LONDON — Remember Charlie Lyne, the British filmmaker who created that Kickstarter last year with the goal of forcing the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to watch a lengthy film about paint drying? 
 
 See also: 7 oddly specific things banned from movies around the world 
 
 Well, he succeeded. A total of 686 people helped Lyne raise an impressive £5,963 ($8,486) in the end, which meant he had enough money to send film censors 10 hours and seven minutes of glorious paint drying footage (the BBFC charge per minute, which meant that each £8.51 Lyne received tacked another minute on to the films run-time). 
 
 "I was amazed, not just by the amount raised but by the sheer number of people who got involved from all around the world," Lyne told Mashable. 
 
 "I wasn't sure whether the project would mean much to people outside of the British film industry, let alone outside of the UK, but censorship seems to be a fairly universal concept, sadly." 
 
 The BBFC received the footage and dutifully planned for two examiners to watch the film in its entirety on Jan. 25 and 26 (they're only allowed to do nine hours per day, meaning they were required to spread it over two days). By the time you read this, two no-doubt sleepy BBFC employees will be starting the process of taking notes and coming up with a certificate for Lyne's film. 
 
 Today's the day: two BBFC examiners are currently watching 'Paint Drying'. AMA: https://t.co/weVqKBnZzf pic.twitter.com/tTsS15176P — Charlie Lyne (@charlielyne) January 25, 2016 
 
 Lyne started the project to protest film censorship and the BBFC's role in deciding what the public can and can't view. When asked about the BBFC's reaction, he said that the process of submitting the film was all very smooth and polite. 
 
 "I've heard a few rumblings of internal discussions through friends of friends but I think they've decided it's best if they don't directly comment on it, which is fair enough," he said. 
 
 Lyne started a Reddit AMA on Monday to discuss his protest. His thread quickly drummed up hundreds of comments and shot to the top of the /r/IAMA subreddit. 
 
 Wow, top of /r/IAMA! Take that 'Astronaut Scott Kelly, currently spending a year in space'. pic.twitter.com/EYGP9CKsyb — Charlie Lyne (@charlielyne) January 25, 2016 
 
 "It's strange," Lyne continued. "I've had a lot of responses along the lines of, 'I hope you're happy knowing those poor souls will to have to endure such misery,' but also, 'ha, joke's on you, you've given them the day off.' It's one way or the other, surely? 
 
 "In truth, those 10 hours are really just the catalyst for everything else: people reading about and joining the protest; people questioning (or defending) the role of the BBFC; this conversation we're having right now." 
 
 So after the censors are done with it, what's next for Paint Drying? 
 
 "I've been talking to a cinema in London about showing the film, but as somebody pointed out on Reddit yesterday, I shouldn't even be thinking about screening it until I have the approval of the BBFC," Lyne said. 
 
 "Like all British filmmakers, I'm at their mercy." 
 
 Mashable has reached out to the BBFC for comment and we will update this article when we receive a response. 
 
 UPDATED 12:35 26 JANUARY: The BBFC has responded to Mashable and sent the following statement: 
 
 "The BBFC will classify the film as it would any other submission. With regards to the motives behind making the film (as a protest against censorship and fees for classification), the BBFC was set up in 1912 by the film industry itself, as an independent body to bring a degree of uniformity to the classification of film nationally. The BBFC is a non-profit organisation that works to protect children, from content which might raise harm risks and to empower the public, especially parents, to make informed viewing choices. It implements Classification Guidelines that reflect changing social attitudes towards media content through proactive public consultation and research. The BBFC respects the principle of adult free choice, but will still intervene where required by the law or where in our view there is a credible harm risk. Both the free choice principle and these limited exceptions are supported by the public, and also reflect our statutory duties. The BBFC's income is derived solely from the fees it charges for its services, calculated by measuring the running time of films, DVDs/videos and other works submitted for classification. Film makers wishing to show their films at cinemas in the UK without a BBFC certificate may do so with permission from the local authority for the area in which the cinema is located." 
 
 When asked about their reaction to receiving Paint Drying, a BBFC spokesperson said that the submission was received and scheduled just like any other submission. 
 
 "Examiners are required to watch a very wide variety of content every day, so this didn't phase them," they said. 
 
 UPDATED 12:50 26 JANUARY: The BBFC has released the official classification for Paint Drying. 
 
 PAINT DRYING (U) no material likely to offend or harm https://t.co/pBgqyxy8c4 — BBFC (@BBFC) January 26, 2016 ||||| A still from the movie. Spoiler alert: It doesn't get any more exciting 
 
 A video showing 607 minutes of paint drying has been awarded a 'U' rating by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). 
 
 Filmmaker Charlie Lyne made the film as a protest against the fees the censorship board charges to classify movies, a process which is mandatory for a UK release. 
 
 A certificate for an average length film costs around £1,000, something that Mr Lyne said can put off some young filmmakers. 
 
