Film Ratings Research U-12a/12

U – Universal
A film with the “U” rating has very strict limitations to what can be shown in it.
There must be a very sensitive treatment for the film and no reference to illegal drugs or any discriminative language towards any ethnic or religious background.
It should also be aimed at four year olds as they reach the general age to start imitating what they see and will interpret what they see as a general way to act or attempt to copy.
Films under this rating should have only natural nudity if not any and there should not be any nudity under any circumstances. These films cannot also have any material that may make children anxious or upset. Although we cannot interpret what will upset a child a film rated U must follow these very strict guidelines and must have no bad language or very in-frequent mild bad language.

PG – Parental Guidance
A PG film is a film that can be watched generally by kids unattended but that should be at the decision of the parents or guardian as there may be material that could be found offensive.
Any discrimination is only acceptable in an anti-discriminative message or way; this is also the case with illegal drug references as they may only be used in anti-drug messages. In the PG film any violence or horror scenes must be very short and not prolonged over a certain time limit.
Bad language may only be mild but can be used so much to an extent.
There must not be any sexual content in a film with this rating.

12a/12
12a and 12 films have exactly the same criteria the only difference is that 12a is a rating for cinema-based films and 12 is a rating for buying and rentals.
Any person under the age of 12 cannot view these films as there content is too explicit and may be harmful or offensive.
The treatment must be suitable for young teenagers but the theme must be mature.
Sex scenes and nudity must be very brief and discreet.
Any suicide or murder scenes must not be in detail as this can be considered as imitable material and is seen as inappropriate. Any drug use must be infrequent and not be seen as glamorous or have any instructional use.
Any disturbing sequence is not accepted but physical or psychological threat is ok.