Building Sites Bite

Building Sites Bite is a 1978 British short public information film produced by the Central Office of Information for the Health and Safety Executive and the Mighty Movie Company for British schools to warn children about the dangers of playing on building sites. It was written and directed by David Hughes and produced by Maggie Evans.^[1][2] The film is 28 minutes in duration.

Building Sites Bite
Directed by	David Hughes
Produced by	Maggie Evans
Starring	Stephanie Coles Nigel Rhodes David Mckail
Cinematography	Bahram Manocheri
Edited by	David Woodward
Production company	Mighty Movie Company
Release date	1978 (1978)
Running time	28 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Building Sites Bite was filmed as part of a national campaign responding to the deaths of more than 20 children in 1977 in building-site accidents.^[3] Most of the actors are children.^[4] Because of the style of filming and grim subject matter, Building Sites Bite is often compared to the earlier films Apaches (1977) ^[5] and The Finishing Line (1977).^[6]

Plot

The film focuses entirely on the perspective of Ronald, a young boy who aspires to become a builder or surveyor when he grows up. His cousins Paul and Jane decide to test Ronald's know-it-all attitude by teleporting him to a building site, where he must avoid several hazards and obstacles without getting hurt. In each test Ronald disobeys various warning signs and ignores the dangers, resulting in him getting killed in each one.

Each time Ronald is about to die a heartbeat sound is played. In order, Ronald's deaths are displayed as him being buried alive in a trench collapse, electrocuted in a condemned building, run over by an earthmoving vehicle, breaking his skull against a metal retaining wall, crushed to death by a pile of bricks and finally drowning in a disused quarry.

Back in the real world, Ronald announces he intends to abandon his ambitions, and goes outside to play with Paul and Jane. Over the closing shot of the film, Paul reads out real-life stories of children who were killed in similar ways to those seen in the film.

Cast

• Stephanie Cole as Auntie
• Nigel Rhodes as Ronald
• David Mckail as dad
• Jo Kendall as mum
• Miranda Hunnisett as Jane
• Terry Russell as Paul

Reception

In 2020 Bob Fischer write in Fortean Times: "Sensible Paul and Jane are visited by posh-but-dim cousin Ronald. 'I reckon he's a twit...' muses Paul, and employs comprehensively grim methods to prove it. Imagining himself and his sister as silver-suited cosmic overlords, he inflicts multiple imaginary deaths on his cravat-sporting nemesis by transporting him (via a garden shed TARDIS) to a succession of deserted building sites. Here, exposed electrical cables and collapsing walls repeatedly nudge Ronald from an increasingly thankless mortal coil."^[5]

Home media

Building Sites Bite was released by the BFI on the DVD COI Collection Vol 4: Stop! Look! Listen!, which also included other contemporary public information films such as Apaches. The film was also later re-released in a similar compilation, The Best Of COI. Five Decades of Public Information Films (2020).^[5]