Teen film buffs spend a day in censor's chair

Alison King | 23rd September 2008

Students swapped their classrooms for the cinema as they learned the ropes of film classification.

Around 80 year 13 students, from four Bay schools, took part in the Office of Film and Literature Classification's (OFLC) Censor For A Day session at Bay City Cinemas, Tauranga, yesterday.

The teens were given the task of watching a yet to be released movie and then working through the classification criteria to give it a rating.

The office's Information Unit adviser Michelle Baker said it was an opportunity for students to learn how censorship really worked and to apply it to future films.

The students were either studying media studies or English, and censorship was included in their syllabus.

"It's a chance for them to get first-hand experience and it helps us understand what youth think about issues," Ms Baker said.

"Sometimes we find they're more strict because they think they've go to be harsh but as the discussion takes place they apply the law really well."

The students watched M-rated filmAmerican Teen, and then discussed the issues with chief censor Bill Hastings.

"It's been really informative," said Mount Maunganui College year 13 student Amanda Willis.

"I didn't realise there were so many processes to think about while censoring.

"I came up with the M rating _ it wasn't really hard but it made you think about a lot of things. I think it will change how I watch a film in the future."

Censor For A Day travels the country for two terms. Ms Baker said staff from the censors' office were available all year round for school visits.