BBFC
Helping the UK view what’s right for them
Proof of Concept · User Experience Design · User Research · Visual Design · Front end development
The way we watch has changed forever Viewing habits have shifted towards downloading and streaming. For many, this has made it challenging to identify whether content is age-appropriate.
According to nationwide BBFC research, 91% of people say it’s important to have the same kind of age rating online that they’d expect to see at the cinema.
More content and choice means more consumer confusion. A lack of consistency in the way age ratings are used on digital platforms has lead to concern over what viewers, in particular children, may encounter when watching online content.
Project goals
The goal of this major transformation was to extend the BBFC’s coverage of ratings information so that more content providers, be they in cinema, on DVD or online distribution can give the public trusted age ratings and content advice. Our high-level goals were to:
Make it fast and easy to deliver recommended classifications
Create a consistent, scalable classification process
“The greatest single transformation of the BBFC’s systems in our history”
David Austin – Chief Executive, BBFC
The world of the compliance officer
Classification recommendations are made by compliance officers, who will watch the content and recommend ratings information based on their extensive guidelines.
Despite their complex tooling and unpredictable schedules, compliance officers deliver age-ratings quickly and to a high standard. But as the industry changes, they need to adapt.Growing demand for their services, a steep learning curve for new employees and new platforms to support.
“We need to help compliance officers deliver consistently accurate classifications to a growing customer-base.”
Capture frame-accurate data on issues that affect the classification
Disturbing images can flash by in the blink of an eye. A powerful tagging engine allows compliance officers to highlight issues in a single tap, with frame by frame accuracy.
Scenes to cut
When a scene is potentially harmful to the intended audience, compliance officers highlight the specific moment to determine the age-rating.
Get around faster with shortcuts
The tagging engine allows compliance officers to use keyboard shortcuts to capture data in busy scenes, including select multiple tags in a second or assigning shortcuts for common uses tags. It enables the compliance officers to use touchscreen, keyboard, mouse to capture the notes, whichever they find efficient.
Easily communicate and collaborate with colleagues and clients
Classification is a group effort. No more painfully long email threads or copying and pasting of information. All important conversations and references live in one place. The messenger also helps Compliance Manager and Clients communicate film materials and content in a more secure, seamless and faster way.
Well-integrated data across the entire compliance platform
Take references from previous related works
All the previous complied data and reports since 1912 are stored and well documented in the archive. The related works will be suggested to the compliance officers before viewing. Two integrated systems help Compliance team to rate the films in a more efficient and accurate way.
Easily access to all evidences captured during viewing
All the tags added during viewing are valuable and essential for decision making. After the viewing, the compliance officers need to finish a report to recommend the classification. They used to craft the report from zero. On Horizon, the compliance officers can access to all the data they have captured during viewing to support their decision rationale. They just need to review it and send it out for approval.
Deliver a consistent, high-quality service to more customers
Wherever, whenever
Watching films is not a passive pasttime, compliance officers are on the move everyday from cinema to viewing room to back at their desk. They can switch between viewing modes seamlessly.
The Outcome
The compliance team are professional in rating, Horizon helps them to work in a more accurate and efficient way. Introduction of the tagging experience entirely changes the compliance officer’s note-taking process. It helps the team to capture correct information in time and analyses them effectively whilst writing the report. It successfully waves the efficiency and accuracy of automation and compliance team’s profession together in order to tackle any challenges in the future.