Format: Digi-Beta Running time: 13 mins Aspect ratio: 16/9 Visual Effects: After Effects 3d max Edited on: Adobe Premiere Broadcast: 25th Dec 2008 ITV IMDB page

STORY:

One cold Christmas Eve, two lost souls, are brought together by the magic of Christmas...

PRODUCTION: The poem "The Christmas Eve Snowfall", was writer Will Griffin's first poem after completing numerous short stories. After reading the poem, Director Paul Dudbridge approached Will to see if he would let it be made into a short film. The poem, all in rhyme, tells the story of how two people are brought together by the magic of Christmas. Paul comments "I thought it was an amazing piece of work and would make a great short in the style of "The Snowman" (1982), one of those great magical Christmas films that are just off reality. In my arrogance, I thought Will would jump at the idea, but he didn't. It was at this point I realised just how important the poem was to him. We had a few meetings to talk about what I wanted to do with the film, which was where the notion of an actor like Joss Ackland or Patrick Stewart could narrate the poem." Ackland said "yes" and pre-production began...

Now, the production team had five months to prepare for the main shoot. The look of the film was decided early on. "The poem has a strange timelessness - a simple naive time. There is no direct reference to a period, but I didn't want to see Playstations under the tree. I wanted old-fashioned bikes and big packages filled with gifts you might imagine from your childhood. It was like a dream of Christmas." comments Paul Dudbridge.

Director of Photography Johnny Rogers was brought in straight away. Meetings were held to talk about the look of the film and recce locations. Also brought on board at this time were Music Composer John Tippet and Mark Turner from MTFX. Mark Turner agreed to supply all the snow effects for the film.

Principle photography for "The Christmas Eve Snowfall" took place from January 2nd to January 4th 2005. With the poem covering three separate locations, a day was scheduled for each. A cliff top location was needed for the beginning of the poem, so cliffs in the surrounding area were visited. In the end, Uphill in Weston-Super-Mare was chosen for it's cliff top that boasts a sheer cliff face with no trees or bushes to take anything away from the rawness and sheer 100ft drop. Safety was paramount, as visiting the cliff in the daylight was one thing, but the poem takes place completely at night. "The problem with shooting at night, is the complications that comes with it" comments Director Of Photography Johnny Rogers. "We needed so much light to light the cliff face or you wouldn't see anything. Lights of this size (HMI 2.5) need steady power, so generators had to be brought in." It was also a test for actor Ben Pavord who was playing the part of Macmillian Croy, to deliver a performance in these surroundings. "The poem states clearly that there was no wind or breeze and that's exactly what we had on that cliff top. So close ups had to be shot inland and in more practical surrounding. However, this meant trying to deliver an emotional and intense performance of a man about to commit suicide with a large noisy generator running 10 ft away and crew watching on."

Additional scenes for the film included scenes that book end the film which follow a young girl on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas morning. Claudia McNally played the young girl and Emma-Jane Portch (from Sky's "Mile High") played her mother. "It was important to contrast the main story;the two lost souls with Christmas being such a bad time for them, with that of others who we see all excited and sharing the company of family and friends." comments Paul Dudbridge. "They aren't mentioned in the poem, but the fantastic intro allows us time to show these other things before the story starts.

For the scene covering the other half of the story, that of Penny Blake, the lonely woman who now also spends Christmas alone, the film makers chose a cottage in Portishead, near Bristol. "It was a classic location for this type of setting. A cottage completely surrounded by trees, left in it's own world." says Lisa Ruthven who was portraying Penny Blake. "With it's old fire place and beautiful decorations it was perfect for us." The front parts of the cottage had to be completely covered in snow to match the time of year and the story. A blanket of white covered the plants, holly and the door.

Joss Ackland's film credits include: Lethal Weapon 2, Miracle on 34th Street, Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey and K19: The widowmaker, The Hunt For Red October, White Mischief and The Sicilian.

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