Themes of PIFs.
Some themes used for PIFs are:
-Road safety.
Green Cross Man (1975): Alvin Stardust, Kevin Keegan and even the third doctor were among the celebrities who taught us about the dangers of playing with the traffic in the 70s, but none are as fondly remembered as the super-cum-lollypop-lady Green Cross Man. His super computer would alert him to a child about to commit a lethal road crossing fault-pas so he would teleport in, often aided by his robot sidekick direct the child to safety and give them a good dressing down, while warning the viewer to "always use the green cross code, because I won't be there when you cross the road".
Research Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/public-information-films/26484/10-public-information-films-from-the-70s-and-80s.
-Survival.
Protect and Survive (1976)- Protect and survive was a public information series on civil defence produced by the British government during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was intended to inform British citizens on how to protect themselves during a nuclear attack, and considered of a mixture of pamphlets, radio, broadcasts and PIFs. The series had originally been intended for distribution only in the event of dire national emergency, but provoked such intense public interest that the pamphlets were authorised for general release. The films were never broadcast but did enter the public consciousness down to the fact that clips were always shown a Cold War documentary was broadcasted, or a nuclear holocaust drama like THREADS. As it stands Protect and Survive is a dubious and gloomy nostalgia trip for people who remember concepts like Cold War and Mutually Assured Destruction.
Research Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_and_Survive
-Animal cruelty.
RSPCA: How much is that doggy? (1987)- On a blue background, we see a dog, with a tune playing in the background. It keeps going with the camera zooming until a hand with a gun appears near the dog's face. The it fades to the RSPCA logo along with the address. The message from the narrator almost seems threatening, contrary to what RSPCA strives for, to prevent cruelty to animals. It is really scary and to someone it might be a nightmare to watch especially to animal lovers. The darkness, the music and the gun at the end can scare more then a few. If not, then this will make people feel sorry and sad since a lot of people like/love dogs. We hear a instrumental harmonica variant of "how much is that doggy in the window?" until the narrator says "please give us a pound, or we'll have to pull the trigger".
Research Source:http://pif.wikia.com/wiki/RSPCA
-Child Abuse.
NSPCC Cartoon (2003)- We see a living room with a man waling out of the entrance door. He sees a cartoon version of his son sitting on the couch with the television playing. He hits the cartoon boy on the head, who then feel dizzy for a few seconds before shaking and looking at his father. The father then points to the TV and angrily asks him who touched his videos, and the boy just sits there. The father in response picks up the boy, shakes him and throws him at the table and a lamp, which both tip over. The boy then turns his head upright. At the next scene, we see the father step on a toy in the kitchen, where the boy is playing with his toys all over the kitchen floor. The father throws his son at the door, where he leaves a crack on the door and the boy to slide down causing a bump on the top if his head. He pushes it back down. The next scene, we see the man sitting on the sofa with a coffee cup and cigarette. The boy runs and trips over the man's leg, and the man scolds the boy for running in the house then burns his head with his cigarette butt. The boy's head sets on fire and he runs around to the sink, where he puts out the fire but his head turns black and falls into crumbs. The father then looks for his son near his bedroom and finally catches him looking at the TV. The boy backs away and the father angrily shakes him, causing the boy to wet his pants. The father yells at the boy once more, and while the boys runs out of his room the father throws him down the stairs until he finally falls down from the bottom step. We pan around the living room to see the boy no longer carton-style lying on the floor with the text "Real Children don't bounce" and fades out to the NSPCC logo. The scare factor for this film is none to low because the canned laughter throughout the video could be a humorous effect to the PIF. But the cigarette butt burning the boy's head and the fact the man is abusing the boy could raise the scare factor a bit. When the boy falls and we see him lying on the floor in reality, the scare factor may raise due to the silence and remorse for the boy. In the first scene, after the father throws the boy at the table a cartoon thump and canned laughter is heard. Before the father throws him at the wall a canned laughter follows. When the father burns the boy's head we hear a cartoonish fire sound, and a falling sound when the boy's head falls into crumbs along with the canned laughter. A cartoonish sound is heard when the boy wets his pants. In the last scene when throwing the boy down the stairs he makes cartoonish thumps sounds and his panicking then when he falls down the last step a drum crash sound is heard. For the remainder of the PIF it's silence.
Research Source:http://pif.wikia.com/wiki/NSPCC_-_Cartoon
-Stanger danger.
