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Orla’s Story
“You never want to be in a situation where you have to receive end of life care for your child. But, in a really strange way, I think we feel quite lucky that we had the ability to come to Haven House.”
The brief
The team at children’s hospice, Haven House asked us to create a short film to show the love and support given to the families that they care for. The film needed to highlight the range of bereavement care options available to families, and what the team at Haven House can do to help families create treasured memories in those precious last few moments.
Very often families have nowhere else to turn at such a hard time, and as the services at Haven House are provided for free, the need to fundraise is constant and critical.
This film would be shown at the hospice’s main fundraising event, its gala ball in March 2024.
The approach
Our film tells the story of Orla, who passed away in August 2023, aged just over 2 and a half, having been diagnosed with a Medulloblastoma brain tumour.
To make the film, Creative director, Dan, and producer Aiyana travelled to the hospice site in Essex, where they met and interviewed Orla’s parents, Naomi and Adam. They asked them to share her story, and their experiences of the care they received from Haven House during Orla’s illness and in her last few days.
While on site, they also shot B-roll content of Naomi and Adam revisiting the beautiful grounds where they spent time with Orla during her last few days. We really wanted to show the energy, warmth and supportiveness of the organisation, so they also captured footage of team members at work, and the facilities on site, such as music therapy and a specially designed bereavement suite that’s available for family members to use. This content was woven together with footage taken by the family over the course of Orla’s life and images from her last few days.
The deliverables for this campaign include the full-length film for the fundraising ball, and a shorter edit that will be used on social media.
The crew
Producer and Director – Aiyana Gane
Creative Director – Dan Mellor
Editor – Vasil Dzhagalov
Contributors – Naomi, Adam, Haven House staff and nurses