Green Rating Card

Whilst looking at different Trailers for our influences, we noticed that on most of the trailers there was a green screen telling us that the trailer was suitable for all audiences. We didn't really know much about the background of this and if there were other rating certificates that could come up so we have researched into it and this post is about what we found out from our research.

There are three colours you might see before most movie trailers, red, yellow, and green. The most commonly seen one is the green rating card. Before April of 2009, a green background meant that the preview was approved for all audiences.  Since April of 2009, the MPAA now states that the green card is for “appropriate audiences”. This means it is appropriate for all audiences to watch.

A yellow rating card indicates the preview is for age-appropriate Internet viewers.  This yellow rating card is only used on the Internet though, not in cinemas.

The red rating card indicates that content in the preview is only appropriate for certain audiences, such as older teenagers, 18+.  These previews can only be shown in the cinema if the whole audience is of the appropriate age.

We were not sure which rating card we were going to use. We were debating between either the green or red, as we felt that some aspects of our trailer would not be suitable for all audiences.  However, we have decided to use the green rating card as our target audience is males and females under 25. There is no gore, swearing or anything similar shown in our film, the only scary features will be the innuendos that something gory or bad has happened to leave the audience in suspense. The green card will be shown at the start of the trailer for approximately 4 seconds.