Questions on public information films.
What is a public information film?
A public information film is a short film or moving image to inform and persuade the public on issues in society.
What purpose does it serve?
The purpose of a public information film is too inform and persuade members of the public to take action in a positive way.
Who are the text producing institutions?
The text producing institutions are the government and councils.
What are audience expectations?
The audience expect their views to be challenged and for their attitudes to be changed. They do not expect to be entertained but do expect to be shocked by what they see.
Embrace Life
This is the example of effective public information films that I would like to go into most detail on. The purpose of this short film, created by Sussex Safer Roads, is to shock the audience into thinking about a small thing such as wearing a seatbelt. From the beginning the audience expect to be shocked by what they are about to watch as they are immediately drawn in through the pace and sound of the moving image. There is music in the background which is eery and slow making it sound sad. There is no speech making the audience more alert to understand what is going on. The pace of the moving image also matches the music as it looks as if it is in slow motion untill the play crash where it speeds up for a fraction of a second to create impact of the crash they are acting to the audience. The narrative of the moving image also adds to the imact it has on the audience. The narrative includes a couple playing with their daughter and shows a happy family vibe which gives the impression that something is going to go wrong. The wife and child saving the driver my acting out a seatbelt has an impact on the audience to think about what may happen if that seatbelt wasnt there and it may make them to think about what kind of impact this would have on their own family if they were in this similar situation.The mise-en-scene of the moving image is a happy playful family in a very modern living room showing that what the film is about to show is a recent problem. The representations in this moving image are a happy middle-class nuclear family in a happy home. It fits in with the dominant ideology of men being the active one in the family as he is the one participating in the driving and the woman is sat with the child as the more passive parent. This film does not show the full consequences of what would happen without the seat belt such as hospitals and possibly death.
Smoking mutations
This publc information film is about mutations that occur in the body when ciggarettes are smoked which then leads to cancer. They represent smoking as a part of a daily routine as the lighting makes it look like it is the morning and to emphasise this the man is drinking a cup or tea/coffee. They represent the man as the consequences of smoking such as looking old and wrinkly and also not in a good mood. This creates an imact on the audience so that they think about the fact they do not want to look like that. Also the mutations shown in the cigarette are not something usually seen by the naked eye so when it is shown the audience may be shocked as to what it may look like.
