Procedures

Following an extended absence after the death of someone close to me (don't worry, it was pneumonia, not passive smoking or a drinking driver) I'm back and I'm trying to get an appointment with Film Images for next week, so suggestions still welcome. Meanwhile, thanks to the lovely Applemask, I've discovered YouTube user wuzzlevideos, who has an arseload of old road safety PIFs and I'll be profiling some of them here.

So, if the mid - '90s anti speeding films Don't Look Now and Funeral Blues (http://takingthepif.blogspot.com/2007/04/funeral-bluesdont-look-now.html) weren't enough to convince Britain's boy racers to hit the brakes, this 1997 follow up should have ensured the message was received. With thanks to the aforementioned wuzzlevideos, you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOnF8citByU. The Think! website says of the campaign:

'Procedures'
£3.5m TV and radio campaign - September/October 1997

Creative treatment

Continuing the home video theme, a 60s commercial uses new footage of children who were subsequently killed by speeding motorists in urban areas. A voice-over explains some of the procedures police officers should follow when breaking news of a death to the family of a road accident victim. Advertising carried the endline 'So please let's all slow down' 'Kill your speed'. Three 10s silent versions show a still image of a child followed by the captions. Family members again talk about the loss of their child in radio commercials and ask drivers to slow down.

And if you were thinking of joining the old bill but road fatalities aren't your area of expertise, here's how the pros do it:

"All officers delivering the message must appreciate the implications of their task. News of the death should be broken with compassion and tact by the officer, without the use of jargon. Great care must be taken in the use of language; for the families, the word 'accident' is in many cases totally inappropriate. Property should not be returned in a distasteful condition, and consideration should be given to having it professionally cleaned. Given the often appalling injuries sustained by the victims, officers may choose to advise family members not to view the body. However, the long term importance of saying 'goodbye' is well documented."

Again, we've got the endline "So please, let's all slow down" and the "Kill your speed" hand logo.

Look out for review of full - length The Finishing Line up next, probably tonight but might be tomorrow.

Funeral Blues/Don't Look Now

Found on YouTube courtesy of a user called Applemask, who has some great PIFs in his collection. (Edit: He's definitely male, and has made a guest appearance on this site. Thank you, Applemask!) Both of these are 1990s PIFs about speeding, and they're profiled on the Think! website.

"Funeral Blues" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPnjeVHYQBM&mode=related&search) shows video footage of children who were later killed by speeding drivers in residential areas, with a soundtrack of John Hannah reading WH Auden's poem of the same name as featured in Four Weddings and a Funeral. As Applemask says, the PIF is genuinely harrowing, and horribly sad when you think that those children never grew up. I remember that the mother of one of the children featured in this PIF was interviewed on the BBC programme 999, but not what she said. Here's what the Think! website says about "Funeral Blues":

'Funeral Blues'
£2m TV and radio campaign - May 1996
£0.75m TV, radio and cinema
campaign - Sept 1996

Creative treatment
Three television commercials (one 90s, two 40s) featuring home video footage of young children who were later knocked down and killed in residential areas. Poetry readings about loss and grief (including the reading of W H Auden's poem from the film 'Four Weddings and a Funeral') reinforce the emotive nature of the video footage. In six radio commercials family members of the victims talk about the loss they have experienced and appeal directly to motorists to check their speed. Advertising carried the endline 'At times we all drive a bit too fast' 'Kill Your Speed'. The Kill your speed 'hand symbol' was designed and used for the first time on the television advertisements and publicity literature

Advertising objective
Show drivers that it could happen to them. The cynicism with which some drivers regard 'unreal' advertising must be suspended because it really did happen to these children and the drivers involved. Convince all drivers that going 'a little too fast' is unacceptable. Force them to recognise the seriousness of speeding in urban areas and their personal responsibility not to drive too fast. Encourage drivers to think about the long-term implications of road traffic accidents. Use of radio to reach drivers in their cars.

If I can find the other two PIFs from this campaign, I will. I didn't know that was the first use of the "Kill your speed" hand logo, but I agree with Applemask that it's a fabulous piece of animation. "Funeral Blues" was later followed by "Procedures", which also showed video footage of children killed by speeding drivers, but this time with a voiceover of a man solemnly reciting the official guidelines for when a police officer has to break the news to a victim's family after a gruesome road death. Another one for me to try and get hold of.

"Don't Look Now" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex5nppYgjYk&mode=related&search) is a year older, from 1995. A little girl is merrily frolicking in the school playground but, she informs the viewer, YOU are going to kill her! Why? You'll kill her because you overslept, you'll kill her "for an appointment", and without even thinking about it. At the very end we see her as a driver sees her from their car - right before running her over. But she ends on the more positive note "You're going to kill me UNLESS YOU KILL YOUR SPEED", and we'd rather do that instead, wouldn't we? This one still has the "Safety on the Move" logo at the end, so I would assume its use ended in 1995 or early 1996 (and was partially replaced by the "Kill Your Speed" hand sign.) However, the YouTube video is probably a short version: I seem to remember that the original was longer than that. Which is probably why she'll be killed by a driver who overslept AFTER she's been to school. Funny that.

And the review from the Think! site:

'Don't Look Now'
£1.4m TV campaign, May 1995
£1.1m TV, radio and press, Sept 1995
£220,000 radio campaign, Feb 1996

The black and white television commercial portrays a young schoolgirl at home and on her way to school. A child's voice-over tells drivers 'You're going to kill me...' followed by trivial excuses people give for driving too fast... '...because you're late for a meeting/to keep up with the traffic'. In the last frame she is seen through a windscreen by a driver who cannot stop in time. National press advertisements and radio commercials featuring children's voices reinforce the excuses theme. Radio was used successfully for the first time to bring the message to drivers in their cars.

It's 30mph For a Reason!

It's late and I wanted to make another post before I went to bed. I did say I'd update at least once a week, but I can do more often.

As mentioned, I'm going to get on to Film Images and try and get hold of some PIFs to watch and review here, or if not I'll start having to go through my (limited) personal collection. Until then, you can download the UK's current anti - speeding TV spot here: http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaigns/slowdown/download/2005tv.mpg

This is a creepy little film complete with atmospheric music and some kind of lighting filter that makes it look more eerie - perhaps one of my more technically - minded readers could help me out? (Have I got any readers yet?) An eight - or nine - year - old girl who could have come straight out of Village of the Damned is lying dead by the road side, for as she explains: if she is hit by a car travelling at 40 miles per hour, there's an 80% chance she'll die. But soft! Her injuries start to heal, her broken wrist mends itself, the blood stops pouring out of her ear and she drifts back into the middle of the road. Thankfully there are no more cars coming, and she sits up and gives a theatrical gasp, restored to life. Knock her down while driving at 30mph, and there's an 80% chance she won't die! Hooray!

Is it just me, or does the message come across as "If a little kiddie steps out in front of you while you're driving, don't bother to hit the brakes. Reduce your speed by 10mph in the limited time before impact, and drive on! They'll be fine!"

Still, it's a memorable one, and (in my opinion) one of the Think! campaign's best efforts to date. I will write more about Think! later on, but since 1999 all road safety material in the UK has carried the Think! strapline. If you really want to know, you can go to the website and view the exact details of the girl's injuries at 40mph and 30mph, and see the accompanying campaign poster and radio appeal: http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaigns/slowdown/slowdown.htm

I am a regular on a website for "stage mothers" (no, I'm not a stage mother myself) and in the past I have attempted to find out if anyone knows the child who played the starring role in this PIF, but so far, no luck. Sorry.