Never go with strangers (1971)- This film was intended for children aged between 7 and 10. It's purpose was 'to warn them of the dangers of accepting lifts or presents from strangers.' From the opening animation sequences to the unsettling conclusion, the film draws upon the stories of classic children's fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretel, and the little red riding hood to impress upon young innocents that there are wicked people in the world like the witch, the wolf, and the bad uncle use trickery, lures and deception to catch and hurt you. With clever but simple techniques such as an off-screen commentator who talks directly to the characters, a looming shadow over a whimpering girl, a pulsating red screen which means danger, morphing of a playground loiterer's face into a police identikit face of evil. Film makers ensure young audience's rapt attention. This film inflicts a terror and an enduring effect like a few others. The music is unsettling, the animation is creepy and the shot where a brick is removed to reveal a man's face gave people nightmares for years afterwards.
-Fire safety.
Andy lights the fire (1980): A predominant theme in PIFs is the punishment of the morbidly stupid and unobservant. Each one addresses a clear and present danger, but I can't really imagine any real person reaching the same heights of idiocy as the hapless fool who inspired the creation of this one. Not only does Andy discard a still smouldering match with little regard for where it lands, but he keeps his beanos in the one place guaranteed to make seasoned comic collectors weep into their storage bags. Recklessness like Andy's always ends in tears and flames.
Research Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/public-information-films/26484/10-public-information-films-from-the-70s-and-80s.
- Internet safety.
COI- Think you know (2002): Starts off with a young boy's voice explaining his hobbies. As the camera pans down, we see the voice is coming from a grown man sitting next to a computer. It warns people to be careful as paedophiles use the internet too.
Research Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_information_film
-Smoking.
COI: Smoke kills (1970s)- A serious 1970s PIF about dangers of negligence of distinguishing a cigarette around upholstered furniture. We see a shot of smouldering cigarette leaning on a ash tray, we see another shot of a human hand extinguishing a cigarette rather badly, and we see another shot of a hand throwing a lit match on an plastic packet in the ash tray. we see the next shot of someone striking a match on the match bow side and the following shot focuses on the match placing it on the seat of the armchair. The expanded shot has the man leaving the match there as the timer on the bottom right corner appears at 00:00. after two seconds, the shot fades to 47 seconds later when the fire is spreading from the seat area as the man exits the fire test room and the camera zooms out to reveal the armchair. At 1:04, it fades to 55 seconds later where the fire has engulfed half of the armchair with smoke beginning to fill the room from the ceiling. After 5 seconds of 2:00. it fades to another shot 49 seconds later where the fire has engulfed most of the armchair with the smoke filling up half the room rapidly. The floor begins to smoulder and then catches fire, due to the increasing temperature of the fire. More flames spread on the floor as the smoke covers up the camera to black. The timer fades out and the white text "SMOKE KILLS" appears. Only silence with some SFX of small fires and burning, etc. A mean narrates "if you leave a cigarette or pipe burning while you're out of the room, or if you don't make sure that stubs and matches are properly put out. If they're near any upholstered furniture you could be turning your house into a death trap. "watch this test, and see just how fast fire in an upholstered armchair spreads." Only small SFX of the fire is heard. Later on, fire SFX increases during the time lapse shots. "After only 2 minutes deadly fumes and smoke begin to fill the room. less then 1 minute after that, if you were in the house you'd be affected by the smoke so fast, the chances are you'd never escape in time. So keep matches and lighted cigarettes away from upholstered furniture. Remember, smoke kills." The scare factor of this PIF is low to high due to the fire increasing on the armchair.
Research Source: http://pif.wikia.com/wiki/Smoke_Kills
- Bullying.
Tell someone (2003)- This film is dripping with paths, ghostly tragic soundtrack, lingering camera shots on sad children, parents looking worried. As each child is featured, they leave behind a message that they are being bullied, written in fridge magnets, or in their leftover pasta sauce, or scrawled on a crossword. Where earlier techniques might have been a trusted celebrity insisting that children tell someone if they are bullied, this film subtly conveys discreet but effective methods children could actually use to seek help.
