Formats Unpacked: Pre-flight Safety Demonstration Videos

Hey,

There is content that we really want to see. Content we are indifferent to. And content some of us go out of our way to avoid. Y’know. The kind that tells us what to do in the event of a plane crash. It’s important information but people like me don’t want to even consider ‘an unlikely event’ as I head off on a two-week holiday in Torremolinos. Pre-flight safety videos have changed over the year to capture and keep the attention of us avoiders.

Our very own Grace Dobush is here to do the unpacking. Grace is a writer and editor. You can find her on Twitter or see her brilliant work as editor of the ReThink Quarterly, a publication we make with ADP. Grace previously unpacked The Classifieds, The Kroll Show, and Sports Brackets.

Over to Grace…

What's it called?

Pre-flight safety demonstration videos.

What’s the format? 

Frequent fliers can probably recite these safety videos by heart — let me give it a go:

“Welcome onboard this Random Airlines flight. For your comfort and safety, please pay attention to this safety demonstration, even if you’re a frequent flier, as the details may vary from other flights. There are six exits on this aircraft, two at the front, two over the wings and two in the rear of the plane. Please take a moment to locate the exit nearest to you now, and remember that it could be behind you. Whenever the seatbelt light is on, make sure your seatbelt is securely fastened low across your waist. You insert the buckle like so, and release it by lifting it like so. We ask that you keep your seatbelt fastened at all times in case we encounter rough air. If we lose cabin pressure, oxygen masks will automatically drop from the ceiling. Please secure your own mask before helping others. Oxygen will flow even if the bag does not inflate. In the unlikely event of a water landing, you will find a life jacket underneath your seat. To inflate, pull on the tab after you have exited the aircraft, or inflate it manually by breathing into the tube. Smoking is not allowed on this flight, and federal regulations prohibit tampering with or disabling smoke detectors. In preparation for takeoff, please make sure your seat is upright and your tray table is stowed away. Please take a moment read the safety information card in the seat pocket in front of you. Now sit back and enjoy your flight!”

What’s the magic that makes it special?  

It’s a format that has to convey a lot of important safety information to a wide audience in a short amount of time, and it has to conform to international and national airline regulations. Operators can select the languages used — usually based on departure location and destination, but often additionally in English for international flights. 

Before in-seat entertainment systems became so ubiquitous, safety demonstrations were performed by on-board crew with another crew member narrating via the intercom system. Early videos were very serious and corporate. In the past 15 years, airlines have tried to spice up these videos as much as possible to try to get people to pay attention to them — and to go viral. 

Some observers give credit to Virgin America’s 2007 deadpan animated video with inspiring the modern generation of flight safety videos. The animation is funny and almost subversive. Then in 2008, a Delta Airlines safety video featuring a finger-wagging flight attendant went viral, the stewardess nicknamed Deltalina for her resemblance to Angelina Jolie.

Playing to the Hobbit audience, Air New Zealand created the "most epic safety video ever made" with Elijah Wood and Peter Jackson in 2014. Then Delta jammed as many memes as possible into “The Internet-est safety video on the Internet” in 2015, including Deltalina. British Airways recruited a lot of big stars for their collaboration with Comic Relief. An aviation fan has collected more than 400 flight safety videos here.

Do the razzle dazzle safety videos actually improve information retention? Not really, Wired reported. Researchers from the University of New South Wales found in 2015 that participants who watched a humorous safety video were able to recall only 35% of the safety information, while those who watched a standard video were able to recall 53% of the information. This Todrick Hall jam for Virgin America is catchy but feels more like a commercial than an instructional video. El Al’s ‘80s music video is just confusing and cringe. 

Favourite incarnation?

KLM Airlines’ safety video was created using stop-motion animation on more than a thousand hand-painted ceramic tiles — it doesn’t get more Dutch than this:

Thanks Grace.

If you want more of this kinda stuff, check out the wonderful 99% Invisible episode, In The Unlikely Event, that looks at the design of the safety briefing card in the seatback pocket. It’s one of my favs!

Do you have a favourite format you’d like to unpack? Get in touch or join us for Proper Fancy on Thursday 29th June, 13.00 (BST). It’s a team show and tell for everyone.

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Hope you all enjoyed your flight. See you all next time on Storythings Airways.

Hugh