OUGD405 Study Task 03 - Public Information Video/Research

Within this task we had a list of public information videos and we had to choose one and analyse it.

Identifying and analysing the following aspects:

• Message
• Key Facts
• Tone of Voice
• Audience

After watching a few of the videos that were listed I decided to analyse the 1973 video titled 'Charley says don't talk to strangers'.

The message with in this video is very clear and easy to understand, don't go off with people you don't know. It highlights to children that if they follow this rule then they are being good and they will be rewarded. The video is targeted and addresses young children in a light/comic tone with a stark, serious message. The cartoon style will appeal to a young audience so that they engage with it more. The use of the cat character 'Charley' is a friendly and trustworthy figure which children are more likely to connect with. It has a very simple story line and it is explained in a way that children will understand and it won't scare them too much.

I decided to take my research further and found that 'Charley says' was a series of very short cut-out animated public information films for children, produced by the British government's Central Office of Information and broadcast in the United Kingdom in the 1970s and 1980s.The films were produced by Richard Taylor Cartoons.

The topics would be everyday issues children faced and how to deal with them. They featured the little boy called Tony and his cat, named Charley, who would "miaow" the lesson of the episode, which the boy would then translate and explain. Often Charley served as the boy's conscience. When Charley and the boy did the right thing, they were rewarded with something for the boy and a fish for Charley, which he ate rapidly. However, on other occasions, Charley suffered the consequences of doing the wrong thing (e.g., in Charley's Tea Party he pulled a tablecloth and a teapot fell on him and scalded him).

In 2014, Electrical Safety First (formerly known as the Electrical Safety Council) launched a brand new Charley Says film featuring the voice of award winning comedian and actor David Walliams. This was created to promote staying electrically safe in the home and not overloading power sockets. A second film was also created, on the subject of the dangers of buying counterfeit electrical goods.

Public Information Videos:

• A series of government commissioned short films, shown during ad breaks.
• Advising the public on a number of topics but focusing mainly on safety.
• Many aimed at children - they were quite scary and many adults still remember them from their childhood.
• The earliest were made during the second world war.
• Supplied to broadcasters free of charge and were often used to fill gaps between fixed-duration commercial breaks.