He Who Fathered Christmas (2017) watch online HD

From 1930s America to ancient Rome, here's your chance to catch a glimpse behind the origins of one of the world's most famous figures.

This is the first documentary ever created by the director, with the research and script completed in the space of about a fortnight. Since his days as a history student, the director had wanted to do a documentary for a long time.

The director termed the project a 'specumentary' (speculative documentary), given the nature of its content, part of which harks back to mythology. Also, the piece does not progress chronologically like most documentaries but rather goes backwards in time. This was done on purpose to use modern references to connect more with a general audience. As the first solo project since his mother's passing in the summer of 2016, a dedication to her memory is given at the start of the end credits. Furthermore, the director's father makes some cameo appearances in the documentary himself in view of this.

Given that the documentary is an educational piece, it is the first independent project not set within an extended fictional universe (aside from the presence of elves in the opening and closing dramatisations).

For 'He Who Fathered Christmas', Colin Bailey was sought out by the director for his "calm and soothing voice" although this was actually Colin's second time working with the director. Back in 2009, Colin and his son Alex (from the heavy metal band, 'Sylosis') composed, performed and recorded a musical of sixteen themes for the director's first ever film, 'Choir of Camelot'.

Most of the narrator's lines and some of the documentary's dramatisations were recorded at a local studio however some scenes from 'All-Inclusive' and 'Ev'ry Scallywag' were recycled to provide extra footage. The majority of the footage however was shot on location over the course of a month before christmas.

Whilst shooting the documentary, the director visited specific locations in Hampshire, Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Somerset in order to capture some of the visuals. Due to be released online in time for christmas of 2016, prolonged rendering times meant that the director had to put the release date back an entire year.

For narrative purposes and to make the documentary suitable for families, the real Father Christmas is only hinted at but never revealed, his character being played by several different people so as not to disillusion younger audiences.

The documentary's royalty free music, which incorporated several historical themes, was sourced online and taken from songs in the public domain. In fact, one song entitled 'Stars and Stripes' became the name of the first segment when the documentary was originally split into three parts.

Graham Botterill, named as 'reconstruction cast' in the end credits, was similarly picked for possessing a good 'narratorial voice' to read the quotations. You may also recognise him from the 'All-Inclusive' segments, in which he played multiple roles during the flashback scenes.

'Gaudete', which featured in credits scenes, was performed by the director and his wife for the end credits sequence, the song itself being a sixteenth century latin carol free from copyright.