OFCOM/task (D)

So task (D) i thought I'd do in another post, to keep things organised.

Firstly OFCOM - Office of Communications

'We are an independent organisation which regulates the UK’s broadcasting, telecommunications and wireless communications sectors. We also set and enforce rules on fair competition between companies in these industries.'

I want my Documentary to be a PG. At least this is what i am aiming for, because i don't believe that the content will be explicit, but i will also consider a 15 rating. I don't want it to be specifically for children.


I've looked around OFCOM and their guidelines for TV broadcasts, here is what i found that i believe are relevant, or might come up in my documentary; Parts in red=annotations.

Violence and dangerous behaviour

1.11 Violence, its after-effects and descriptions of violence, whether verbal or physical, must be appropriately limited in programmes broadcast before the watershed or when children are particularly likely to be listening and must also be justified by the context.

1.12 Violence, whether verbal or physical, that is easily imitable by children in a manner that is harmful or dangerous:

1.13 Dangerous behaviour, or the portrayal of dangerous behaviour, that is likely to be easily imitable by children in a manner that is harmful:

• must not be featured in programmes made primarily for children unless there is strong editorial justification;

(Regarding Rules 1.11 to 1.13 see Rules 2.4 and 2.5 in Section Two: Harm and Offence.)

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-*I've put this up in regards to how Barbara Gordon was crippled, by being shot. This just says that material children could copy should not be shown to them, but unless it is limited, however, because it's a comic book, i don't think it will be too explicate.

Nudity

1.18 Nudity before the watershed must be justified by the context.

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-* There wont really be nudity per say, but a considering my subject this might be something to consider.

Rules Section 2: Harm and Offence

2.1 Generally accepted standards must be applied to the contents of television and radio services so as to provide adequate protection for members of the public from the inclusion in such services of harmful and/or offensive material.

2.2 Factual programmes or items or portrayals of factual matters must not materially mislead the audience.(Note to Rule 2.2: News is regulated under Section Five of the Code.)

2.3 In applying generally accepted standards broadcasters must ensure that material which may cause offence is justified by the context (see meaning of “context” below). Such

material may include, but is not limited to, offensive language, violence, sex, sexual violence, humiliation, distress, violation of human dignity, discriminatory treatment or language (for example on the grounds of age, disability, gender, race, religion, beliefs and sexual orientation). Appropriate information should also be broadcast where it would assist in avoiding or minimising offence.

2.4 Programmes must not include material (whether in individual programmes or in programmes taken together) which, taking into account t he context, condones or glamorises violent, dangerous or seriously antisocial behaviour and is likely to encourage others to copy such behaviour. (See Rules 1.11 to 1.13 in Section One: Protecting the Under-Eighteens.)

Context:

• the degree of harm or offence likely to be caused by the inclusion of any particular sort of material in programmes generally or programmes of a particular description;
• the likely size and composition of the potential audience and likely expectation of the audience;
• the extent to which the nature of the content can be brought to the attention of the potential audience for example by giving information; and
• the effect of the material on viewers or listeners who may come across it unawares.

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-*So i can't make any negative aspects in my documentary look good, e.g. rape killing etc. And if i do show anything like that it needs to be justified within context. But i will not actually be showing any of this, but mostly talking about fictional occurrences of it, so i don't think it would pose much of a problem.

I think this is all i really need to look at, i'll talk to my teacher.

THE PURPOSE OF MY DOCUMENTARY:

I want to show people something that i am very passionate about-comics- but i want to show them, and make them aware of the negative aspect of it towards women. I want to show comic readers, writers/artists what is wrong about the treatment of women in comics, raise the question to make a change. It's a feminist approach, but i don't want to scare off men, i want a wide range of audience for this. I don't want to see women in comics get the short end, this is what annoys me, so i want to get this out. This is my aim and what i want to achieve, and for now i'll leave it in so many words.

For instance, why can't there be any men on this cover? (LINK) It's an anti-fur campaign, from Bluewater Comics.


-My five minute extract will either come from the beginning, so i want to show an engaging opening based on all the work i have done up to now, showing the audience what they are going to see in the documentary (comics culture/comics consumption/women in comics). However i don't think that it will be possible for have an opening that goes on for five minutes, so i think we will go in to talk about Oracle a bit, but we'll see when the script gets written.

-My other idea, which i am not thinking of continuing with, was to come back from an advert break, so we can still have that engaging opening, and will also get to talk about Oracle/media consumption/comics culture, but we will decide this as a group.