Kitz Forum
Chat => Chit Chat => Topic started by: sheddyian on January 26, 2013, 12:13:58 AM
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(I'm not talking about "Charley says.." and "don't polish the floor then put a rug on it" sort of Public Information Films.)
I've got this vague recollection of several commercial-like films for National Trust style places to visit, (though they may not have been National Trust.) And I think they were shown on the BBC between programmes, perhaps as a bumper between children's shows and the sport on a Saturday.
One of them had shots of a castle, with lots of rapid zooming in and out looking at the walls, and you heard battle sounds/sword fights, but didn't see them. I imagine it was promotion to go and visit a particular castle or something.
The other was a time lapse video of a day by a river, with pleasant sound effects of birds at the end of the day; it may have been inter-cut with other bits. So might have been "visit the countryside" or perhaps a specific nature park or something.
Being the 70's, it seems entirely possible they were government films promoting government owned properties/places, so would be reasonable to have on the BBC. And I remember them running for longer than a typical advert, a minute or two at least.
The thing that's annoying me is that I can't find anything much about these on the net. Apart from a brief discussion in a forum thread that half-describes my memory of the castle one, I've found nothing, and certainly nothing on YouTube or National Archive that I can watch. They don't appear in lists of Public Information Films that I've seen, where all the usual "Charley Says", "Tufty club" etc films can be found.
Does anyone else remember these?
Ian
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:no: No, sorry.
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Have you tried 'British Transport Films' ?
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Have you tried 'British Transport Films' ?
Something made me think it wasn't a BTF, but I shouldn't rule them out on a whim - I'll have a look. Thanks :)
Ian
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Perhaps that could be the 'trade test colour films', that broke the monotony of the all-afternoon test card?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_test_colour_films
I do remember these, and couldn't see 'home made car' often enough :)
PS: Specifically, one of above named A Journey Into The Weald of Kent , narrated by John Betjeman, sounds credible?
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I belive the UEA (University of East Anglia, Norwich) is building up a library/archive of all sorts of Documentary and information media. Partly for the content but also how such things were filmed and presented.
I know first and formost they collate anything they can find out about East Anglia. But I belive they are looking to collect any such material
I'm not sure how accessible their archive is. (the main library is very accesible to the general public on campus)
I'm sure there is a site from an enthusiast with Public info films that I've seen some years ago although I think it certainly concentraits on the 'Charlie Said' Type stuff
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Apologies for responding to my own thread almost a year after I started it, but today I found a couple of the films on Youtube!
Sadly, not the exact ones I was looking for, but these seem to be the sort of thing, and the 2nd one does now ring very slight bells.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMZfOn7DaUI&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
The Ridgeway Path
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bcxwcO2ncI&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
Cleveland Way
Ian
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I've just watched them both and neither "ring any bells" with me. :no:
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lol love the 'wild white rabbits' 8)
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Hi sheddyian
I know the films you are looking for, i came across this thread searching for the very same. Have you had any luck yet? i'm still looking. I remember the type of film well, Castles & Abbeys and such like. I remember them being very kind of eerie, if that's the right word, of course i was pretty young then. Anyway, you are not alone in looking for them.
Best Regards, Will
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Hi sheddyian
I know the films you are looking for, i came across this thread searching for the very same. Have you had any luck yet? i'm still looking. I remember the type of film well, Castles & Abbeys and such like. I remember them being very kind of eerie, if that's the right word, of course i was pretty young then. Anyway, you are not alone in looking for them.
Best Regards, Will
Nothing further has come to light, though I've not looked for any of them recently. I shall have another go.
In fact, my previous post of two of the films, came to light because I had a message from someone else who had come to the forum also looking for them, and mentioned a different film which I then searched for.
So I'll have another look soon, see if there's any more appearing.
