Public safety/information films - Page 4

Splatterdragon73 · #31 27th October 2011, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Make Them Die Slowly

The one I remember has a boy playing on a building site only to fall down a trench and take his scalp off on a sheet of metal.

I recall witnessing this grisly moment during a school lesson viewing and most unpleasant it was too.

I've got both volumes of Charley Says as well as the ltd. ed. double-bill set and i'm up for catching a few more vintage PIF when the chance arises.

VicDakin · #32 27th October 2011, 03:37 PM

Apaches.
Apaches is the title of a Public Information Film (PIF) made in the UK in 1977. Produced by the Central Office Of Information (COI) for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), it was shown extensively in the Southern, Anglia and Westward areas, before being shown either on film or videocassette in primary schools. The 26 minute-long film deals with the subject of the dangers to children on farms, and has been seen in schools all over Britain, as well as Canada, Australia and the United States. The timeframe of the film is somewhat confusing, giving a surreal feeling to the events portrayed. Written by Neville Smith and directed by John Mackenzie (the children are not credited and remain unidentified to this day), Apaches is now one of the most notorious public information films of all time.
The film, which dovetails the narrative conventions of the western with PIFs, follows the misadventures of a group of six young children (Kim, Sharon, Michael, Danny, Robert and Tom) in a rural British village, who enjoy playing on a nearby farm. Throughout the film the children play at being "Apache warriors", hence the film title. All but one die in various shocking accidents, largely due to the children's carelessness, suggesting that the children would still be alive if they had known what dangers lay ahead. Other commentators have suggested however that the adults were also responsible, as they appear several times and don't attempt to stop the children.

Make Them Die Slowly · #33 27th October 2011, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VicDakin

Apaches.
Apaches is the title of a Public Information Film (PIF) made in the UK in 1977. Produced by the Central Office Of Information (COI) for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), it was shown extensively in the Southern, Anglia and Westward areas, before being shown either on film or videocassette in primary schools. The 26 minute-long film deals with the subject of the dangers to children on farms, and has been seen in schools all over Britain, as well as Canada, Australia and the United States. The timeframe of the film is somewhat confusing, giving a surreal feeling to the events portrayed. Written by Neville Smith and directed by John Mackenzie (the children are not credited and remain unidentified to this day), Apaches is now one of the most notorious public information films of all time.
The film, which dovetails the narrative conventions of the western with PIFs, follows the misadventures of a group of six young children (Kim, Sharon, Michael, Danny, Robert and Tom) in a rural British village, who enjoy playing on a nearby farm. Throughout the film the children play at being "Apache warriors", hence the film title. All but one die in various shocking accidents, largely due to the children's carelessness, suggesting that the children would still be alive if they had known what dangers lay ahead. Other commentators have suggested however that the adults were also responsible, as they appear several times and don't attempt to stop the children.

I have vivid memories of being shown this at school.

VicDakin · #34 28th October 2011, 04:53 PM

Building Sites Bites.
The film focuses on Ronald, a young boy who wants to become a builder or surveyor when he grows up. He voices this ambition to his older and more cautious cousins Paul and Jane, who tell him he knows nothing about the hazards of building sites. The cousins then stage a series of elaborate fantasies which are presented as though real: they are in charge of a Star Trek-style teleporter which they use to send Ronald into various building sites and other dangerous areas to look for his lost dog (a Yorkshire Terrier). In each location he is killed by his inability to recognise danger, the dog whining as it sniffs his lifeless hand and the watching cousins shaking their heads over his mistakes. Each time he is restored to life by the teleporter, as cocky as before and ready for another "challenge", except the last time when the cousins have joined him in the danger area and are thus unable to "rescue" him.
Some of the footage of Ronald's deaths is very graphic, showing the boy being buried alive in a trench collapse, electrocuted in a half-demolished house, run over by an Earthmoving Vehicle, breaking his skull after falling off a pipe against a concrete wall, crushed beneath a falling pile of bricks, and ultimately drowning in a disused quarry; each time he is about to die, the sound of a heartbeat is played on the soundtrack to warn viewers and give them a chance to shut their eyes. At the end of the film, and back in the real world, Ronald announces that he has abandoned the idea of working on a building site, and the children go outside to play; over the closing shot of the film, one of the child actors reads out real-life stories of children killed in dangerous areas such as those the viewer has witnessed.

Make Them Die Slowly · #35 28th October 2011, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VicDakin

Building Sites Bites.
The film focuses on Ronald, a young boy who wants to become a builder or surveyor when he grows up. He voices this ambition to his older and more cautious cousins Paul and Jane, who tell him he knows nothing about the hazards of building sites. The cousins then stage a series of elaborate fantasies which are presented as though real: they are in charge of a Star Trek-style teleporter which they use to send Ronald into various building sites and other dangerous areas to look for his lost dog (a Yorkshire Terrier). In each location he is killed by his inability to recognise danger, the dog whining as it sniffs his lifeless hand and the watching cousins shaking their heads over his mistakes. Each time he is restored to life by the teleporter, as cocky as before and ready for another "challenge", except the last time when the cousins have joined him in the danger area and are thus unable to "rescue" him.
Some of the footage of Ronald's deaths is very graphic, showing the boy being buried alive in a trench collapse, electrocuted in a half-demolished house, run over by an Earthmoving Vehicle, breaking his skull after falling off a pipe against a concrete wall, crushed beneath a falling pile of bricks, and ultimately drowning in a disused quarry; each time he is about to die, the sound of a heartbeat is played on the soundtrack to warn viewers and give them a chance to shut their eyes. At the end of the film, and back in the real world, Ronald announces that he has abandoned the idea of working on a building site, and the children go outside to play; over the closing shot of the film, one of the child actors reads out real-life stories of children killed in dangerous areas such as those the viewer has witnessed.

Another film I saw at school, best days of your life or so they say!

VicDakin · #36 29th October 2011, 10:13 PM

Look At Life - Swinging London.
If like me you hate the modern coffee chains like Starbucks and prefer the good old cafes,then this trip into 60s london cafe culture is a treat,looking good in its technicolor glory.More travelogue than PIF its a joy.
Coffee Bars
Sixteen films from the colourful LOOK AT LIFE series, produced by the Rank Organisation every week for screening in Odeon cinemas between 1960 and 1969. Stories covered include the boutiques of Carnaby Street, the Post Office Tower restaurant, Sid James exploring London’s street markets, frothy coffee bars, high rise living, ‘it’ girls, scooter boys, Soho jazz clubs, a journey down the Thames, inside the Shell Centre, old Piccadilly Circus before it was redeveloped, the local fire brigade, traffic wardens, and the Tower of London. The actual film titles are: Report On A River (No 249,1964); Shopping By The Ton (No. 75, 1960); Rising To High Office ((No. 219, 1963); Coffee Bars (No 17, 1959); In Gear (No. 418, 1967); Change At The Tower (No. 443, 1967); Fire Over London (No. 366, 1966); Goodbye, Piccadilly (No. 440, 1967); Market Place ((No. 9, 1959); Members Only (No. 323, 1965) ;Top People (No. 64, 1960); On The Meter (No. 477, 1968); Eating High (No. 399, 1966); Down London River (No. 16, 1959)

VicDakin · #37 30th October 2011, 06:52 PM

A classic PIF if ever there was one,from its drab like 70s Kes film quality,to the almost industrial like music,and not forgetting the immortal line-
"JIMMMYYY"

Part of the ‘Play Safe’ campaign, ‘Frisbee’ was one of a number of films that used chilling electronic music and frightening sound effects to highlight the potentially fatal combinations of electricity pylons and kites, fishing rods and radio-controlled planes.