Research Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4743380.stm
-Train tracks
See Track, Think Train (2012)- This advert is to raise awareness of safety at footpath level crossings and encourage people to 'see track, think train'. The powerful message will raise awareness and highlight that despite a quiet, rural setting, paying attention to the railway and warning signs can save your life. The advert, which has been developed by Network Rail, shows a family on a day out playing "I spy" as they cycle through the countryside. The game distracts them as the daughter tries to guess what the letter t stands for, she is suddenly standing on the track in the path of a train. The advert highlights that everyone should treat approaching rail footpath crossings the same as if they were approaching a busy road even in rural quiet areas. Mark Ruddy, Network Rail's route managing director for Sussex, said: " While fatalities at level crossings are at a low , it's important to continue to raise awareness to help keep safe when crossing the railway. We appreciate that it's easy to get distracted- particularly in quiet and rural surroundings and not realise the risk at a footpath level crossing but just as motorways cut through the countryside, so do railways and trains are often much quieter and faster then you would expect. we're doing all we can to make the railway safer by upgrading crossings or closing them is we can. We hope this advert will raise awareness that we all need to take care and look out for the warning signs ahead of every level crossing so can save your life." The level crossing campaign follows Network Rail's summer online video with rap artist Professor Green which asked people to remove headphones at level crossings so they aren't distracted from safety warnings.
Research Source: https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/television-advert-urges-people-to-see-track-think-train-sussex#.
-Farm dangers.
Apaches (1977): some kids saw farmyards as an obstacle-course of adventure, so this half hour film was commissioned, and shown in schools, to put paid to this dangerous behaviour. Narrator Danny introduces his trespassing friends whilst referring back, throughout the film, to a party his parents are preparing for. The pesky kids then proceed to get into a series of increasingly graphic scrapes with agricultural equipment until only one remains. The film has a bizarre, dreamlike quality to it: despite the carnage going on around them, the adults appear not to notice anything wrong, let alone do anything to help, and the kids themselves, engaged in a game of cowboys and Indians, recover all too quickly from the shock of seeing their peers die horribly. A spooky twist ending, revealing Danny to be a ghost awaiting his own wake, plus the closing sequence listing all the names and ages of children killed in actual farmyard accidents (some as young as two years old) makes this PIF macabre viewing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAQZaUixmpA.
Research Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/public-information-films/26484/10-public-information-films-from-the-70s-and-80s.
-Water safety
Lonely water (1973): While Rolf - Harris' water safety campaign was all gentle anecdotes and bread-splashing fun with the emphasis very much on learning to swim, this darker campaign was deliberately designed, like a low-rent Jaws, to scare kids away from water altogether. Horror legend Donald Pleasance gives voice to the villain, the spirit of the dark and lonely water , a ghostly, monk-like figure stalks reckless and unwary youngsters, waiting for his moment to drag them down into the depths of reservoirs, quarries and other dark, lonely and watery places. When sensible children, his nemeses, rescue a foolish child from his clutches the spirit melts away, obi-wan style, leaving only his cloak behind. Although he was beaten this time his parting threat of "I'll be back!" reverberated in the ears and minds of terrified viewers for many years afterwards.
Research Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/public-information-films/26484/10-public-information-films-from-the-70s-and-80s.
-Electricity dangers
Electricity- football (1989): PIFs would have us believe that the countryside was not so much green and pleasant land but rather a wasteland of substations, pylons and power cables just waiting for you to get close so they can unleash their evil death-rays on you. Outdoor pursuits like sailing, fishing, kite flying and , perhaps most famously, playing Frisbee each received their own electricity awareness film, but this PIF went one step further than most by not only frazzling the foolish Darren, who breaks into a substation to steal a football, but also his concerned sibling who only tries to help his stricken big brother. The over the top pyrotechnics leave us in no doubt as to the unfortunate nipper's fate. All that's missing from special effects tam's heavy handed tactics to drive the message home is a pair of empty plimsous with smoke rising out of them.
Research Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/public-information-films/26484/10-public-information-films-from-the-70s-and-80s.
-Vandalism
Vandalism- where's your lad? (1976): Although a large proportion of PIFs were directed at children, many also played on the fears of adults. In a short but succinct film it's not what they show that scares, but what they ask. John grabs his coat and heads out with his rowdy, cajoling chums to get up to, well, we don't know. The spark of doubt is stoked into raging fire of mistrust in the minds of suspicious grown ups by the closing caption accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. The insinuation is vandalism but he could be going to take hot meals to homeless puppies for all we know.
Research Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/public-information-films/26484/10-public-information-films-from-the-70s-and-80s.
