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Dark nostalgia

Slugjc

TS Member
For a while now I have been, a little obsessed with PIF's (or public information films)

I think these things are the scariest pieces of work, ever to be committed to film. Usual shown to scare the bejesus out of us during CITV, or by a police officer (not on front line duty because of medical reasons!) With a VHS, who would come in and spend 10 mins working out how to get the the schools VHS working before showing us a short film on danger and death. The one below is one I remember most vividly.

This is a thread for those to share their childhood hell.


From: https://youtu.be/PoL3MjllVSs
 
Those kind of videos take me back but it’s just not the same watching them on a phone or computer monitor, really you need to wheel in one of these bad boys to watch them on…

9f75fd08e25431857ac62db0cc9665eb.jpg
 
This is a rail saftey film of old that I found online and is terrifying


From: https://youtu.be/SXGqwCbeFD8


The one I saw as a child was a road safety film where the guy is playing in the garden with his child and then killed by a car flipping over the fence.
 
Those kind of videos take me back but it’s just not the same watching them on a phone or computer monitor, really you need to wheel in one of these bad boys to watch them on…

9f75fd08e25431857ac62db0cc9665eb.jpg


That's the beast. not one teacher could work them, always needed the lad from year 6 with the specs to come and sort the tracking out.
 
I’m not sure that this is a public information film per se, but this anti-piracy advert that always used to be on DVDs is one that sticks out to me:

When I was a child in the late 2000s and early 2010s, every DVD you used to watch used to have this advert on it! It certainly scared me into not pirating films, anyhow! (Although I probably wouldn’t have done it anyway, so they were perhaps preaching to the converted when I watched them…)

If any of you are interested, a recent study proved that that advert actually increased rates of piracy, so in hindsight, it was somewhat counterintuitive: https://www.vice.com/en/article/93a...iracy-ads-made-people-pirate-more-study-finds

And rather ironically… it was later found that the background music for the advert was itself pirated: https://www.theransomnote.com/music/news/antipiracy-advert-music-was-stolen/
 
One of the public information films I remember watching was Apaches, about potential dangers on a farm. Was pretty damn scary. I was brought up visiting my grandparents on their farm, and my aunt & uncle on theirs, so was thankfully well-versed as to the potential dangers.
 
A horrible film. Brilliant, but awful. Bonus points as I live in Sheffield so I can recognise all the bits being blown up (including the horrendous eggbox which is now thankfully gone)

When The Wind Blows is also horrible in the same vein
I've not seen it in a long time but have no intention of doing so ever again :tearsofjoy:

Incredibly grim viewing.
 
For a while now I have been, a little obsessed with PIF's (or public information films)

I think these things are the scariest pieces of work, ever to be committed to film. Usual shown to scare the bejesus out of us during CITV, or by a police officer (not on front line duty because of medical reasons!) With a VHS, who would come in and spend 10 mins working out how to get the the schools VHS working before showing us a short film on danger and death. The one below is one I remember most vividly.

This is a thread for those to share their childhood hell.


From: https://youtu.be/PoL3MjllVSs

Brought back some memories that did. Mainly the people getting electrocuted bits. Quite fitting that 'Yesterday's Men' by Madness was the closing track as well (as in, they're gone now). If they don't show today's kids stuff like this now, they should.
 
This one isn’t scary like the others, but another public information film I notably remember is this one that explains consent using the analogy of tea:

This was a staple of our secondary school PSHE lessons!
 
This one isn’t scary like the others, but another public information film I notably remember is this one that explains consent using the analogy of tea:

This was a staple of our secondary school PSHE lessons!

Oh wow, doesn't that look familiar! It had my Year 9 PSHE class in uproar!
 
If you enjoy this kind of content check out the band Public Service Broadcasting.

Already all over them, great band.
Brought back some memories that did. Mainly the people getting electrocuted bits. Quite fitting that 'Yesterday's Men' by Madness was the closing track as well (as in, they're gone now). If they don't show today's kids stuff like this now, they should.

They always hit home. But the dangers have changed for kids. Back in our time (I'm 38.) We were told to be weary of strangers who, for reasons unknown, always wanted you to see puppies! Now they are groomed from miles away online.
This is a rail saftey film of old that I found online and is terrifying


From: https://youtu.be/SXGqwCbeFD8


The one I saw as a child was a road safety film where the guy is playing in the garden with his child and then killed by a car flipping over the fence.


The film that was replaced by the below, because it too scary.Later found out that the film was made in the 70s, cheggers replaced Peter purves. Because us late 80s kids had no idea who the hell purves was, so why would we listen to him.


From: https://youtu.be/jEv8CS1hL6E


A horrible film. Brilliant, but awful. Bonus points as I live in Sheffield so I can recognise all the bits being blown up (including the horrendous eggbox which is now thankfully gone)

When The Wind Blows is also horrible in the same vein

Threads................the stuff on nightmares. The overall theme of threads of "OH CHRIST" Charlie Brooker once said of threads. " Threads is the story of a multi mega tonne detonating near Sheffield and causing millions of pounds of improvements."

We got shown when the wind blows as Christmas treat at school. We also had the book in the library. Great way to celebrate Xmas when your 8.

Some interesting stuff on threads, and the cold war in general on a podcast called atomic hobo.
 
Does anyone remember the late 1980s book on railway safety by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake that demonstrated not throwing things out a window with a story about a hat full of **** being thrown over passengers when going at high speed through a remote station.
 
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