Mike advised me to look at 'Charley Says' which was made to broadcast in the 70's, through to the 80s by the 'Central Office of Information and Broadcast in the UK'. The animations are around 30-60 seconds long and highlight no specific topic, but a series of warnings for example, don't go home with strangers, don't run out into the road, etc.
The aesthetic of 'Charley Says' is defintely not like those of today, but that is what makes it interesting. When doing my research, several journalists reviewed the animation as 'scary' perhaps because of it's unique and unorthodox appearance. The animation appears to me, to have been drawn onto paper and then cut out and moved around on the page. But even if the animation was supposedly 'scary', at least that is one way to help the messages stick into your memory!
The animation follows Charley and his cat who end up in situations where Charley inevitably gives the audience the right advice. What I liked about this animation was the narrative, because even though the appearance of the video is paper like, it feels real because the voice matches the character, a young boy. It is also nice to have two characters consistently, something I will think about when I come to storyboarding my own series.
I love that these are a set series, it means that there are no limitations to the topics, but there is consistency in them from the characters. I would like to gear my animations towards road safety for drivers as there is already a lot of advice for pedestrians, and as a new driver, I feel like there needs to be more awareness of these things, so I could so my own series like 'Charley Says'. Overall I really found these animations interesting and will be taking some tips from them especially as this is a very well remembered public service broadcast even today!
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