-Road safety.
Green Cross Man (1975): Alvin Stardust, Kevin Keegan and even the third doctor were among the celebrities who taught us about the dangers of playing with the traffic in the 70s, but none are as fondly remembered as the super-cum-lollypop-lady Green Cross Man. His super computer would alert him to a child about to commit a lethal road crossing fault-pas so he would teleport in, often aided by his robot sidekick direct the child to safety and give them a good dressing down, while warning the viewer to "always use the green cross code, because I won't be there when you cross the road".
Research Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/public-information-films/26484/10-public-information-films-from-the-70s-and-80s.
-Survival.
Protect and Survive (1976)- Protect and survive was a public information series on civil defence produced by the British government during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was intended to inform British citizens on how to protect themselves during a nuclear attack, and considered of a mixture of pamphlets, radio, broadcasts and PIFs. The series had originally been intended for distribution only in the event of dire national emergency, but provoked such intense public interest that the pamphlets were authorised for general release. The films were never broadcast but did enter the public consciousness down to the fact that clips were always shown a Cold War documentary was broadcasted, or a nuclear holocaust drama like THREADS. As it stands Protect and Survive is a dubious and gloomy nostalgia trip for people who remember concepts like Cold War and Mutually Assured Destruction.
Research Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_and_Survive
-Animal cruelty.
RSPCA: How much is that doggy? (1987)- On a blue background, we see a dog, with a tune playing in the background. It keeps going with the camera zooming until a hand with a gun appears near the dog's face. The it fades to the RSPCA logo along with the address. The message from the narrator almost seems threatening, contrary to what RSPCA strives for, to prevent cruelty to animals. It is really scary and to someone it might be a nightmare to watch especially to animal lovers. The darkness, the music and the gun at the end can scare more then a few. If not, then this will make people feel sorry and sad since a lot of people like/love dogs. We hear a instrumental harmonica variant of "how much is that doggy in the window?" until the narrator says "please give us a pound, or we'll have to pull the trigger".
Research Source:http://pif.wikia.com/wiki/RSPCA
-Child Abuse.
NSPCC Cartoon (2003)- We see a living room with a man waling out of the entrance door. He sees a cartoon version of his son sitting on the couch with the television playing. He hits the cartoon boy on the head, who then feel dizzy for a few seconds before shaking and looking at his father. The father then points to the TV and angrily asks him who touched his videos, and the boy just sits there. The father in response picks up the boy, shakes him and throws him at the table and a lamp, which both tip over. The boy then turns his head upright. At the next scene, we see the father step on a toy in the kitchen, where the boy is playing with his toys all over the kitchen floor. The father throws his son at the door, where he leaves a crack on the door and the boy to slide down causing a bump on the top if his head. He pushes it back down. The next scene, we see the man sitting on the sofa with a coffee cup and cigarette. The boy runs and trips over the man's leg, and the man scolds the boy for running in the house then burns his head with his cigarette butt. The boy's head sets on fire and he runs around to the sink, where he puts out the fire but his head turns black and falls into crumbs. The father then looks for his son near his bedroom and finally catches him looking at the TV. The boy backs away and the father angrily shakes him, causing the boy to wet his pants. The father yells at the boy once more, and while the boys runs out of his room the father throws him down the stairs until he finally falls down from the bottom step. We pan around the living room to see the boy no longer carton-style lying on the floor with the text "Real Children don't bounce" and fades out to the NSPCC logo. The scare factor for this film is none to low because the canned laughter throughout the video could be a humorous effect to the PIF. But the cigarette butt burning the boy's head and the fact the man is abusing the boy could raise the scare factor a bit. When the boy falls and we see him lying on the floor in reality, the scare factor may raise due to the silence and remorse for the boy. In the first scene, after the father throws the boy at the table a cartoon thump and canned laughter is heard. Before the father throws him at the wall a canned laughter follows. When the father burns the boy's head we hear a cartoonish fire sound, and a falling sound when the boy's head falls into crumbs along with the canned laughter. A cartoonish sound is heard when the boy wets his pants. In the last scene when throwing the boy down the stairs he makes cartoonish thumps sounds and his panicking then when he falls down the last step a drum crash sound is heard. For the remainder of the PIF it's silence.
Research Source:http://pif.wikia.com/wiki/NSPCC_-_Cartoon
-Stanger danger.