Ian
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Ian .... In all probability I have the wrong end of the stick here ::) but does this shed (pun intended ;D) any light on the subject for you.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/aboutfilms.htm
I don't recollect them at all ...but I'm such a young thing :D
Kate :flower:
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Ian .... In all probability I have the wrong end of the stick here ::) but does this shed (pun intended ;D) any light on the subject for you.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/aboutfilms.htm
I don't recollect them at all ...but I'm such a young thing :D
Kate :flower:
That's a fantastic index of the UK Public Information Films, thanks :drink:
But sadly, they are the fairly well known ones. They have been released on DVD, and most are on Youtube. I had a look through the index, and didn't see any of the ones I was searching for.
The film(s) I'm referring to (and have linked to two of them, above) seem to be a different government body or group or scheme altogether, and which seems to have been mostly forgotten about.
I think I was wrong to call the films I was trying to find "public information films" as they don't equate to the films in that index of "learn to swim" "children get trapped in old fridges" and the like.
I wish I knew who was behind them, or made them. I can't help thinking it was probably a 1970's government initiative, but that's just my opinion, mainly based on conjecture.
Ian
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What you are looking for I think is "Ancient Monuments 1 & 2" from the Public Announcement Film Unit.
I remember them well and Ive been searching for a copy since the early days of the internet - to no avail I'm afraid.
They were short films of about 7 mins in length, each made up of shorter clips of a couple of minutes each, detailing a different castle or abbey. They had quite wacky photography, muted colours, lots of pans with fisheye lenses and zooming in and out of battlements. All I think with slightly medieval music, battle cries and a voiceover telling you all about the location, voiced by someone a bit like the guy who did Protect and Survive!
They used to show them between programmes, maybe on a saturday morning or before kids tv started in the afternoon? They stopped showing them in the early 80s as I remember.
ANCIENT MONUMENTS 1
Public Announcement Film Unit
Duration: 7 minutes
First showing: 7th November 1968
A selection of shorts pieced together focusing on Ancient Monuments around the British Isles:
Conway Castle in North Wales
Rievaulx & Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire
Framlingham Castle in Suffolk
ANCIENT MONUMENTS 2
Public Announcement Film Unit
Duration: 12 minutes
First showing: 30th October 1972
A further selection of shorts pieced together showing Ancient Sites around the British Isles:
Netley Abbey in Hampshire
Caerphilly Castle in South Wales
Furness Abbey in Cumbria
Mount Grace Priory in North Yorkshire
Castle Acre Priory in Norfolk
heres a page about the corporation that made the films:
http://www.testcardcircle.org.uk/ttcf.html
Sadly I've never been able to find hide nor hair of them, well, apart from an old dead torrent on kickass torrents. Looks like no one has ever uploaded either of these films to youtube or vimeo or anywhere..
Theres a guy on this forum that claims to have a copy but I've never bothered to follow it up!
http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/looking-video-dvd-tv/114956-public-information-film-corfe-castle.html
anyway, good luck! If you ever do find them please let me know!
:-)
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I have been searching for these "castle" related PIFs too and wondered if you were able to get copies??
However, I would say that the last shown dates of 1970/73 as detailed on the Britmovie forum do not tally with my memories of seeing them at least up to the very early 1980s - usually before Grandstand!
The one which I think you are referring to is the one I remember - I always had an idea that it began with C, either Conway or Chepstow. It appeared on its own and not with any other places.
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Hi, Summerisle, I've not found any other films beyond those on Youtube that I linked to in this thread, sadly.
On a general note, it just occurred to me to have a look on the BBC Genome project* to see if any were listed.
Since posters to this thread who, like me, vaguely remember it being on between the end of Saturday Morning kids shows and the start of Grandstand, I looked at BBC1 schedules for Saturdays in random months between 1977 - 1980. Drawing a number of blanks, suddenly I chanced across this one
http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1978-09-09 (http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1978-09-09)
Which isn't that much, but I'm unconvinced BBC1 was showing The Potters Wheel in 1978! I reckon this would have been one of those films we're after. Shame there's no other information.
Ian
[* Copies of The Radio Times TV & Radio listings have been scanned and digitized, and are available online. Searchable too! http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/ (http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/)]
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Since they appear to be National Trails (http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/) films has anyone tried contacting them (http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/contact) to know if they have more info.
