'Head-on'

In 2005, 18 people between the age of 17 and 24 were killed or seriously injured on the Isle of Wight. ‘Head-on’ is an innovative road safety programme which aims to raise awareness of the need for inexperienced drivers to take extra care. Our film, also called ‘Head-on’, sits at the heart of the strategy and focuses on the devastating consequences of a fatal crash involving four young people who have just learnt to drive. It is being shown to Year 11 school children in specially formulated lessons, alongside interactive classroom material and a live crash extrication. For more information about the programme, go to http://www.head-on-roadsafety.com/index.html

The making of ‘Head-on’

When Utility Films was approached by the Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service to make a film about road traffic accidents and young people, our first thought was ‘What an important thing to do.’ The Isle of Wight has a history of young drivers killing and injuring themselves on the roads, and it was great to be able to do something – however small – to try to stop it.
This was a wonderful challenge. Not only was it to be a relatively long film, but the script had to both entertain its relatively young audience sufficiently to hold their attention, and put across a serious message in a memorable way.

Our cast was chosen from Island actors, and all the cast and crew threw themselves into the project with unflagging enthusiasm. Considering we began filming in late November, usually outdoors, this was no mean feat in itself! The help of the people of the Island made this film possible, and the support we received from everyone who was involved was remarkable.

The most demanding scenes to film, of course, were the ‘crash’ and ‘hospital’ scenes. The ‘crash day’, as we referred to it, was a bitterly cold, but fortunately dry and sunny Saturday in January, in a rural lane in the west of the Island. Something like forty people were assembled there: a Fire & Rescue Service crew along with two tenders and a turntable ladder, two ambulances and their crews, two police cars and about five police officers, the cast and crew, makeup, catering (courtesy of the Fire & Rescue Service) and a variety of onlookers. The tension was palpable: not only were the cast freezing cold (in particular the actress playing Alison, who had to spend hours motionless in a crashed car wearing summer clothes) but everyone was very aware that we didn’t have another chance at this shoot. If you crash a car and get it wrong, you can’t go back and do it again! As it turned out, the crash worked brilliantly: we had four cameras shooting it from all angles, and the emergency service just followed instructions and ‘did their job’.

In the same way, when we got to the hospital – on the following day – the A&E staff were wonderful. We told them we’d be bringing them an RTC casualty, and that they should just do what they would normally do while our cameraman, Robert, filmed them. And that’s just what they did.

Technically, making this film was a remarkable achievement. Most of all, however, we all – cast, crew, extras, emergency services – were proud to be part of something which may (though we’ll probably never know) make a difference. However, at least we can feel that we were helping to ensure that more young people do not die needlessly on our roads.