Never go with strangers (1971)- This film was intended for children aged between 7 and 10. It's purpose was 'to warn them of the dangers of accepting lifts or presents from strangers.' From the opening animation sequences to the unsettling conclusion, the film draws upon the stories of classic children's fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretel, and the little red riding hood to impress upon young innocents that there are wicked people in the world like the witch, the wolf, and the bad uncle use trickery, lures and deception to catch and hurt you. With clever but simple techniques such as an off-screen commentator who talks directly to the characters, a looming shadow over a whimpering girl, a pulsating red screen which means danger, morphing of a playground loiterer's face into a police identikit face of evil. Film makers ensure young audience's rapt attention. This film inflicts a terror and an enduring effect like a few others. The music is unsettling, the animation is creepy and the shot where a brick is removed to reveal a man's face gave people nightmares for years afterwards.
-Fire safety.
Andy lights the fire (1980): A predominant theme in PIFs is the punishment of the morbidly stupid and unobservant. Each one addresses a clear and present danger, but I can't really imagine any real person reaching the same heights of idiocy as the hapless fool who inspired the creation of this one. Not only does Andy discard a still smouldering match with little regard for where it lands, but he keeps his beanos in the one place guaranteed to make seasoned comic collectors weep into their storage bags. Recklessness like Andy's always ends in tears and flames.
Research Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/public-information-films/26484/10-public-information-films-from-the-70s-and-80s.
- Internet safety.
COI- Think you know (2002): Starts off with a young boy's voice explaining his hobbies. As the camera pans down, we see the voice is coming from a grown man sitting next to a computer. It warns people to be careful as paedophiles use the internet too.
Research Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_information_film
-Smoking.
COI: Smoke kills (1970s)- A serious 1970s PIF about dangers of negligence of distinguishing a cigarette around upholstered furniture. We see a shot of smouldering cigarette leaning on a ash tray, we see another shot of a human hand extinguishing a cigarette rather badly, and we see another shot of a hand throwing a lit match on an plastic packet in the ash tray. we see the next shot of someone striking a match on the match bow side and the following shot focuses on the match placing it on the seat of the armchair. The expanded shot has the man leaving the match there as the timer on the bottom right corner appears at 00:00. after two seconds, the shot fades to 47 seconds later when the fire is spreading from the seat area as the man exits the fire test room and the camera zooms out to reveal the armchair. At 1:04, it fades to 55 seconds later where the fire has engulfed half of the armchair with smoke beginning to fill the room from the ceiling. After 5 seconds of 2:00. it fades to another shot 49 seconds later where the fire has engulfed most of the armchair with the smoke filling up half the room rapidly. The floor begins to smoulder and then catches fire, due to the increasing temperature of the fire. More flames spread on the floor as the smoke covers up the camera to black. The timer fades out and the white text "SMOKE KILLS" appears. Only silence with some SFX of small fires and burning, etc. A mean narrates "if you leave a cigarette or pipe burning while you're out of the room, or if you don't make sure that stubs and matches are properly put out. If they're near any upholstered furniture you could be turning your house into a death trap. "watch this test, and see just how fast fire in an upholstered armchair spreads." Only small SFX of the fire is heard. Later on, fire SFX increases during the time lapse shots. "After only 2 minutes deadly fumes and smoke begin to fill the room. less then 1 minute after that, if you were in the house you'd be affected by the smoke so fast, the chances are you'd never escape in time. So keep matches and lighted cigarettes away from upholstered furniture. Remember, smoke kills." The scare factor of this PIF is low to high due to the fire increasing on the armchair.
Research Source: http://pif.wikia.com/wiki/Smoke_Kills
- Bullying.
Tell someone (2003)- This film is dripping with paths, ghostly tragic soundtrack, lingering camera shots on sad children, parents looking worried. As each child is featured, they leave behind a message that they are being bullied, written in fridge magnets, or in their leftover pasta sauce, or scrawled on a crossword. Where earlier techniques might have been a trusted celebrity insisting that children tell someone if they are bullied, this film subtly conveys discreet but effective methods children could actually use to seek help.
