4 ms·

I do like these old style of videos. Straight and to the point, no influencer posing or ad breaks, and cheery music. I wonder why this style went out of fashion

I do like these old style of videos. Straight and to the point, no influencer posing or ad breaks, and cheery music. I wonder why this style went out of fashion? It does seem old fashioned now, but I wouldn't mind this making a resurgence.

subpixel 5y ago
Not only are old British public service films fun to watch, without them there would be no Monty Python.
- rexreed 5y ago
  That is indeed how I learned about the Ministry of Silly Walks.
dredmorbius 5y ago
Propagandistic as hell to boot. They're light, and convey very little actual information, most of that incidentally.
- rexreed 5y ago
  In this case, I actually learned quite a bit about how map making was done in the early 1960s and the technology and processes involved. I learned more in a shorter time than many YouTube videos of today. And todays' YouTube videos suffer from self-promotion and more overt advertising than the more subtle propaganda of these old videos.
  - dredmorbius 5y ago
    There's always a hazard in comparing a specific genre or studio's production to an aggregate average. Sturgeon's law is tremendously optimistic: far more than 90% of everything is crap. British Pathe, especially during and after WWII, was unabashadly propagandistic. It produced short newsreels for popular audiences to view before the main feature in theatres. Themes were pro-British, pro-Empire, and pro-Industry. Technical content was minimal. At its best, YouTube offers markedly better. One example off the top of my head is the Engineer Guy channel, with numerous phenomenally good, non-self-promotional videos. His on the RMS Titanic, the British Airship R.101, on the design (and manufacture) of the aluminium can, and his re-enactment of Michael Faraday's "Natural History of the Candle" (proving that the Brits can actually create high-quality educational content) are all excellent, and I've watched all of them. Bill Hammack has his own biases, occasional blind spots, and does occasionally promote (he wrote a book on R.101, as he'll happily tell you, and does). But he produces excellent work, first and foremost.

subpixel 5y ago

Not only are old British public service films fun to watch, without them there would be no Monty Python.

rexreed 5y ago
That is indeed how I learned about the Ministry of Silly Walks.

dredmorbius 5y ago

Propagandistic as hell to boot. They're light, and convey very little actual information, most of that incidentally.

rexreed 5y ago
In this case, I actually learned quite a bit about how map making was done in the early 1960s and the technology and processes involved. I learned more in a shorter time than many YouTube videos of today. And todays' YouTube videos suffer from self-promotion and more overt advertising than the more subtle propaganda of these old videos.
- dredmorbius 5y ago
  There's always a hazard in comparing a specific genre or studio's production to an aggregate average. Sturgeon's law is tremendously optimistic: far more than 90% of everything is crap. British Pathe, especially during and after WWII, was unabashadly propagandistic. It produced short newsreels for popular audiences to view before the main feature in theatres. Themes were pro-British, pro-Empire, and pro-Industry. Technical content was minimal. At its best, YouTube offers markedly better. One example off the top of my head is the Engineer Guy channel, with numerous phenomenally good, non-self-promotional videos. His on the RMS Titanic, the British Airship R.101, on the design (and manufacture) of the aluminium can, and his re-enactment of Michael Faraday's "Natural History of the Candle" (proving that the Brits can actually create high-quality educational content) are all excellent, and I've watched all of them. Bill Hammack has his own biases, occasional blind spots, and does occasionally promote (he wrote a book on R.101, as he'll happily tell you, and does). But he produces excellent work, first and foremost.