As one of the directors of the Talitha Koum Foundations, I have the responsibility to insure that we follow through with our vision of “raising the emotional intelligence” of children by researching, conceptualising and creating projects that will drive this.One such concept, based on personal experiences with movies, was an initiativeI developed called Big Screen Big Dreams.     

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Inspiration‍

The idea was simple - inspired by the global social media call to action -#blackpantherchallenge – Talitha Koum Foundation raised money to take 75 kids from (Mveledzandivho) Primary School inSoweto to watch Black Panther at a nearby cinema (Maponya Mall.)

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Approach‍

The approach was to create a campaign that would be unique to cause and equally inspiring to the people. The title “Big Screen Big Dreams” is rooted in my personal experience with cinema and comic books. I can remember the first time I watched The Matrix at the movies and the feeling I had leaving. The idea that a film could stretch your imagination of what is possible (a film that eventually formed part of the reason I went into design) was profoundly inspiring to me. From the moment I sat in the cinema and got swallowed by the big “Screen” to the momentI stepped out of the cinema and began to “Dream” in the real world, the Matrix was truly phenomenal.

With this title and thinking in place, the next approach was to design a graphic that could be used on social media and the website.

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Consideration

The design needed to speak to kids and overall inspiration.

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Needed to have longevity (therefore to not be too trendy)

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Needed to be adaptable to different media whilst maintaining its impact.

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The bigger idea

The initial purpose for the campaign was intended to just be relevant for Black Panther. However, once I started reflecting on the work done and the relationships and partnerships built in the form of Ster-Kenikor, Mveledzandivh Primary and Earl Abrahams (who did our short video) it only made sense that we extend the initiative from just a once-of campaign and  into a TalithaKoum  Foundation programme offering.

For the programme to be more sustainable I suggested a few rules of engagement that would help in guiding our decision when choosing the next movie to watch.

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We would choose our movies based on the following criteria:

Take Out

When asking the kids how they experienced the movie, it was interesting to notice that a lot of them had no idea that most of the actors in the movie were American. They felt a close relation to actors the characters they played. It was also safe to say that there were some future leaders, filmmakers and creatives within the crowd. Their Dreams had just become that much bigger.

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Check out this link to view video:

http://samuel.africa/big-screen-big-dreams

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