#Public information film

[partywithponies]

Kind of a MILF. Smash.

[porcelain-rob0t]

im about to start PSA posting idgaf im sharing my interests on the sharing interests website

some patterns ive picked up on from my years of both seeing PSAs on tv and in youtube compilations. my knowledge and viewing experience is mostly American PSAs and the most common type ive observed is anti-drug PSAs. this is because of Reagan and his "war on drugs", which was just fueling the crack epidemic and incarcerating Black people, as we know. (Ronald Reagan is a lil bitch)

so in the 70s and 80s, the major theme of American PSAs are about drugs like crack, cocaine, and LSD in some rare ones. in the 90s, it was about cocaine, heroin, and just the very beginning of anti meth PSAs. that's where the 2000s and 2010s come in with the Montana Meth Project making some really effective PSAs.

that takes me to the big boss of American anti-drug PSAs, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. they are controversial because the quality varies wildly based on effectiveness. yknow like how the DARE program actually increased teen drug use instead of lowering it. the controversy comes from scare tactics rather than education and harm prevention.

(though the country with the craziest anti-drug PSAs is definitely Singapore. the PSAs about heroin are terrifying)

i will probably make a powerpoint or a video about PSAs bc i think they are neat

[carparkcollapse]

NSPCC - "Don't Look" (1999)

[feigeroman]

Saturday Movie Night: Robbie (1979/1986)

WARNING: Although nothing graphic is shown, these videos contain references to severe injuries which some viewers may find upsetting. Depending on how you feel about such things, you'd be advised to either proceed with caution or give this one a miss altogether.

In 1977, BTF produced a safety film entitled The Finishing Line - which showcased the dangers of playing on railway lines by framing them as events in a school sports day. While pretty effective at getting its message across, it was felt by some quarters that the shock-fantasy element was rather too much for kids to stomach, and so the film was pulled from distribution after a couple of years (sadly, it proved impossible to find in full on YouTube either, so I won't be sharing it either).

In its place came Robbie, a cautionary tale about railway tresspass, which aimed to impart the same gospel as The Finishing Line, but in a less overtly gruesome manner. Fronted by Blue Peter star Peter Purves, this film was available in three different versions, to suit the requirments of different areas:

Non-electrified line - in which Robbie slips on the rails, and gets his feet caught under a passing DMU.

Overhead electrified line - in which Robbie's older brother throws his football boots onto a bit of catenary, and he electrocutes himself trying to knock them off with a long pole.

Third-rail electrified line - in which Robbie gets zapped by standing on the third rail, and then gets his feet caught under a passing EMU.

As if three versions weren't enough, it was felt in 1986 that Peter Purves had lost his star power with the kids, so his introduction and narration were reshot and rerecorded with a new children's hero - good ol' Keith 'Cheggers' Chegwin. I've included his version of the Overhead Electrified Line film as a bonus below:

[tfbsattic]

This St. Patrick’s Day, let’s pray for peace.

[youstupidplonk]

Asking my parents if they remember the “Charlie Says” PIFs of the early 70s and instead of replying they both just made strange cat noises at me. 

[john-waters]

INSIDE NO.9 & PUBLIC INFORMATION FILMS

[drleevezan]

The Guardians of the Edge from Power of the Doctor, but with the missing classic Doctors poorly spliced in using audio clips from public information films.

[carparkcollapse]

CALM - "Car Park" (2006)

[prison-mikes-bandana]

People seem to forget how an entire generation of children were traumatized by their government through public information films from the 70’s and 80’s!! Anybody remember “lonely water”? How about “apache”? If you are really unfortunate you may have seen “the finish line”!!

Here is lonely water

[spilladabalia]

The Advisory Circle - Mind How You Go

[catgirl-or-furry]

I need to reach out to that hacker friend I haven't seen in a while, he's made malware just to see if he could. I may have just found an ethical use for his malware.

It’s time.

[princesssarcastia]

going through a period where i find violations of privacy that go unchallenged in fiction REALLY irritating.

[jane-not-rizzoli]

Anyone an expert on uk copyright law? Dm me to have the most boring convo of your life that I will treasure forever

[hoothootmotherf-ckers]

can people please stop filming the entire fucking world around them for public consumption? and especially random fucking strangers who you did not ask???

I work at a park and man the front desk. and I'm photographed and filmed a lot. I'm talking easily 20+ times per day. most of the times, it's parents filming me swearing in their kids as junior rangers. which. they're intending to film their kids. what they get is me and the back of their kids' heads.

there's this recurring problem that like. people forget we're real people? like yeah you're filming your kid, but you're filming me interacting with your kid. I could count the amount of times someone has asked me permission to do this in the past year on one hand. and sometimes that's after they already start filming.

Like, I'm not an actor. I did not agree to this. You could be a dick and make the argument that I'm a public figure, but I'm not. This is not a persona and my uniform is not a costume. I'm a person trying to do my job and help people and teach them about science and history. And you know what makes it harder to do that? The knowledge that anything I say or do could end up shared with thousands of people. The fact that if I fuck up the wording of this kid's junior ranger pledge, or I sneeze, or make some basic mistake, it's not just a funny or embarrassing moment for me and this one family. It could end up on tiktok.

And okay, those are the people intending to film their own kids and not thinking or caring about the collateral. What's worse is the people who film everything. A few times a week some guy walks into the visitor center, phone already horizontal in front of their face, narrating what they're doing and seeing. They come up to the desk and ask me questions, phone in my face. They take wide establishing shots of the visitor center and every visitor in it. None of us agreed to this! None of these people consented to be in your youtube video! We are not the fucking set dressing of whatever travel instagram story you're making!

I don't know where I'm going with this. This is really only the tip of the iceberg. Sometimes people ask us to repeat what we just did - swear in their kid, or explain a detail, or hand them a fucking map - so they can get a second take, and they're already filming so if we say no we look like the asshole. Sometimes we're asked innocuous things like to point out a landmark, and next week there's a photo of us in the 15,000 member Rangers Pointing at Things facebook group (yep, real thing). One time my entire 45 minute evening program was filmed without my permission and I was informed after the fact. This happens all the time, and I'm giving park ranger examples, but this happens to so many people in service work or public positions every single fucking day.

I guess just, next time you go to film in a public space, take a second. Think about who you're about to film, if they agreed to that, what might happen if a video of them went viral. there's a reason I'm not out as trans at work. And then, maybe. don't. or at least fucking ask.