The Challenge

If you've ever had a child in the hospital you probably understand how challenging it can be for a parent and a family. So how do you make what can often be a stressful, painful situation into a more pleasant and less worrisome one? You begin with the facility itself and when the University of Virginia Health System set out to create their new Children's Hospital they took parents and their children into consideration with all of their decision making.

So then, how do you translate the vision of a beautiful, family-friendly, top-notch, children's hospital into a short film to promote the facility...which, by the way, is still under construction? That was the challenge we were presented with when we set out to tell the story of the new Battle Building at UVA's Children's Hospital.

The Solution

We knew right away that we needed to tell the story of the new facility through the eyes of a child. A person that both kids and parents could relate to who would see the magic and wonder of the new building and would notice that it was designed from the ground up NOT to feel like a cold, sterile, medical facility.

Our first thought was to hold an audition to cast the child character as well as the roles of the doctors and nurses, but the UVA Health System is very committed to NOT using actors. They want viewers to see real doctors and nurses and they even wanted the child to have a connection to the Health System. They found a young talented boy who was the son of a doctor at UVA to play the lead.

As we prepared for production the construction crew was working steadily to finish the building, but since the film would premiere on the day of the celebratory opening, we knew that we would need to complete all filming prior to the building being open to the public... and prior to the completion of construction.

The Results

The film was completed on time for the grand opening celebration and has been received favorably by both the hospital and the community.