Light! Light! Light! Okay. Got it? Good!

When shooting scenes such as “Sleigh Landing” or “Sleigh Takeoff” (or using any other scene outside), you’ll want to make sure you have plenty of sunshine. Dusk often works well to give the feeling of night, while still having enough light so that Santa and his reindeer don’t have a radioactive glow about them. These scenes were created so that you would have the most flexibility and the most detail possible. Hence, day time is the best time to shoot these scenes.

Note: Shooting on a cloudy day often improves believability as well.  This helps with unexplained shadows.

But why did Santa come to our house before midnight?

You can come up with your own story as to why you were able to catch Santa at a “weird” time. Many parents tell their kids he was just doing a test run to scope out the landing. Plus, reindeer need practice for long flights after their summer break.