Film & Campaign Description

We bring light to the darkest moments

At Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, we support the whole family - life-limited children, their siblings, parents, grandparents, and those who are bereaved, with a wide range of specialist services designed to bring comfort and connection during the most difficult times. Though a diagnosis cannot be changed, we strive to bring light to the darkest of moments, making a positive difference to the quality of life for both a child and their family.

This message lies at the heart of our film. Created to reflect the full breadth of care we provide, from respite and end-of-life support to therapies, counselling, and beyond. It shows how we stand alongside families through their darkest moments, always recognising that every family’s journey is unique and that our care can never be ‘one size fits all.’ Everyone, from housekeeping, right up to our senior clinicians, has an equally important role to play in delivering our care, working side-by-side to do so, and this is exactly what we wanted to capture in our film.

There are no shortage of videos that convey the good work done in hospices, typically a montage of scenes around the hospice, but we wanted something new and unique that could cut through, without sugar coating the reality of the tragedy a family goes through with the loss of a child.

Our film tells the story of Dylan James and his family. Dylan James tragically died less than a year after first being diagnosed, just weeks before his 4th birthday. In the film, his incredible parents, Alison and Warren, bravely describe their journey and the care they received from Shooting Star. As Alison talks about the different support they received, members of staff representing the Shooting Star team appear on stage holding a candle. Over time, the stage becomes full of points of light and whilst still very dark, faces are increasingly illuminated as each support team is represented on stage, symbolising the wrap around care and light that Shooting Star provided when the unimaginable happened.

Through the film and campaign, our aim was to amplify the full impact of our services and show how Shooting Star brings light, comfort, and connection to those who need us most.

The paid media campaign reached 432k people, with 1.2 million impressions and 14,000 clicks through to the Shooting Star website. A medical cuddle bed for families was purchased with donations. The hero film was used across multiple social channels with short versions and supplementary collateral pointing to Shooting Star Children’s Hospices web page dedicated to Dylan James’ story.