[LINK] Re: [2600-AU] "Restricting DVDs "illegal": ACCC"

[Andrew Garden]

Perhaps I should have made my response more clear, as the question re media
was between DVD, video etc.  With film classification, it doesn't matter
whether the 'media' is DVD, cinema film, video, CD-Rom etc, the content is
treated the same.  Publications are classified under the publications
guidelines.  The guidelines are different between film and publications,
essentially on the premise that images on film has a higher impact on a
viewer than in a publication.

Text on a web page is classified as a film because the definition of a film
is (paraphrasing) material from which a visual image can be projected,
including a computer generated image.  What you see on the screen is an
image 'projected' form a film, in that case a hard drive.

Under s22 of the Comm. Act, the Board cannot classify a film if it contains
an advertisement for a film that cannot be classified.  Usually,
distributors have edited these ads off videos etc pre-release, but that
cannot be done with a DVD.

Andrew


----- Original Message -----
From: "Irene Graham" <rene@libertus.net>
To: <link@www.anu.edu.au>
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 6:31 PM,
Subject: Re: [LINK] Re: [2600-AU] "Restricting DVDs "illegal": ACCC"


> On Wed, 28 Mar 2001 14:20:05 +1000 "Andrew Garden" <clo@bigpond.com>
wrote:
>
> >OFLC classifies for content, media is irrelevant for classification
purposes.
>
> Is it? Why then is text printed on a piece of paper classified as a
> publication using guidelines for publications, while the same text on a
web
> page is classified as a film using guidelines for films and videos?
>
> >With DVD's, additional material is usually added, compared to say the VHS
version
> >which has been classified already.  This makes the DVD an unclassified
film.
> > When the R4 DVD is released in Australia, it is usually custom designed
> >for Australia, although the feature film on the DVD may be the same as
> >the R1 DVD, so the R1 DVD remains unclassified. The US rating is
basically
> >irrelevant, as each film is assessed against the Australian film
> >classification guidelines in reaching a classification decision.
>
> Given the recently approved changes to the Comm. Classification Act, I
> gather some DVDs containing films weren't/aren't custom designed for
> Australia and so were being refused classification if they contained an
> advertisement for another film which hadn't been released in Australia?
>
> Irene
>