The Lost List: How We Made Our Christmas Short Film
Where the Idea Began
A few weeks before Christmas, we started wondering if a small shop like ours could make something with the heart of a John Lewis ad—without the agency, the budget, or the London boardroom. Every year, the retail behemoths roll out their blockbusters, buying up prime-time TV slots for hundreds of thousands, hiring celebrity narrators, and flooding every channel with their message. The odds are stacked: a handful of mega-brands with unfair advantages, and the rest of us trying to be heard from the high street.
But social media has started to level the playing field. For once, a good story can travel as far as a big budget—if it connects. That’s where our idea began: tell a story about kindness, community, and something warm for mum, and see if it could reach beyond our four walls.
From Scribble to Story
We began with a rough story: a boy, a lost letter, a kind dog, a stranger on a bench, and a Christmas wish. The first step was scribbling out a storyboard—boxes and arrows, stick figures and notes, mapping out each beat from the kitchen table to the snowy street.
Bringing the Characters to Life
Each character—boy, dog, older woman, postie—needed to feel real, even in a world drawn from scratch. We spent days refining their look, from the boy’s navy coat and berry jumper to the older woman’s green coat and red scarf, making sure every detail stayed consistent across scenes.
Animating the Key Moments
With the story locked, we animated each key sequence:
- The boy writing his letter
- The dog finding it in the snow
- The older woman reading it on the bench
- The postie delivering kindness
- The town coming together
Each shot was built and rebuilt, aiming for a soft, modern storybook feel—minimalist but full of warmth.
Stitching It All Together
Once the scenes were ready, we stitched everything together in a video editor—lining up shots, adding gentle transitions, and making it feel like a real short film. Only then did we write the final script and record the narration, timing the story so the words and pictures matched.
Tweaks, Reshoots, and the Final Touches
The first cut was 1:45, but we realized the story needed more room to breathe. So we went back, reshot a few scenes, and added new ones to better fit the narrative. We finished by adding music, sound, and the title card: The Lost List.
What We Learned
It was a mix of shoe shop by day, animation studio by night, and a lot of “one more tweak and then we’re done, honestly.” We learned that you don’t need a big budget to tell a story with heart—just some patience, a good cup of tea, and a bit of Christmas magic. Social media gave us a shot at sharing that story, no matter how small our team or modest our means.
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