Every penny goes to Alder Hey Children's Charity
Father Christmas, caught on your doorbell camera.
Send us one still from your doorbell. We send back footage of him landing outside your house and letting himself in, ready for Christmas morning.
£4.99, and all of it goes to Alder Hey
50 of 50 spaces left this Christmas
Every penny goes to Alder Hey.
Alder Hey in Liverpool is one of the busiest children's hospitals in the country. Hundreds of thousands of children and their families come through its doors every year, and some of them will wake up there on Christmas morning.
The charity raises money for equipment and research at the hospital, and for the extras that make a stay there easier on a child.
I made the first of these for my own kids' Christmas. Then I thought other families might want one too, and that the money could go somewhere useful. I don't keep any of it.
Nathan
Where your £4.99 goes
- Your video
- £4.99
- Card fees
- I pay them
- Electricity and hosting
- I pay them
- To Alder Hey
- £4.99
Nothing raised yet. Yours could be the first.
If all 50 spaces fill, it'd be £249.50 for Alder Hey.
Here's one we made earlier.
It's a real doorstep, and this is what came back. Drag the handle across to see who turned up.
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Save a still from your doorbell
Open any clip in your doorbell app and save a frame with nobody in it. Day or night, any make of camera.
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Tell us where your front door is
So he walks the right way up your path. You choose the time on the clock in the corner, too.
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Pay £4.99
By card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. The whole £4.99 is passed on to Alder Hey.
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Wait for the email
He visits one house at a time. Watch your place in the queue, or get on with the wrapping.
This year's round is fifty houses.
Each video takes roughly 40 minutes to make on my server at home, and it can only do one house at a time, so we've kept the round short. A lit window is a house that's already on it.
50 spaces left
of 50 this Christmas
Nobody's waitingYours would be the first house he visits
The still that works best
Most doorbell stills are fine. Here's what helps.
These work
- A snapshot saved straight from the doorbell app
- Nobody in shot, and no pets
- Some open ground in view, like a drive or a lawn
- Day or night. Night vision tends to look the most real.
These don't
- A screenshot of your whole phone, buttons and all
- A photo taken of a screen
- Indoor cameras, or a view with no ground in it
- Anyone's face, including the postman's
How do I save a still from my doorbell?
In most apps you open a recorded clip or the live view, pause on a moment with nobody about, then use the camera or share button to save the picture to your phone. If your app only saves video, pause the clip, take a screenshot and crop it down to just the camera picture before you send it.
Grown-ups only How it really works. Check who's reading over your shoulder first.
The footage is made by AI video models running on a computer in my house. Your still is the starting frame, and the models add the sleigh, the reindeer and the man himself. Everything else is pinned to your original picture, because left alone the models let walls and windows drift about. Last of all it gets the grain and the ticking clock of a real doorbell camera.
Software checks every video at several points and remakes anything that looks wrong. It still doesn't get it right every time, which is why you get one free second take.
Your picture doesn't go to any AI company. It stays on my own machine behind a private link, and it's deleted 30 days after your footage is ready.
Questions people ask
The short answers. For anything else, email [email protected] and I'll reply myself.
Make our videoHow long does it take?
Roughly 40 minutes a video on my server at home, one at a time, so it depends how many houses are ahead of you. You'll see your place in the queue as soon as you've paid, and we email you when it's ready.
What if it doesn't work?
If your picture can't be used, you can send another and keep your place, or take a full refund. If the video isn't right, you get one free second take.
What happens to my picture?
The location data is stripped out when it arrives and nobody can see it without your private link. We delete it, and the video, 30 days after your footage is ready.
Is this run by Alder Hey?
No. It's my own fundraiser in aid of Alder Hey Children's Charity. The charity doesn't run it and isn't responsible for it.
Is it real?
Ask any child who's seen the footage. (Grown-ups, there's a straight answer in the box just above.)
Lost your link?
Put in the email address you ordered with and we'll send the link to your video again.