Research Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4743380.stm
-Train tracks
See Track, Think Train (2012)- This advert is to raise awareness of safety at footpath level crossings and encourage people to 'see track, think train'. The powerful message will raise awareness and highlight that despite a quiet, rural setting, paying attention to the railway and warning signs can save your life. The advert, which has been developed by Network Rail, shows a family on a day out playing "I spy" as they cycle through the countryside. The game distracts them as the daughter tries to guess what the letter t stands for, she is suddenly standing on the track in the path of a train. The advert highlights that everyone should treat approaching rail footpath crossings the same as if they were approaching a busy road even in rural quiet areas. Mark Ruddy, Network Rail's route managing director for Sussex, said: " While fatalities at level crossings are at a low , it's important to continue to raise awareness to help keep safe when crossing the railway. We appreciate that it's easy to get distracted- particularly in quiet and rural surroundings and not realise the risk at a footpath level crossing but just as motorways cut through the countryside, so do railways and trains are often much quieter and faster then you would expect. we're doing all we can to make the railway safer by upgrading crossings or closing them is we can. We hope this advert will raise awareness that we all need to take care and look out for the warning signs ahead of every level crossing so can save your life." The level crossing campaign follows Network Rail's summer online video with rap artist Professor Green which asked people to remove headphones at level crossings so they aren't distracted from safety warnings.
Research Source: https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/television-advert-urges-people-to-see-track-think-train-sussex#.
-Farm dangers.
Apaches (1977): some kids saw farmyards as an obstacle-course of adventure, so this half hour film was commissioned, and shown in schools, to put paid to this dangerous behaviour. Narrator Danny introduces his trespassing friends whilst referring back, throughout the film, to a party his parents are preparing for. The pesky kids then proceed to get into a series of increasingly graphic scrapes with agricultural equipment until only one remains. The film has a bizarre, dreamlike quality to it: despite the carnage going on around them, the adults appear not to notice anything wrong, let alone do anything to help, and the kids themselves, engaged in a game of cowboys and Indians, recover all too quickly from the shock of seeing their peers die horribly. A spooky twist ending, revealing Danny to be a ghost awaiting his own wake, plus the closing sequence listing all the names and ages of children killed in actual farmyard accidents (some as young as two years old) makes this PIF macabre viewing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAQZaUixmpA.
Research Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/public-information-films/26484/10-public-information-films-from-the-70s-and-80s.
-Water safety
Lonely water (1973): While Rolf - Harris' water safety campaign was all gentle anecdotes and bread-splashing fun with the emphasis very much on learning to swim, this darker campaign was deliberately designed, like a low-rent Jaws, to scare kids away from water altogether. Horror legend Donald Pleasance gives voice to the villain, the spirit of the dark and lonely water , a ghostly, monk-like figure stalks reckless and unwary youngsters, waiting for his moment to drag them down into the depths of reservoirs, quarries and other dark, lonely and watery places. When sensible children, his nemeses, rescue a foolish child from his clutches the spirit melts away, obi-wan style, leaving only his cloak behind. Although he was beaten this time his parting threat of "I'll be back!" reverberated in the ears and minds of terrified viewers for many years afterwards.
Research Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/public-information-films/26484/10-public-information-films-from-the-70s-and-80s.
-Electricity dangers
Electricity- football (1989): PIFs would have us believe that the countryside was not so much green and pleasant land but rather a wasteland of substations, pylons and power cables just waiting for you to get close so they can unleash their evil death-rays on you. Outdoor pursuits like sailing, fishing, kite flying and , perhaps most famously, playing Frisbee each received their own electricity awareness film, but this PIF went one step further than most by not only frazzling the foolish Darren, who breaks into a substation to steal a football, but also his concerned sibling who only tries to help his stricken big brother. The over the top pyrotechnics leave us in no doubt as to the unfortunate nipper's fate. All that's missing from special effects tam's heavy handed tactics to drive the message home is a pair of empty plimsous with smoke rising out of them.
Research Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/public-information-films/26484/10-public-information-films-from-the-70s-and-80s.
-Vandalism
Vandalism- where's your lad? (1976): Although a large proportion of PIFs were directed at children, many also played on the fears of adults. In a short but succinct film it's not what they show that scares, but what they ask. John grabs his coat and heads out with his rowdy, cajoling chums to get up to, well, we don't know. The spark of doubt is stoked into raging fire of mistrust in the minds of suspicious grown ups by the closing caption accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. The insinuation is vandalism but he could be going to take hot meals to homeless puppies for all we know.
Research Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/public-information-films/26484/10-public-information-films-from-the-70s-and-80s.
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