Title:Shell V-Power Staying Ahead Series – Firefighter
Duration: 2:09 minutes
Description:
A firefighter talks about why he wanted to get into his profession, how he did it, and why it’s so important he takes good care of his vehicle.
Shell V-Power Staying Ahead Series – Firefighter Transcript
[Background music plays]
Atmospheric, storytelling and soft background music.
[Visual transition/change]
Screen fades up from black to a fire station, at night, with the lights on in the building.
Transition to long fire hoses hanging from a tall ceilings, shot from below.
Andrew
I guess I was about eight years old, uh, standing at the side of the road when I heard the siren off in the distance and it got closer and closer till it was all of a sudden on top of me.
[Visual transition/change]
Transition to a row of fire engines parked, looking shiny and clean – close ups on front headlights, the interior steering wheel and controls and fire fighting uniform on the floor, ready to put on.
Andrew
It was like, you could feel the heat from the engine. Guys on there getting their gear on and it just stuck with me and I just knew that’s what I got to do, I gotta be a fire-fighter.
[Visual transition/change]
Transition to new scene with a middle aged, greying father with his two children who are drawing at a table in their home. This is Andrew our fire fighter, and narrator. Cuts to other footage from the home – a child’s drawing on the side of a fridge of afire fighter putting out a fire.
Andrew
My wife got the call and she came running out of the house shouting ‘Andrew, Andrew, it’s them, they’re on the phone’
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to Andrew swiping his keys with Shell keyring off the sideboard and him exiting the house, shot from across the street.
Andrew
Picked up the phone, my palms are sweaty, I was nervous, and they said ‘you know what Andrew, we’d like to offer you a job at the fire department’.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to Andrew driving his car, shot from outside the car windscreen, continuing his story as he drives.
Cut to black, lights are turned on revealing firefighters uniforms and gear lined up along a wall.
Andrew
Manoeuvring 80,000 pounds around the city is not an easy task.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to a suspension bridge, shot from below from a moving vehicle. Cut to Andrew’s hands on his steering wheel, then the front windscreen, with Andrew’s face in the rear view mirror as he rounds a bend.
Quick succession of shots of bridges from underneath and traffic lights on a street lamp with a Shell station in the background.
Andrew
It’s just like an athlete, we need to give it the best fuel we can, cos you’re not gonna feed an athlete junk food and expect to get the same level of performance that is required.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut back to the interior of Andrew’s car, his hands on the steering wheel, a shot out of the driver-side window into the wing mirror and his face in the rear view mirror as he pulls into a Shell station.
Cut to footage of a fireman’s pole shot from below, an empty fire station kitchen with a TV showing a sports match, commentary playing over the background music.
Andrew
If we could be there 30 seconds ahead of time it makes all the difference.
[Background music plays]
Music continues, but tempo picks up slightly. Occasional lower notes and strings begin to increase drama. Emergency services muffled recordings begin to play in the background of narration, too.
We also hear the sirens of the fire engine, the roll of the train and the streams of water spraying at the appropriate moments.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut back to Andrew in his car, at dusk now, followed by an external shot over the bonnet of the car as he drives along a highway towards a city centre. Quick transitions through footage of the city centre, a train passing by, office blocks, street lights blurred by raindrops.
Andrew
I’ve got a million and one things to worry about on the road, how the truck performs can’t be one of them.
[Visual transition/change]
Footage settles again on Andrew working out on a weights machine in the fire station gym – he finishes, sits back and sighs heavily.
Andrew
When that bell hits, you drop whatever you’re doing, and you go.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to fast-forwarded footage of blurred city and car lights, then a cityscape at night. Here, the action begins and the footage becomes much noisier, with sirens, recordings of emergency services and voices in the background. Cut to Andrew’s face in the rear view mirror, followed by the garage door of the fire station opening to reveal a fire engine, and then footage of the truck driving out on a job. We see Andrew driving the fire engine now, dressed in his uniform, then we cut between external and internal shots of the fire engine - the headlights and front grille, a head on view, internal shots of Andrew’s team shouting instructions, preparing themselves to fight a fire. The footage is fast paced, busy and bright.
The next scene is at the scene of the fire, taking place at a train wreck, with carriages on fire. Cut between close ups of firefighters talking to each other, bursts of flame, and water coming from the hoses. Cut to a sustained shot of the team holding out the hoses, spraying the fire with powerful jets of water. The fire engine is parked on the left, with a ladder extended spraying water from the top, the team in the centre of the footage, with two hoses fighting the fire on the right of the footage.
[Background music plays]
Additional sound effects fade out, leaving the background music playing louder than the beginning but the same style.
Andrew
When you’re out on a call you depend on two things, the people fighting beside you, and the vehicle that gets you there.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to footage of the hoses turning off, and smoke floating where the fire was previously raging.
Cut to the fire rescue team back at the station, sat around a table with smiles on their faces, shot through an open door. Then Andrew bathed in red light sat driving his fire engine, in full uniform.
The final scene takes us back to the exterior shot of the fire station we opened with, with the garage door closing, the fire engine parked back inside. Fade to black.
[Text displays]
When Performance Matters Choose
Shell V-Power Nitro+
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to white screen with the text, followed by the Shell pecten