CHALLENGE:
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) hosts its annual Heartfest, an online event sharing information on heart and cardiovascular diseases. BHF wanted to intersperse critical data with motivational content, and create an evocative video featuring Scarlett Dougan, an inspiring young person awaiting a heart transplant. Having previously captured Scarlett’s journey, this was a great opportunity to reconnect and portray her evolving story. With an open brief, a limited budget and tight schedule, this brief presented a unique challenge to create moving, emotive content.
SOLUTION:
At the start of the development stage of our production process, we identified Scarlett’s musical passion and cello playing – and immediately thought it would be wonderful to have her playing alongside a local classical group. We swiftly reached out to orchestras and string quartets and connected with Annemarie of the Cairn String Quartet, who graciously offered her advice and valuable performance skills. In appreciation, we created a promotional video for the quartet too. Crucially, Peter Kemp provided us with permission to use his music, Fantasia on Ecce Novum Gaudium, which was instrumental in bringing this piece to life.
Heartstrings: A Symphony of Hope:
EXECUTION:
Given the tight schedules of the Cairn String Quartet and Scarlett’s family, we were confined to a single afternoon for filming. It was crucial to ensure seamless production on the day – especially given Annemarie’s dedicated effort travelling from Ireland. Our experienced in-house production crew, led by our Head of Creative, Martin, effectively created the content within just four hours. Post-production was wrapped in three days, in time for the Heartfest event. The final deliverables included a captivating hero piece merging Scarlett’s story with her performance alongside the Cairn String Quartet. Additionally, as a token of our gratitude, we produced a short promotional video for the quartet, available to view below.
Meet the Cairn String Quartet:
IMPACT:
The compelling nature of this piece earned it a spot at the opening of the Heartfest event, setting the stage and underscoring the essential work done at the British Heart Foundation for heart and circulatory disease research. The BHF’s team responded with overwhelming positivity. The emotive performance and Scarlett’s authentic personal narrative shone through when combined with key information about BHF’s pivotal research and charitable work. It provided a poignant insight into why people passionately support the British Heart Foundation, making a substantial impact.
“Scarlett is such an inspiration. I also can’t wait til we share it with colleagues – it will get things off to such a powerful start about why we do what we do at the BHF!’
EXPLORE:
Feeling Inspired?
Let’s GO!