Resources Sites: Film, Television and Games news, Reviews, Synopses etc
UK Media Regulation and Organisations
International Classification
UK Government Information, Research and Statistics
Search sites for Research Material and News Articles
Drugs Advice
Drugs Education
Video Games Websites
Resources Sites: Film, Television and Games news, Reviews, Synopses etc.
www.imdb.com - the Internet Movie Database: broad-based box office, reviews, synopses and cast lists for film and television
www.rottentomatoes.com - US movie site Rotten Tomatoes includes news, reviews and box office charts
www.mrqe.com - Movie Review Query Engine – search site for film reviews from newspapers and magazines
www.planetbollywood.com - for South Asian (principally Hindi) films with news, reviews, interviews and box office charts visit Planet Bollywood.
www.apunkahoice.com - ApunkaChoice: search site for news and reviews etc about South Asian films, including those in Malayalam.
www.chennaionline.com - Chennai Online is a site for Tamil movie reviews and news
www.hkmdb.com - the Hong Kong Movie Database provides a movie review database for Hong Kong films.
www.gamesradar.com - Games Raider is a site for news, previews, reviews and charts of PS2, Xbox, PC games (plus other formats)
US moral guardian sites for parents:
www.screenit.com - Screen It: US ‘moral guardian’ movie review site for parents to assess film content.
UK Media Regulation Organisations
www.asa.org.uk - Advertising Standards Authority – for information on the self-regulatory body for non-broadcast advertisements, sales promotins and direct marking in the UK.
BBC Editorial Guidelines - the comprehensive guidelines for those producing material for the BBC including sections on taste and decency (language/ violence etc) and the law.
www.videostandards.org.uk - Video Standards Council, set up 1989 as a non-profit making body oversee standards within the computer and video games industry.
www.bva.org.uk - British Video Asssociation’s site for the industry with information for distributors including statistics on DVD/ video sales and rentals.
www.pcc.org.uk - Press Complaints Commission deals with complaints about the editorial content of the UK’s newspapers and magazines.
www.copyrightaware.co.uk is the website for The Industry Trust; a body that works with their member companies (from film studios to retailers) to spread the word about the positive role copyright plays in helping to protect creative ideas and secure the livelihoods of the 150,000 people that work in film and TV in the UK.
(those with * are non-English language websites).
www.oflc.gov.au - Australia’s Office of Film and Literature Classification
www.media-awareness.ca - Canada’s media awareness network. To find out about Canada’s classification system check out www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources
For research/ resources on media violence and stereotyping - www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/index.cfm
www.medieraadet.dk - Denmark’s Medierådet før Børn og Unge (The Media Council for Children and Young People
www.vet.fi/english/board.html - Finland’s Valtion Elokuvatarkastamo (Finnish Board of Film Classification)
www.cnc.fr - France’s Centre Nationale de la Cinematographie*
www.spio.de - Germany’sSpitzenorganisation der Filmwirtschaft e.V (SPIO)*
www.tela.gov.hk - Hong Kong ’s Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority
www.ifco.ie - Ireland ’s Irish Film Censors' Office
www.kijkwijzer.nl - Netherlands’ Kykwyzer (and Nicam Classification system)
www.filmtilsynet.no/ - Norway’s Statens Filmtilsyn*
www.fpb.gov.za/ - South Africa’ sFilm and Publications Board
www.statensbiografbyra.se - Sweden ’s Statens biografbyrå (SBB)
filmages.vd – Switzerland’s Commissions Cinéma (Cantons of Geneva and Vaud)*
www.censorship.govt.nz/ - New Zealand ’s The Office of Film and Literature Classification
www.mpaa.org - US’s Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
UK Government, Information, Research and Statistics
www.hmso.gov.uk - UK legislation online from 1988
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/ - Home office Research, for example on crime, drugs, alcohol. Check out ‘publications’ for research studies, findings and statistical bulletins.
www.statistics.gov.uk - National Statistics online. Find statistics on population, crime, road accidents, deaths etc.
Search Sites for Research Material and News Articles
www.bl.uk - British Library. Search its integrated catalogue at http://catalogue.bl.uk/ for books, journal and newspaper titles. Subscription or a visit to St Pancras is required to search its ‘inside’ catalogue for journal articles.
www.copac.ac.uk - Copac National, Academic and Specialist Library Catalogue: a combined database of 24 major academic libraries in the UK and Ireland. Principally a book rather than journal article search
www.ingenta.com - Ingenta Connect is an excellent journal article database. Weighted towards American journals. Use this to find journal articles which can be ordered from the British Library Document Supply Service (via the BBFC library)
www.sosig.ac.uk - Social Science Information Highway. Search its database for journal articles or web-based articles.
www.thepaperboy.com/uk - access to many of the major UK national papers – Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Times, Scotsman, Sun, plus local papers and newspapers across the world. Allows you to search for articles.
www.bbc.co.uk - useful access point to all BBC information on news, education etc
www.channel4.com - useful access point to all Channel 4 information on education, health etc (drugs).
www.itn.co.uk - ITN’s news website.
www.film.guardian.co.uk/ - The Guardian newspaper's online guide to Film - the site contains a special section on Film Censorship
www.talktofrank.com - Talk to Frank: the UK government’s service for ‘straight talk about drugs’. Again includes an A – Z of drugs detailing costs, effects, dangers and penalties.
www.drugscope.org.uk - Drugscope: independent advice from the UK’s leading charity providing balanced info for users and professionals. Includes A – Z of drugs, detailing effects, dangers and penalties.
www.wiredforhealth.gov.uk - Wired For Health are a series of websites to support schools’ health curriculum which managed by the Health Development Agency on behalf of the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills. In particular the site includes:
www.kids.direct.gov.uk - Kids Direct: an interactive site where children aged 5-7 (Key Stage 1) can find out about different health and social issues including being active, playing safely and keeping safe at home (including rules about medicines).
www.need2know.co.uk/health - Need 2 Know provides a range of health facts and quizzes for 14-16s (Key Stage 4) about various issues including alcohol, smoking and drugs. Looks at why people might use drugs, and the effects, risks and myths of drugs. Drugs are dealt with by their proper and slang names, there’s info (including visual) about what each drug looks like, whether it’s a stimulant, depressant, hallucinogen or analgesic, how it’s used, the duration and nature of its effects, the risks and legality of its use and supply and what to do in an emergency.
www.eurogamer.net - EuroGamer: an authoritative and up-to-date site that focuses on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It claims to have the largest readership of any independent videogames website in the UK.
www.gamesindustry.biz - as the name suggests, Games Industry is a site aimed at professionals working in the games industry. The news and articles sections provide current information and debates that relate directly to regulation.
www.ign.com - Imagine Games Network is a multimedia news and reviews site that focuses heavily on video games.
uk.gamespot.com - Game Spot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, down-loads, and other information. Also allows its users to write reviews of current games and debate issues on forums.
digiplay.info - Digiplay is a site that provides the largest database of academic and research articles on digital games freely available on the web.
gamestudies.org/0701 - Games Studies is the international journal of computer game research. Dense and complex, but takes gaming VERY seriously.
Welcome to the all new SBBFC website! Whether you are
researching an essay or looking for information on the classification
of your favourite cult movie, you will find all you need on our site.