Great Guns’ director Duncan Christie collaborated with VCCP Health, for pharmaceutical company Teva to capture the magic of ‘The Chemo Show’, a spot that demonstrates how spirit raising interactions can lighten the tiring monotony of chemotherapy.
The campaign is designed to encourage entries into Teva’s Humanizing Health awards, which support initiatives that go beyond medicine alone to improve life for people with chronic conditions.
The moving film grants us a glimpse into one patient’s day of chemotherapy. As she sits in the hospital, she seeks out quiet comfort from her companion and photos of loved ones on her phone, but the sense of isolation is palpable.
Suddenly, while she undergoes treatment, the lights grow warm and dim, and the curtains opposite her are opened to reveal a young singer ahead of a glittering backdrop. A series of joyful performers follow in sequinned sequence, bringing a heartfelt smile to the patient’s face as she is transported to another world.
To learn more, we spoke to Tess Evans, Associate Creative Director at VCCP Health.
What was the brief?
We needed a way to encourage entries into Teva Pharmaceutical’s Humanizing Health awards. This is a programme that supports health initiatives that go beyond medicine alone to improve life for people with serious illnesses and chronic conditions.
How did the initial pitch/brainstorming phase go?
It was a great brief as the Humanizing Health awards do such good work and there was lots of inspiration from past winners. For example, one organisation had built gardens specially designed to help people with dementia, another had organised walking football games for people with COPD, and another had bought people’s beloved pets in to visit them when they were stuck in hospital.
What was the process behind ideating the concept?
We wanted to create something that would show the emotional and very human power of helping patients beyond medicine alone. So we thought about how to lift spirits and where we could do this. Chemotherapy seems like something many people go through, it could be gruelling and it could be boring.
So we wanted to do something there to help people through. This is how the idea for The Chemo Show was born. The plan initially was to do a real show, however with COVID we had to scale back and it became a scripted film that featured real people who perform in hospitals instead.
What was the production process like?
The process was pretty smooth, we worked with Great Guns who were also passionate about the project and shared our vision, and a great client who was keen to make a beautiful, emotive film. So we were all on the same page when it came to finding the right cast, locations etc and it all went pretty smoothly to be honest.
What was the biggest challenge during production? How did you overcome it?
Because we couldn't do The Chemo Show for real, we had to work out how to respectfully and authentically recreate a very special moment – where a patient is given a little light relief, and can forget for a moment that they are a patient.
This meant blending together our real performers and actors and ensuring we were authentic in everything we did. We did careful research and interviewed our real hospital performers to ensure we were representing the situation in a compassionate and realistic way.
What is one funny or notable thing that happened during production?
Trying to coordinate our staged lights ‘dimming’ for the show to begin, with the visual of the doctor switching the light switch, was surprisingly difficult to do in a realistic way! I forget the number now but there were many, many takes for that scene.
Some members of the crew also got the creeps as we were shooting in what felt like an abandoned hospital, which was quite amusing. We’re used to it working in health though!
What’s the main message of this project and why does it matter?
The main message is that small, human moments can make a big difference to people going through gruelling medical treatment.
How long did it take from inception to delivery?
I think it was about a year.
What do you hope it achieves for the brand?
I hope this continues to build Teva’s reputation as a warm, empathetic company that puts the needs of patients at its heart.
Credit list for the work?
Agency: VCCP Health
Brand: Teva
Executive Creative Director: Brett O’Connor
Associate Creative Director: Sadie Mayes, Tess Evans
Account Director: Emma Tuckley
VCCP Producer: Laura Cooper
Production: Great Guns
Director: Duncan Christie
Creative Director: Laura Gregory
Producer: Tim Francis
Casting: Maddie Hinton
DOP: Sy Turnbull
Production Designer: Dale Slater
Editor: Ollie Davies
