The flu season was in full swing, causing our children, as well as ourselves, to take turns getting sick. The idea of shining as a family in the Christmas commercial soon seemed increasingly unattainable. Having a sick child, or both of them, participate in such a video production was something I wasn’t willing to agree to. Shortly after the Sinterklaas celebration on December 5th, the time came to get a Christmas tree. Choosing a Christmas tree is always a big event. When you find the tree, there’s an instant connection. The tree itself would also play a significant role in the Christmas commercial. Unfortunately, by this time, I was already sick, so we ended up picking the Christmas tree almost a week later than originally planned. This meant the project was already facing delays before filming could even begin. Picking up the tree itself was a challenge since I had become quite sick by then. However, this didn’t stop me from completing my mission. The commercial just had to be made..

While the Christmas tree was acclimating, I began filming the first shot, the front view of the house. I would shoot this video using the Blackmagic RAW codec, a RAW video format that delivers higher quality and provides more options for post-production editing. Christmas commercials often make extensive use of color grading to create a warm and cozy atmosphere. For that, a video codec with little to no compression is very beneficial to maintain the quality. One advantage of this time of year is that daylight appears later in the morning and it's getting dark early in the evening. This made it possible to quickly capture some shots of the front view of the house while my son was playing in the living room. I didn’t want to leave him alone or make him feel like he was by himself, so I filmed quickly and handheld. This took me 10 minutes at most. There it was, the first shots were done, and the camera could be put away for the rest of the day. After the children went to bed, I reviewed the footage and performed a quick color grade. I was happy with the choice to film in RAW format, and this would pay off later.

Due to my daughter's ongoing illness, I decided that my son and I would carry the project forward. Although I would have preferred to complete the project with the whole family, this was the only way to finish it on time. The next day, it was time to film the most fun scenes of the project: the reveal of the Christmas tree and quality time with my son. Filming and acting in the video myself, of course, posed a challenge. Shots with complex camera movements weren’t possible without a second cameraman, so I opted for ‘static’ camera shots. Although I would have preferred to use some smooth gimbal shots, using static shots wasn’t a problem. In cinema, this is actually used more often than one realizes. Additionally, filming was done in 6K resolution, which provided options for cropping/framing and even simulating camera movement during the editing in a 4k composition. For the hallway shot, I used ambient light and two tube lights. The natural light coming from the overhead window above the front door, combined with the tube lights placed at the front door and on the stairs, helped highlight myself and the Christmas tree. After that, I quickly moved the camera to the position where the Christmas tree would be placed in the living room. Everything had to go perfectly because this was also the moment my son would see the tree for the first time. I definitely wanted to capture his excitement, so I didn’t want to take too many takes. I wanted it to come across as realistic on screen while also ensuring a great experience of the Christmas tree reveal. Timing was also a challenge. I had to walk with the tree toward the living room door, and when I passed through the door, my son needed to run toward me. I gave my son a simple instruction beforehand to come to me at that moment. Fortunately, the shot worked out. But even more importantly, my son was genuinely excited and looking forward to decorating the tree. Now that the tree had found its place in the living room, I was able to quickly take a few shots of cutting off the net. After that, it was time to put the camera away again. Although I would have liked to capture some shots of decorating the tree, this is a tradition and an intimate family moment that I didn’t want to interfere with by having my camera there. Once the tree was decorated, we had to wait for the evening so it would be dark again, ensuring continuity in the shots. After dinner, the time had come to film the shots with the Christmas tree. Since my son was tired and bedtime was approaching, we managed to take 5 shots from 5 different camera angles in less than 20 minutes. To get my son’s cooperation, I made it into a game, and he really enjoyed that. I must admit it was still a challenge in such short time. But i felt very proud to to pull this off with my son.

