This comedy Public Service Announcement urges cyclists in Denmark to wear a helmet, an issue of pressing importance given the number of accidents and injuries inflicted on cyclists without protection.

The film, which was shot in Denmark during the coldest and shortest day of the year, is set in the year 893 during the Viking era. It centres on Svend, leader of his small army, who refuses to wear a helmet before heading to invade England, because it messes up his braids and causes an itchy scalp.

90% of the Danish population owns a bike, cycling an average of 3.46km per day. The World Economic Forum named Copenhagen the world’s most cycle-friendly city. And yet helmets have never become as popular as cycling itself: 50% of Danish adults still fail to put on a helmet when biking.

A big inspiration for the film was Monty Python, particularly the Holy Grail. I wanted to mimic that mixture of the authentic and the ridiculous. Rather than be tempted by the film’s Viking setting to be more “epic”—to make greater use of crane shots, dollies, etc.—a simpler framing enabled us to maintain a more comedic feel, without being too slapstick.

That’s also why we shot on 16mm: to maintain that sense of authenticity brought by the traditional Viking costumes. We weren’t shooting on film for film’s sake.

The ad ends with a stop-motion animation of a rotating bike helmet. It was important to us that, in the jump from the Viking era to the present day, the spell not be broken by including anything too jarring or modern. Hence the stop-motion animation that you see, hand-made by myself and our Executive Producer.