Story idea

Theme:

A story about a brother and sister, one of which is suffering from Acute Leukaemia, and their very different methods of dealing with such a terrible situation.

Main plot:

The main story focuses on a young brother and sister and how they both react in very different ways after one of them is diagnosed with Acute Leukaemia.

-       How one child deals with the having disease.

-       How the other child deals with coping with the disease in the family and how they can help.

These stories could be told in the hope to raise money for a children’s charity and raise awareness of the disease (Britain’s biggest childhood cancer)

We will try to work closely with a related charity with the possiblility of them using our idea to further promote their campaign.

 

Possible charities:

Children with Leukaemia: www.leukaemia.org (Mr Men & Little Miss running event)

Leukaemia Research: www.lrf.org.uk

 

Story One: From the perspective of the little girl and her parents.

Plot: A little girl is trying to deal with the recent diagnosis of Acute Leukaemia. Since the bad news she tends to shut herself away in her bedroom and proceeds to scribble page after page of black crayon. Her parents are obviously concerned by this behaviour and when they ask her what she is doing there is no reply.

(- This reaction would imply that she is the child with the disease and has become quite disturbed by the situation)

The twist: As the girl produces more and more pages of black crayon the parent’s discover her collection of puzzles and suddenly realise that there is a reason to what she has been doing. As they collect up all of the pages and carefully piece them together it forms a much larger image that reveals her decision to undergoing a bone marrow transplant to try and save her brothers life (the child diagnosed with Leukaemia)

Media: Either a video or interactive website… or both.

The video would clearly tell the story. We could also create a shorter (viral) version that doesn’t reveal the ending forcing the viewer to visit the website  where they can watch the full version and find out for themselves.

The interactive website could include the video as well as info about the illness and a link to the charities website.

A section where the user could piece together the different pages to form the large image featured in the video (a puzzle)

There could be a section on the site that allows visitors to purchase the children’s storybooks from the little boys perspective.

 

Story Two: From the perspective of the little boy

Plot: A little boy has recently been diagnosed with Acute Leukaemia and is receiving treatment at home meaning he is unable to leave his room. The child therefore must keep himself occupied and use his imagination to escape the realities of the situation. The reader is then taken through the little boys hugely imaginative thoughts told using a series of short stories for children (on a pirate ship, saving a princess from a dragon, first boy in space ect) The ending to each story could include the boy being saved by a little girl (referring to his sister undergoing the bone marrow transplant)

(These stories are told as a form of the little boys escapism: Escapism is mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an "escape" from the perceived unpleasant aspects of daily stress. It can also be used as a term to define the actions people take to try to help relieve feelings of depression or general sadness.)

Media: Children’s (interactive carousel) book.

This book could begin with a short introduction about the little boys situation (briefly referring to his sisters reaction of locking herself away in her bedroom)

The book could then become a children’s adventure story as you follow the boy’s adventures through a series of stories.

These stories could be told through an interactive book as we discussed, allowing the reader to piece together different storybooks and literally travel through them (almost like a pop up book). It could also include a sheet of paper to allow the child to actually use their own imagination and draw the story that they have created.

Story Title:

‘Behind closed doors’

‘Short stories: Behind Closed doors.’

'Behind the Bedroom door'