The next day, my son and I were up early again. Around 5:30 AM, we’re usually already downstairs playing and crafting. This day was no different. Since it was still dark outside, I decided to film some shots of one of our crafting sessions with the painting in the background. We didn’t have to act and could just be ourselves. Like every morning, we had a lot of fun. Of course, my son noticed that I moved the camera a few times, but by then, he had gotten used to the device. The filming only took 5 minutes. That was all I needed because I knew the shots were authentic, and the chemistry between my son and me was real. I didn’t even review the footage and happily continued crafting. The shots at the art gallery couldn’t be delayed for too long if we were to finish the project on time. However, the weather was against us that week due to rain showers. For nice and cozy Christmas shots, it had to be at least dry. Fortunately, there was a window of opportunity around noon to film. Although it was cloudy, the weather forecast predicted it would stay dry. Since I also needed to capture some shots with a car, I quickly washed and dried it. Well, part of the car, at least. Due to time constraints, I only cleaned the back of the car. I also had to quickly treat the bumper, as it looked a bit weathered. I quickly drove with my son to the gallery. I had informed my father, the gallery owner, that we were on our way and that I needed to film some shots for a video project. At this point, he still didn’t know we were making a Christmas commercial. That was still a surprise. Once we arrived, I quickly set up my camera at the gate and took a few takes with the car driving in. At this point, it had already started drizzling. We then parked the car and went to get my father. I also wanted to capture a shot near the site map, where I would point out the way to my son. I noticed there was quite a bit of green algae on the board, so I thoroughly cleaned it with degreaser and a bucket of water. I then instructed my father to hold a lamp from behind the board to better illuminate my son and me. Together with setting up the camera and filming, this took less than 3 minutes. After that, the three of us walked to the gallery. I also wanted to get a shot of us walking toward the gallery, with my son looking in wonder at all the sculptures around us. My mother had decorated the path with Christmas decorations and lights, which would look perfect on video. This shot was completed in two takes. Then came the moment when three generations (grandfather, son, and grandson) would appear on screen. First, a shot where my son and I are welcomed by the gallery owner. Then, a shot showing the exhibition space with instructions from the gallery owner. A shot where my son enthusiastically runs toward a glass object. A shot where we discover the final painting and agree on it. A shot where we choose the painting for the art rental scheme, and to wrap it up, a shot where we place the painting in the car’s trunk. For all the shots except the trunk scene, we only recorded two takes. We once again turned filming into a game so my son enjoyed participating. While I moved the camera each time, my son briefly helped his grandfather with some tasks in the storage room. There were some setbacks with the car trunk shot but it worked out fine in the end. Even though the gallery part of the project was a bit of improvised rush job, i was still very pleased with the result. For me it was a special moment with my son and dad.

The final filming day would feature two scenes: the computer/webshop scene and the closing scene. After the usual play and crafting hours, it was time for my son to watch some TV. I took this opportunity to film the closing scene. After determining the composition, I quickly added an extra light source to illuminate us while we sat on the couch. The scene deviated from the original script because, during the decoration of the Christmas tree, the tree topper had accidentally broken, and we couldn’t find a replacement in the meantime. This led to the twist that 'we had forgotten the tree topper.' It ultimately took two takes to complete the scene, and only took 3 minutes of filming time. The last scene, the computer scene, would take the most time and planning. Shots were made from 10 different camera angles. The biggest challenge was the available space for the right camera setup. For this, I chose to use a wide-angle lens. Since there was also a vertical video planned for social media like Instagram, the distance had to be sufficient for the correct framing during the editing phase. This was also important to minimize distortions from the wide-angle lens. This scene was completed within an hour during my lunch break. The filming was done, it's a wrap! Time was running out as Christmas was approaching, and the launch of the campaign couldn’t afford any delays. It was time for color grading and editing during the post-processing phase!

