What is it like to have MND? If your physical functioning is like a symphony, it’s like that music fading. The Works realised that giving people that experience of MND would trigger understanding and promote the donations needed to support those with the disease.
“As a business every year we like to get behind a great cause and really help them surpass their goals,” Paul Swann, creative partner at The Work, explained. “MND Australia came to us with a simple creative challenge; help people better understand what it’s like living with MND and The Fading Symphony was born.”
So an audience in City Recital Hall in Sydney experienced a live performance of Crowded House’s biggest international hit, Don’t Dream It’s Over (1986), by Australian musician, actor and comedian Tim Minchin and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO)…
…that faded, one instrument at a time, in its middle to highlight the physical impacts of the disease metaphorically. When all became silent, the audience was asked to donate and were rewarded with the orchestra coming back to life and performing the rest of the song.
MND is a progressive terminal neurological disease with no known cure or effective treatment. Each day in Australia, two people die from, and two people are diagnosed with, MND. People living with the disease progressively lose the use of their limbs and the ability to speak, swallow and breathe while their mind and senses usually remain intact.
Guy Patrick, creative lead at The Works explained, “What has stayed with me is meeting Dr Kirsten Harley who lives with MND and is a board member for MND New South Wales. Her brain works perfectly, but her body is degenerating bit by bit. She is currently bound to a wheelchair with limited use of her arms and, tragically, her condition will continue to get worse. Tim Minchin also met Kirsten and was inspired and moved by her attitude on life.
“In a way this is a direct response spot, but it’s big, beautiful and full of seriously talented people. The other difference is that viewers get more than just a good feeling after donating – they get access to Tim and the orchestra performing in a second video.”
Minchin, who currently lives in Los Angeles, has performed with symphony orchestras around the world. He wrote the music and lyrics for worldwide hit, Matilda the Musical. He has also appeared in US hit TV show, Californication, and is currently directing and writing the music and lyrics for Dreamworks’ animated feature, Larrikins.
Minchin gave his time free of charge, as did the SSO and all creative and production partners gave their time free of charge. Crowded House frontman, Neil Finn, gave special permission to use Don’t Dream It’s Over.
Minchin commented, “I love playing with the SSO, I have always loved this song and I loved this idea the minute it was presented to me. Music has the capacity to make us emotionally connect to stories like nothing else. Except, perhaps, silence.”
Carol Birks, national executive director of MND Australia, added, “MND can be difficult to talk about because it is such a brutal and confronting disease. The amazing team behind The Fading Symphony have opened up the conversation through this sensitive and empathetic analogy. No matter how many times I watch it, I am still moved. It’s a beautiful campaign that will bring great hope to people touched by MND.”
The Works developed the creative idea, secured the participation of Minchin and the SSO, produced the microsite https://thefadingsymphony.com/ that includes behind the scene videos of the making of The Fading Symphony, and devised the digital and social strategy to amplify the content which is also being supported by Twitter Australia.
Credits:
Client: MND Australia
Creative agency: The Works
Founder and creative partner: Damian Pincus
Creative Partner: Paul Swann
Creative leads: Guy Patrick & Nathan Bilton
Creative project manager: Erica Wong
Digital & social strategist: Vanessa Hartley
Content producer: Patrick Mazzolo
Head of digital production: Dave Flanagan
Creative technologist: Dave Ganley
Production company: Photoplay Films
Director: Husein Alicajic
Director of Photography: Simon Chapman
Editor: Joe Morris
Executive producer: Oliver Lawrance
Producer: Suzanne Kim
Post production: Cutting Edge
Don’t Dream It’s Over: Arranged and conducted by Benjamin Northey
PR: Poem