The Bombay Sapphire Imagination Series seeks to spark the imagination of those who view them.

The idea for the campaign was simple: one script, five winning films. Oscar winning writer , wrote a short script stripped of any stage direction. The five most imaginative film entries were selected by the Tribeca Film Festival before being produced and premiered at the Festival in 2013.

Room 8 was the third of the five entries.

The film went on to win Best Short Film at the BAFTAs. Brands don’t win BAFTAs! In achieving this honour, it is an important signal, raising the bar for what is possible with branded content.

It is also an important signal to the film industry. Short film has been a niche genre. However, reinvented as short video for a content hungry digital world, it reveals new possibilities.

Drama is an expensive business. But with a budget of £40k per film, production team and winner and new director, had their work cut out.

The first challenge was getting the script to work as a standalone film without having the flexibility of changing the dialogue. All five films in the Imagination Series share the same script.

Secondly, the film couldn’t focus on the "trick" and the post effect shots, but had to establish a cinematic universe, finding the best ways of telling the story efficiently through strong visual concepts.

A strong, professional "cinematic" cast was needed to carry off these performances and make it feel like a real movie. We had trouble convincing agents to consider short film buyout wages, whilst being finded by a brand.

The multi-faceted crew needed experience of shooting for post, big dramas, sets and critically set design.

We had to build a set as well as a matching miniature and to afford a crane & an Alexa... Critically, we set the film in Poland where we were able to secure the vast Alvernia studios and experienced construction team and set builders.

Finally, Independent were able to secure MPC to do the post and this was invaluable in finishing the film convincingly.

This was a passion project that depended on so many favours.

The final film is an extraordinary achievement and saw a brand initiated short film, on a modest budget, go on to win Best Short Film at the BAFTAs 2014.