List of National Trails
Cleveland Way in England
Cotswold Way in England
Glyndŵr's Way in Wales
Hadrian's Wall Path in England
North Downs Way in England
Offa's Dyke Path in Wales and England
Peddar's Way and Norfolk Coast Path in England (treated as a single National Trail)
Pembrokeshire Coast Path in Wales
Pennine Bridleway in England (bridleway)
Pennine Way in England and Scotland
The Ridgeway in England (mostly bridleway/restricted byway/byway)
South Downs Way in England (bridleway)
South West Coast Path (South West Way) in England—the UK's longest
Thames Path in England
Yorkshire Wolds Way in England
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Hi, Summerisle, I've not found any other films beyond those on Youtube that I linked to in this thread, sadly.
On a general note, it just occurred to me to have a look on the BBC Genome project* to see if any were listed.
Since posters to this thread who, like me, vaguely remember it being on between the end of Saturday Morning kids shows and the start of Grandstand, I looked at BBC1 schedules for Saturdays in random months between 1977 - 1980. Drawing a number of blanks, suddenly I chanced across this one
http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1978-09-09 (http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1978-09-09)
Which isn't that much, but I'm unconvinced BBC1 was showing The Potters Wheel in 1978! I reckon this would have been one of those films we're after. Shame there's no other information.
Ian
[* Copies of The Radio Times TV & Radio listings have been scanned and digitized, and are available online. Searchable too! http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/ (http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/)]
I have had a look at the Genome site before - very helpful indeed. I was surprised that "Interval" would even have had a time slot and it is highly likely that the films we are talking about would have appeared in these and other unscheduled slots.
The castles films were probably made by the Welsh Tourist Board or some such organisation but it is strange that they cannot be found anywhere bearing in mind the obscure sort of stuff which finds its way onto YouTube, etc
The search continues........................
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Since they appear to be National Trails (http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/) films has anyone tried contacting them (http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/contact) to know if they have more info.
List of National Trails
Cleveland Way in England
Cotswold Way in England
Glyndŵr's Way in Wales
Hadrian's Wall Path in England
North Downs Way in England
Offa's Dyke Path in Wales and England
Peddar's Way and Norfolk Coast Path in England (treated as a single National Trail)
Pembrokeshire Coast Path in Wales
Pennine Bridleway in England (bridleway)
Pennine Way in England and Scotland
The Ridgeway in England (mostly bridleway/restricted byway/byway)
South Downs Way in England (bridleway)
South West Coast Path (South West Way) in England—the UK's longest
Thames Path in England
Yorkshire Wolds Way in England
I've only just noticed this - I missed it when replying to a later post. Thanks for the suggestion, perhaps I should do that. Although the film that I was trying to find wasn't about a National Trail - it regarded one (or maybe more, or all?) castle(s) to visit, maybe the National Trails films will give an insight into who made them. Thanks!
Ian
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Good luck :)
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I've just joined this forum so I can follow to see if anyone does find this PIF. The memory of watching a PIF about the Yorkshire Dales popped into my head and I can't let it go until I find it! Seems I'm not the only person who remember watching it:
http://www.walkingforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=29062.0
Should probably just let it go, but it's incredible how powerful these memories can be and the feeling they evoke
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Hi and welcome. Hope you do manage to find the item you are looking for.
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Hi
The BFI probably has these - e.g.
https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-caerphilly-castle-glamorgan-1975-online
The related one I was looking for was Kidwelly Castle about a stone mason working on the restoration
https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-kidwelly-castle-1974-online
Good luck !
Derek
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Welcome to the kitz forum. :)
The BFI probably has these - e.g.
https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-caerphilly-castle-glamorgan-1975-online
Thank you for the link.
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Almost 10 years later but the films can finally be found on Youtube!
Ancient Monuments I & II are here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lyRWdsOrOI
An absolute delight to watch them again after so many decades!
:D