Public information film

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Public Information Films (known as PIFs) are a series of government commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the UK. The US equivalent is the Public Service Announcement (PSAs).

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[edit] Subjects

The films advised the public on what to do in a multitude of situations ranging from crossing the road to surviving a nuclear attack. They are sometimes thought to concern only topics related to safety, but there are PIFs on many other subjects, including animal cruelty, protecting the environment, crime prevention and how to vote in an election or fill in a census form.

Many of these films were aimed at children and were shown during breaks in children's programs during holidays and at weekends. The general low-budget quality and the infamous static "crackle" before them gave them a Hammer Horror style aura. Some of them were quite terrifying and remained ingrained in the child's psyche well into adulthood. Many of them involved or were narrated by celebrities of the day.

[edit] History

The earliest PIFs were made during the Second World War years and shown in cinemas; many were made by and starred Richard Massingham, an amateur actor who set up Public Relationship Films Ltd when he discovered there was no specialist film company in the area. They were commissioned by the Ministry of Information. After the war PIFs were produced for the Central Office of Information, and again by private contractors which were usually small film companies, such as Richard Taylor Cartoons.

They are still being produced although they are rarely shown in the same frequency as their peak in the 1970s. Some believe modern PIFs are not as hard-hitting as they should be and have suffered due to political correctness. If the messages are not hard-hitting enough then the message can be lost considering older PIFs aimed at children (and adults) relied quite strongly on "scaring them straight" and the message remained with a child right through into adulthood, although recent drink-driving and anti -smoking PIFs have bucked this trend.

Some advertisements and charity appeals have gained the status of honorary PIF among fans, including Cartoon Boy, a 2002 campaign about child abuse produced by the NSPCC, and a 1980s British Gas advertisement about what to do in the event of a gas leak.

PIF's have a nostalgic cult following and a DVD was released in 2001 called Charley Says: The Greatest Public Information Films in the World, comprising the contents of two earlier VHS releases. A sequel was released in 2005.

[edit] Famous public information films

Some famous classic PIFs include:

  • The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water, a terrifying PIF, where the Grim Reaper, (voiced by Donald Pleasence) warns children against the dangers of playing in and around water. At the end, the figure of death says, "I'll be back... ack... ack... ack..." (which some people jokily say Arnold Schwarzenegger stole for The Terminator).
  • The Green Cross Code Man, played by David Prowse who advised children about crossing the road safely. An earlier road safety campaign targeted at children featured the animated squirrel "Tufty", and a Tufty Club for young children was later founded.
  • Splink, a road safety commercial from 1976 starring Jon Pertwee about safety when crossing the road.
  • Think Bike!, Edward Judd explaining to look carefully for motorcyclists when turning at junctions. (The recent Think! advert How Close? is quite similar to this.)
  • Protect and Survive, a series of films (never shown) advising the British public on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. They would have been shown constantly on all television channels in the build up to a war. Voiced by Patrick Allen.
  • Joe and Petunia, a series of animated PIFs about a couple whose amazing stupidity caused dangerous problems for everyone around them. They appeared in only four PIFs ("Coastguard", "Water Safety - Flags", "Country Code" and "Worn Tyres"), but their popularity grew so quickly that it was decided to kill them off in the last one. However, they were "resurrected" when "Coastguard" was remade in 2007 with updated references: Petunia is reading Hello and listening to an iPod; Joe wears a Burberry cap and phones the desktop PC-using coastguard on his mobile phone.
  • Play Safe, a 10-minute-long film made in the 1970s warning children about the dangers from pylons, electric substations, overhead power lines and other sources of electricity when playing outdoors, which was divided into short films for placement within commercial breaks.
  • A PIF about fire doors featuring the late Patsy Rowlands as a tea lady in an office building, who wedges open a fire door for her own convenience. A fire starts and spreads rapidly because of the open door, and we see employees escaping from the building, with a soot - blackened Rowlands being offered a cup of tea by a firefighter.
  • Amber Gambler, about the dangers of racing through amber lights before they turn to red.
  • One Minute, with a timer appearing at the bottom of the screen to "count down" the last minute of a little girl's life as she runs out into the road and is hit by a car, because her mother, who calls "I'll be with you in a minute..." was not watching the child properly and didn't see her go outside.
  • Fireworks Safety - Parents, a PIF which pointed out how easy it is for children and teenagers to get hold of dangerous fireworks in the run up to Guy Fawkes Night, asking "Parents - where's your child tonight?" Because of its close up scenes of a child who has been severely injured by fireworks, it was judged to be so graphic that the full length film had a very limited showing and was quickly replaced by a shorter version with no accident scene.
  • Reginald Molehusband, a man who demonstrated the correct way to park safely. His reverse parking was "a public danger", bets were laid on his performance and people came from all round to watch, until the day he got it right - "Well done! Reginald Molehusband, the safest parker in town." This film is now classified as missing and is not in the archives of either the COI or the private company which now owns most of its archive footage, although an audio recording still exists.
  • The Artful Dodger, showing Fagin and the Dodger from Oliver Twist materializing on a modern street and stealing a car.
  • Children Watch Us Cross, telling parents to set a good example to children with regard to behaviour on the roads. It features a little boy talking about his family and criticising his parents' road sense, including an incident where his father was nearly run over after deciding to run across a busy main road rather than take the pedestrian subway.
  • Smoker Of The Future, in which an eerie futuristic world is presented along with the first "Natural Born Smoker". He has a large nose "to filter out impurities", extra eyelids to protect his eyes from harmful smoke, small ears (because he doesn't listen), highly evolved index and middle fingers, self-cleaning lungs and is immune to Heart Disease and Thrombosis. A follow up showed what can happen to babies whose mothers smoke during pregnancy.
  • Prams And Pushchairs, an animated PIF showing the dangers of loading shopping onto the handles of a pram or pushchair, leading to the baby in the pram overbalancing and being thrown onto the pavement. This PIF is particularly memorable for its sketchy, Edvard Munch-style graphics, and a truly terrifying opening and closing echoed scream.

Well known animated characters in PIFs have included Augustus Windsock, "the oldest living cyclist in the world", who appeared in two PIFs teaching children about safe cycling; Fanta the elephant, who appeared in a 1960s road safety campaign; and Dusty Kangaroo, a mascot of the Keep Britain Tidy campaign.

[edit] Cultural references

A number of musical artists have been heavily influenced by the analogue, overdriven sound of British PIFs, including Boards of Canada and most artists on the Ghost Box Records label, especially The Advisory Circle, whose most recent album, Other Channels directly references or samples many PIFs, including Keep Warm, Keep Well. Additionally, their debut album features a few reprises with the suffix "PIF".

[edit] Quotes

  • "Hey! You two must be out of your tiny minds!" -- Alvin Stardust in a well known PIF about child road safety, as he rescues some young children from rushing out in front of speeding traffic
  • "Remember, there's no cure for hearing damaged by industrial noise - and no sympathy either." -- From a Public Information Film about wearing ear protection at work
  • "I won't be there when you cross the road, so always use the Green Cross Code." -- The catchphrase of the Green Cross Code Man. The "I won't be there when you cross the road" was added when, after the campaign was first run, it emerged that some children literally thought the Green Cross Code Man would come to help them if they were in danger on the road.
  • "Polish a floor, put a rug on it, and you might as well set a man trap" -- From "The Fatal Floor", a film showing a man being injured from slipping on a carpet that has been placed on a polished floor
  • "Get a routine, show your intention, fire prevention, fire prevention. Check and make sure you close every door, we mean your life could depend on your bedtime routine!" -- The chorus to the song in the Bedtime Routine film, in which a couple sing about taking fire precautions last thing at night.
  • "He may as well have come in his underpants!" -- from a 1970s film about wearing the correct protective equipment in an industrial environment. Delivered in a deadly serious manner by the narrator, without the slightest hint of irony or humour.

[edit] External links