 After raising nearly £6,000 using a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, he filmed a 10-hour-long movie showing one of the most boring things imaginable: paint drying. 
 
 That meant that two BBFC examiners had to watch it over a period of two days - because they are not allowed to view more than nine hours of a movie each day. 
 
 In a question-and-answer session on Reddit, he said: "About a year ago, I went to a filmmaker open day held by the BBFC at their offices in Soho. 
 
 "I'd expected to see quite a lot of conflict between the BBFC examiners and the visiting filmmakers whose work was at the mercy of the board, but there was nothing like that. 
 
 "Most of the filmmakers - even those who'd had trouble with the BBFC in the past - seemed totally resigned to the censorship imposed by the board, even supportive of it. 
 
 "I think that shocked me into action." 
 
 The BBFC has now given it a 'U' rating, meaning it "should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over". 
 
 It said: "Paint Drying is a film showing paint drying on a wall. It contains no material likely to offend or harm." ||||| A British filmmaker has been successful in forcing the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to watch a 10-hour film of paint drying and award it a certificate in protest over censorship. In November last year, Charlie Lyne launched a Kickstarter to help raise the money needed to send his 'documentary' of a single shot of paint drying on a wall for consideration for the BBFC. 
 
 Lyne was hoping to send the video as a protest against the "stronghold" the organisation has on the British film industry, as all films must carry a BBFC certificate in order to be released in cinemas unless they have permission from a local authority. The BBFC also has the power to censor or ban films entirely. The BBFC charge an initial fee of £101.50 ($144.88) to view a film and then and additional £7.09 for each minute that the film lasts. The idea was the more money Lyne could raise via his fundraiser, the longer his paint-drying film could last. 
 
 In the end, the campaign raised £5,936, meaning that Lyne was able to send a film of paint drying lasting 607 minutes to the BBFC, which examiners were required to sit and watch in its entirety in order to award it a certificate. 
 
 The BBFC confirmed it had awarded the movie a U certificate along with a note warning that the description of the film "may contain spoilers". It also read: "Paint Drying is a film showing paint drying on a wall. It contains no material likely to offend or harm." 
 
 Explaining his protest, Lyne told Mashable: "I was at an open day that the BBFC hold each year for filmmakers, where they discuss the work [that] the board does, and I was amazed by how unfazed everyone — examiners and filmmakers alike — seemed by the censorship that was going on there. I dreamed up 'Paint Drying' that afternoon as a way to encourage debate on the subject." 
 
 He added: "Hopefully it will also get people thinking about the board and its role within the British film industry. The BBFC was established more than a century ago, so it's easy to just see it as part of the landscape and not question whether we actually want it and need it." 
 
 The BBFC confirmed to the IBTimes UK that it had viewed the film "as it would any other submission". 
 
 A spokesperson added in a statement: "With regards to the motives behind making the film (as a protest against censorship and fees for classification), the BBFC was set up in 1912 by the film industry itself, as an independent body to bring a degree of uniformity to the classification of film nationally. 
 
 "The BBFC is a non-profit organisation that works to protect children, from content that might raise harm risks and to empower the public, especially parents, to make informed viewing choices. It implements Classification Guidelines that reflect changing social attitudes towards media content through proactive public consultation and research. 
 
 "The BBFC respects the principle of adult free choice, but will still intervene where required by the law or where in our view there is a credible harm risk. Both the free choice principle and these limited exceptions are supported by the public, and also reflect our statutory duties."
– The British Board of Film Classification describes Charlie Lyne's Paint Drying as "a film showing paint drying on a wall. It contains no material likely to offend or harm" and "should be suitable for audiences aged 4 years and over." The cost of that classification: more than $6,000. But hey, it was money "well spent," says Lyne, who created the 10-hour movie—which indeed shows nothing but paint drying on a brick wall—with the sole intention of sticking it to the man, per Sky News. Basically any film aiming for a UK release has to be reviewed by the BBFC, which charges $145 per review, plus an additional $10 and change for each minute the film runs, per the International Business Times. Because Lyne knew examiners would have to watch an entire flick to review it, he started a Kickstarter campaign with the goal of creating the longest and most boring movie possible. "About a year ago, I went to a filmmaker open day held by the BBFC," Lyne writes in a Reddit AMA. "I'd expected to see quite a lot of conflict between the BBFC examiners and the visiting filmmakers whose work was at the mercy of the board, but … most of the filmmakers—even those who'd had trouble with the BBFC in the past—seemed totally resigned to the censorship imposed by the board, even supportive of it," he says. "I think that shocked me into action." In the end, Lyne raised about $8,500 and submitted a 607-minute film for review. Two examiners had to watch the film over two days. But "examiners are required to watch a very wide variety of content every day, so this didn't phase them," a BBFC rep tells Mashable. (Boring, sure, but is it better than Fifty Shades?)