Public information films began in 1946, sometime in march. I did some research on the Internet to try and find out more information about public information films. Here is an article from BBC from almost 4 years previous, when they were celebrating their 60th anniversary. The article does provide some information about Public information films, however it wasn't exactly what i was looking for. Here is the link to the article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4669540.stm
I also checked wikipedia to see if I could find anything, it provided more information than the BBC article did, but it didn't mention anything about who made them or how they began.Here is the link to it:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_information_film
I also checked the National Archives website, which provided similar information to the BBC article and wikipedia. But the national archives website is probably the most accurate and reliable of them all. It tells us about the COI [Central Office of Information], it says when it was established and how. It mentions their sixtieth anniversary too. Here is the link to the article:http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/FILMS/aboutfilms.htm
From the PIF's [Public Information Films] I have watched they have changed drastically over the years. They have changed in every way, the way the characters behave in the films, the quality of it of course, colour, style, and in the earlier years it was normally men who were made superior to women, however now it can be either or.
In the earlier years it was normally men who were starring in the films and if women were in fact involved it was normally suggesting that they shouldn't do something in a certain way, or they were doing something wrong. Back then the people in the films put on accents of a slightly posher voice and somehow superior and fatherly, however as the years passed by these accents disappeared and more women were in the films.
This video shows quite a few of the scarier PIF's from the 1970's. As you can see everyone is putting on a posher accent and in one of the videos it suggests that women cannot drive as well as men can. I think that some of the films are actually quite frightening like the one when the boy falls into the river and the scary man whose face you cant see, also the video of when the young boy goes into the substation because he lost his Frisbee in there. PIF's have certainly changed since then, here is an example of a newer PIF from the 2000s
as you can see this is very different to a one from the 70's. There isn't anyone putting on posh accents, and there is a woman speaking. The effects are also a lot better as it is 30 years later, so the quality, sound and effects would be better. I think the newer ones are shorter and more to the point than the older ones are. There isn't really any acting in this film so I can't compare to acting in the films from the 70's.Here is another recent PIF, this one has acting in it so I can compare this to one from the 70s. The acting in the more recent PIFs is more realistic and they're easier to relate to in my opinion, People who have depression will be able to relate to this video and it will convince to get help.
PIF's have changed a lot since they were made in the 40's, back then the people who were talking in them were acting quite paternalistic and the acting wasn't as naturalistic as it is now, they could even be patronizing. As the years went by the acting became more and more naturalistic and the people acting in it were less patronizing and of course the quality of the films improved too. If they made a film now like they did in the 40's, especially if they were being patronizing, people wouldn't even want to watch the film and would probably be quite shocked and insulted in my opinion. Back then the people in the film used to talk to people as they were dumb and didn't know anything.
Here are two warning films somehow based on the same thing. The first one is from the early 2000's when mobile phones we're a new thing and texting was a big deal to people. Both films are about road safety however they are quite different. The first film is quite dramatic and you can tell that the people who made it went to a lot of trouble to make it, there are many different camera angles and the acting is not very naturalistic unlike the second film. Some people in our CRaM class thought that the second one was real and it had just been caught on camera! Another thing which makes the second film more convincing is that it has been filmed with a camera phone. It is also something other teenagers could relate to. Hanging around on the streets, messing around and then crossing the road without looking properly, it could really happen to anyone. You can tell that the first film is older because of the phones in the film too, they look very old and simple and it looks like texting is a new thing to them. It is quite obvious that a lot of effort has been put into the first film, it has been edited perfectly and there are many different good camera angles. The acting is very good too, different to the second film though. The music also adds to the effect of the first film, it stays the same volume and pace throughout the whole film, even when the boy gets hit by the car, normally I would have thought that wouldn't work very well, but it did in this film, it adds to the whole effect of it. The second film is quite scary in my opinion as it looks like it could be real and its something people can relate to, the acting in it is very naturalistic too.
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