The advert highlights the importance of connectivity and the dependability of Vodafone’s network, in a cinematic yet realistic portrayal of a ‘call out.’

The film opens in the midst of a full-blown emergency – a car is ablaze on a motorway, a fire engine is in attendance, we see a firefighter and his crew fight the blaze. Heroic, brave, real; they get on with the job. Over the chaos, a soft but matter-of-fact voice kicks in: the voice of a firefighter’s wife on the internal struggle she wages, every time her man leaves the house.

When the blaze is out, and as the firefighter takes off his helmet, it’s revealed that 77% of the emergency services use Vodafone. The film ends with the line ‘Power to our emergency services. Power to you.’

The film featured real, off-duty firefighters to ensure the emergency depicted was both credible and authentic.

To create the film, the most important aspect was realism. With this in mind, the most challenging aspect to the production of this film was the casting. Our lead firefighter needed to be safe, strong and serious, whilst charming and relatable. He was not a Hollywood action hero. We made the brave decision to cast a real firefighter – who could fight the fire better than any trained actor but the more silent moments would be a challenge. The casting directors travelled to many different fire stations over two weeks, meeting over a hundred people to find the one.

Casting real firefighters meant they too had a desire for authenticity. Every take was real, with no additional post or comping. Our DOP had 100% freedom, able to shoot 360 at any time and get frighteningly close to the fire yet still capture intimate moments.

For the fire we consulted experts so that it was both safe yet realistic. We used various machines to mix billowing smoke with giant fireballs and constant smaller flames. The collision cars were prepped to ensure they were safe, and smashed so that they were realistic – for an explosion the collision needs to be at the rear of the vehicle, by the fuel tank.

Due to the explosions we needed full control of our location. We used an old army base that had a large enough airstrip we could make look like a UK road – through adding metal barriers, painting roads, adding road signs.