We recently filmed a video for Burleydam Garden Centre, based in Ellesmere Port, to promote its range of Christmas trees and decorations. The video featured a tree being put up and decorated in just seconds while their Christmas Designer, Fred, explained what he was doing, and how certain decorations and colour combinations worked.

The video was shot in around 90 minutes from start to finish one frosty Thursday evening in Burleydam’s Christmas tree section, using a two-camera set up.

The first camera was our Sony NEX. This was used for the interview section of the video, and to film close-up shots of the tree being put up and decorated. A set of Sony radio mics were used for the interview section, and a two-light setup was employed. Lights from the Christmas trees and the shop floor were also used to add depth to the picture.

The time lapse aspect of the video was filmed using the new GoPro Hero 7 Black, mounted to a tripod. The time lapse was set to 30 times regular speed, and the ‘putting up of the tree’ and the ‘decorating of the tree’ were shot as two separate videos and then edited together afterwards.

Even at 30 times the speed, the running time of the time lapse was around 75 seconds – so we needed to increase the speed further in post-production to achieve the required 60-second video. In fact, the time lapse aspect of the finished video was completed in around 58 seconds, in order to allow for the final shot of the fully decorated Christmas tree to appear at the end of the video.

For those of you wondering, the whole process of putting up and decorating the tree actually took around 45 minutes.

The new GoPro Hero 7 Black actually features built-in image stabilisation technology, which minimises camera shake when moving. Of course, this wasn’t needed at all for the time lapse video but I wanted to mention it nonetheless. We’ll be making good use of that feature in upcoming videos.

The footage was edited using Adobe Premier, with titles, graphics, added snow and a royalty-free rendition of ‘O Christmas Tree’ overlaid for good measure. This made the whole video come together in a really festive style.

The final video has been used on Burleydam Garden Centre’s Facebook Page, and has been embedded into the company’s newsletter mailshots.