Public Information Films (PIFS)

[moonvisage]

Re: Public Information Films.

Wonderful selction of adverts.Here's a few more:

The advert below,Joe and Petunia - call the coastguard,is still being shown on tv at night in our area.

[HG]

Re: Public Information Films.

Class moonvisage

I remember most of them, the cartoon ones are really good.

[Krazy]

Public Information Films.

Public information films. Who remembers some of these great classics.
Charley Says an animated series of PIFs with a ginger cat called Charley (whose warning growls were voiced by Kenny Everett) who advised children against stranger danger Green Cross Code 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. Apaches a public information film shown in primary schools about the dangers of playing on farms. This PIF is notorious for being extremely graphic. Robbie a film based around a child losing his legs after being struck by a train. A modern equivalent, Killing Time was shown in secondary schools during the 1990s but was later replaced for, apparently, being too graphic. Robbie replaced the notorious and extremely graphic The Finishing Line. However, Robbie and The Finishing Line are arguably not strictly PIFs, being produced by British Transport Films. 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. Lonely Water a 1973 film warning children of the dangers of foolhardy behaviour around lakes and ponds. The film was shot in horror movie style with a menacing black-robed figure, featured a memorably chilling voiceover from Donald Pleasence ("I'll be back-back-back...!) and allegedly frightened and traumatised a generation of children. Front Seat Child a chilling film from 1977 warning you not to let a small child ride in the front of your car (from the days when it wasn't illegal not to wear a seatbelt). We see a guy turn up at a park and learn throughout the course of the film that he took his daughter there in the car one day, she was in the front seat without a seatbelt and she was fatally injured on the way. We hear voiceovers describing how he has identified the body of his daughter and how the car was in good condition but a van pulled out in front of them causing the crash. It even mentions the fatal injuries his daughter suffered as a result. To make it even more chilling we see a young girl on a swing, the result of the guy remembering bringing his daughter to the park before the accident. 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. Drinking And Driving Wrecks Lives a series of 1980s - 1990s PIFs targeting drink-driving offenders. An equally well-known and successful road safety campaign was Clunk Click Every Trip, fronted initially by Shaw Taylor and later by Jimmy Savile. Amber Gambler about the dangers of racing through amber lights before they turn to red. 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. Clunk Click Every Trip a series of films about the importance of seatbelts, similar to crash test dummies psas. Julie about the importance of rear seat belts, which ran for 5 years between 1998 and 2003 with a return in 2007, and was so successful it was repeated in France. It was updated with the Think! logo in 2001.

[vanhelsing]

Re: Public Information Films (PIFS)

I'm suprised the healthy eating nazis haven't demanded PIFs be made about going to a takeaway and the anti-smoking fascists haven't DEMANDED PIFs be made about smoking. One of the best recent ones was the one about the guy who thought he was some kind of superhero but falls off some scaffolding and there's a good one on You you about posting stuff online involving a young bloke who ends up being led away by a couple of coppers.

[vanhelsing]

Re: Public Information Films (PIFS)

Fifi62, I agree with you about kids running around but what people forget is that supermakret shopfloos can also be dangerous with people walking round with trolleys, trolleys and forks being pulled around, kids climbing on the shelves where there's all the glass and thats before they treat supermarket shop floors like running tracks or playgrounds and decide to have games of tag or impromtu running races. Somebody should make one warning parents of the dangers of kids running around shopfloors...

[Austin Maxi]

Re: Public Information Films (PIFS)

Think bike - did the guy hit a watermelon with a baseball bat?

Earlier on this year I bought the 'Charley Says' DVD (combining the original 'Charley Says' and 'Charley Live' videos) for a bargain £1 from a charity shop.

The two 'Think Bike' ads I watched feature Jimmy Hill talking about looking out for bikes while the VT shows a Mk3 Cortina pulling out of a junction and a motorbike slamming into it, and Edward Judd doing exactly the same sort of explanation, with the Cortina being replaced by a Morris Marina.

[Trickyvee]

Re: Public Information Films (PIFS)

Anyone remember when Crimestoppers used to put on one minute mini episodes of crimewatch for your local area..." if you think you can help ring this number and you could win a community action trust cash reward" I spent ages wanting to witness a crime so I'd have a chance of getting my hands on the dosh!

[Fifi62]

Re: Another question about public information films....

Does anybody remember a p.i.f. about the dangers of letting children sit in the front seat of a car? There's a very sad-looking man walking slowly towards a swingpark. The voiceover alternates between a coroner's report being read out, and an excited child's voice saying things like 'Can I sit in the front where Mummy sits?' The man has obviously just lost his daughter in an accident. When he reaches the park, he sits on a swing and a solitary tear runs down his face before falling to the ground.

It broke my little teenage heart, but no-one remembers it. Can anyone help?

Found it!!!!! (and it still brings a lump to my throat)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-szOc6aNRI

[stuart]

Re: Public Information Films (PIFS)

Hi,

Hoping someone can help me name a PIF / COI drink driving advert from the mid/late 1970s?. I remember seeing it in the cinema at the time, although I was only young.

It used a Rita Coolidge song 'We're all alone' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGC29fn8JFU as the 'soundtrack' & involved a man & woman being out for the night, having an accident under the influence & ended with the man going to prison or something?

Sorry to be vague, but any help appreciated.

Thanks

[wispa lover]

Re: Public Information Films (PIFS)

Stuart, do you mean this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMvCT74hpdw
It's a different song though.

[stuart]

Re: Public Information Films (PIFS)

Yeah!, that's the one. The song does sound kind of similar doesn't it? Must have got it mixed up seeing as it was about 30 years ago.

Thanks for answering such a vague question! Cheers

[Falco]

Re: Public Information Films (PIFS)

Obviously, remember the fisbee-Jimmy Wires one, but there's another that no-one else seems to remember, but which gave me nightmares for YEARS. Young pale girl with a woolly hat on, in the street, with mum. Meets one of Mum's friends. Kid won't smile. Mum relates the tale...Bonfire night - cut to scenes of firework jollification, pale girl now laughing, smiling, waving sparklers. They go out. Mum in voice-over. Girl reaches out to pick up 'dead' sparklers - gives the most heart-rending scream of my childhood...cut back to pale girl in woolly hat, not smiling, holds up bandaged fingers. Public information being don't touch dead sparklers, they're still damn hot.

ANYONE remember this one, or have I just nightmared the whole damn thing up in to a storyboard?

[Heather74]

Re: Public Information Films (PIFS)

this one?

[Falco]

Re: Public Information Films (PIFS)

Aaaargh....yeah, that's probably it - though I could have sworn by the whole 'Mum' side of things....bllllleuuurgh.....but yeah - the raised hand at the end is the clincher, this was definitely it. lol dunno whether to thank you for that or not. (shudders)....s'gonna haunt me all day now.

Just realised something - might have conflated two ads - this one about the sparkler nightmare and one...possibly about being a foster carer, for the whole "Mum" background...

Ohhhh...can't watch that again. Kid-reveal freaks me OUT. And I never realised it was over-voiced by Ray Brooks. May never be able to watch Mr Benn again now ;oD

[Richard1978]

Re: Public Information Films (PIFS)

I remember the fireworks on, & the one with boy trying to get his frisby back is on the Charlie compilations.