is requested and the notes state “Check airline does not exist” implying they have to create their own for copyright purposes. Another example is the request of a Bob Dylan song and they have been told not to use his words. This document is used so that the production understand what they can or cannot use in their film.

 

 

 

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A music copyright document is one where the production request the rights to use an artist’s music. Music and soundtrack usage is quite costly for the production which is why they approach several artists for similar music and pick the best one for the film, and for their budget. The document is signed and an agreement is made between the production and the artist for use of the song or a remixed version of the song in their film. An insurance document for film production is one that protects the film production from related liabilities such as on set injuries, damage to equipment, props, costumes, vehicles as well as protect the production from other things such as copyright claims. Another code of practice that films have to go through is the BBFC classification in the UK and the Hong Kong Film Classification in Hong Kong. In the UK, Rogue Nation was classified a 12A. This means that there are guidelines the film must follow in order to achieve this rating. For a 12A, the film must not endorse discriminatory behaviour, drug use must be infrequent, dangerous behaviour must not be imitable or realistic, strong language must be infrequent and justified by context, sexual nudity must be brief, sex references must be infrequent, threat is allowed but the film tone of threat shouldn’t be and violence is allowed but must not emphasise injuries. This means that if a film does not meet these guidelines, it will likely receive a higher age rating category. An example is Kingsman: The Secret Service which before the film premiered, went to the BBFC for classification and were told that they would likely receive an 18 category (adults only) because the film did not meet the guidelines for a 15, the violence was too strong. With a few changes, the film was released a 15 having met the guidelines. In Hong Kong, Rogue Nation received a IIB which is an advisory classification not enforced by law with the only guideline on the posters being “Not suitable for young persons and children”. The only category enforced by law is the III category which is for 18 and older only. The image below is the basic guidelines Rogue Nation had to meet in order to receive a IIB.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A film that received a III category was Deadpool because of strong sex and violence. This meant only adults could watch it. However, after a few seconds were cut from the film, a IIB version was released for wider audience viewership. The same thing happened for Deadpool 2 in 2018. Two versions of the same film were released with the IIB version slightly cut for content. A will is a legal document for which a person decides who gets their property and belongings after they die. Why an actor like Tom Cruise may need to have one is because his job involves dangerous stunt work for which he is risking his life for so if he were to die, a will would dictate where his property would go to.