Now that the filming was done, a chapter in this adventure had begun: the post-production phase. The footage had been recorded in RAW format, which has its pros and cons. The advantage is that there is a lot of flexibility when it comes to color grading. With experience from other projects and cameras that could also film in RAW format, I knew it was the right choice. The downside is that this type of material takes up a lot of storage space and usually requires more processing power from a computer. Would this cause further delays in the project? The answer is 'no'. The advantage of the camera used is that it can shoot in BRAW format, a compressed RAW format by Blackmagic Design. In addition to camera and studio equipment, this company is also known for Davinci Resolve, one of the most advanced video editing programs today. With this, previewing and editing would go significantly faster. I was introduced to this software in 2013 with the then-revolutionary 'budget' camera, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera (BMCC). Since then, I have regularly used the program for other projects alongside Adobe programs. I began with a rough edit to get a general sense of the video's total duration. Then, the clips were trimmed shorter and some shots were removed so that the story flowed well while the video got shorter. The saying 'Less is more' often applies to video projects. I quickly noticed that I had been quite selective during filming, so there weren’t many adjustments to be made. Next, I went searching for a nice Christmas song. This usually takes a lot of time. After 2 hours, I made a choice. Based on the selected song, the timing of the shots was slightly adjusted. Since the camera position was static, I didn’t have to worry about stabilizing shots in post-production and could quickly move on to color grading. Color grading is one of my favorite aspects and would play a major role in the atmosphere of the video. This is, of course, an important part of any Christmas-themed video. We all know the TV commercials with cozy scenes, warm colors, and enchanting special effects. For this video, I wanted to approach that atmosphere without making the video feel too artificial. After making a reference grade for each scene, I fine-tuned it further and applied it to each shot so that they blended well together. A few shots required special handling. For the first shot of the exterior of the house, selective corrections were made to darken the scene more than it actually was. The shot where father and son are looking at the living room wall was layered, allowing the 'magical' effect to be applied. In the shot where father and son are standing by the map, there was an ugly shed in the background. This was removed using advanced masking tools, just as in high-budget productions. In the trunk shot, you see the rear of the car. Unfortunately, I only realized during editing that part of the license plate lighting was defective, so I had to fix it manually during the edit. It worked out quite well, but it took unnecessary time. Once the edit and color grading were nearly finished, I added the sound effects. No sound was recorded during filming. In the past, there were dedicated Foley artists who did this kind of thing. This time, I recorded and adjusted the sound effects myself using a directional microphone. The speech in the final shot was also added later. After quickly fine-tuning the sound levels, the horizontal video was complete.

The next challenge was to create a Vertical Video variant for social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and Facebook. The regular horizontal video had a duration of over 2 minutes. For the vertical video, this had to be reduced to a maximum of 1 minute. This was the limit for Instagram, and generally, shorter videos are watched longer and more frequently than longer ones. Although it's easier for phone users to hold their phones in portrait mode (vertical) when viewing their social feed, this orientation is a nightmare for videographers and cinematographers. It’s much less pleasant to watch, doesn’t align with the wider field of view of the eyes, and limits the horizontal space, causing the focus to be centered in the middle of the footage. These limitations detract from the environment of scenes and the freedom in the editing process. However, when filming, I had already considered the Vertical Video safe zone. Normally, I would film in Open Gate mode when accounting for delivering multiple video formats. That wasn’t possible in this case. The shortened duration was achieved by cutting and shortening shots. Due to the limited horizontal space, unfortunately, some nice details of the scenes were lost. I tried to minimize this by adding digital panning to some shots. The music was manually shortened to fit. In the end, both video formats were ready and set to be published on the social media channels. Were we still on time for Christmas? On December 21st, the Christmas commercial was uploaded, four days before Christmas. Although other Christmas commercials had a two-week head start, we immediately launched a promotion campaign on Facebook to spread the commercial. And even though the market for art is difficult, the video was still viewed a lot and we received many great reactions. But the greatest joy came from the appreciation we received from close family and friends. It was a short and intense adventure with ups and downs. The end result may not have been the most spectacular, but I look back with a lot of pride at the attempt and the effort to make something out of it. Despite health setbacks, during which I had trouble standing on my feet for almost the entire project, this adventure stands strong in my mind. I hope my son will be proud when he sees the video again someday. I know his grandfather, my father, was very proud. A collaboration of three generations.