MD6002 Week 15 - NSPCC Public information films (Can't Look and Cartoon Boy)

Can't Look (1999) is a live-action public information film that was directed by Malcolm Venville (Wiedemann, 2009, p. 207). It features celebrities from its time that children and young people admired such as Alan Shearer and the Spice Girls (who cover their eyes at two sexual abuse situations); characters such as Rupert the Bear (who covers his eyes when a father physically and emotionally abuses his son) and Action Man (who covers his eyes while a child is neglected); and several teddy bears on wallpaper in a baby's nursery (that cover their eyes when a mother threatens to hurt her baby if it doesn't stop crying). The closing female voiceover announces, "We can't bear to look either" and encourages the viewer to suport the NSPCC. This advertisement has a montage look to it that I would consider using for my public information film on Asperger syndrome awareness and it also carries a simple yet effective message that implies child abuse is hard to watch.

Cartoon Boy (2002) was directed by Frank Budgen and Frances Brooke (Wiedemann, 2009, p. 26). It uses a combination of live-action and 2D hand-drawn animation. It is filmed in a similar style to a sitcom and opens with a live-action man entering his house to find his cartoon son watching television. The man abuses his son in various ways such as throwing him at the wall and burning him with a cigarette with the son 'bouncing back' each time. Towards the end of the film the father throws his son down the stairs and the camera pans to reveal a real boy lying uncoscious at the bottom of the stairs, which implies the slogan, "Real children don't bounce back." The film ends with text advising the viewer what to do if they witness a child being abused. WHile this advertisement may be a little more complex than Can't Look, it carries an effective message nonetheless and its combination of live-action and animation inspires me to use a combination of two different techniques (cut-out animation and rotoscoping) for my own public information film.

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