Dear Santa cash effect

A wide living room where the chimney pours notes down onto the waiting letter. a wide shot of a plain living room with a folded letter placed open on the hearth, plain unmarked paper notes pouring down out of the chimney in a steady column and building a heap that spreads across the hearth and onto the rug, the outer notes sliding off the pile and drifting under the armchair, the stockings on the mantel swinging in the downdraught, the camera holding wide and low as the heap grows

In a wide attic the letter lifts to the rafters and notes fall in its place. a wide shot of a dusty attic lit by one skylight, a sealed cream envelope rising slowly from the floorboards up towards the rafters, disappearing into the dark between the beams, and plain unmarked paper notes immediately beginning to fall from the same gap, turning in the skylight beam and landing across the boxes and the floor, dust lifting where they land, the camera tilting down with the fall

A flap opens by itself and a thick fan of blank notes spreads on the table. a sealed cream envelope lying on a scrubbed kitchen table, the flap lifting on its own with the gum stretching and parting, and a thick fan of plain unmarked paper notes sliding steadily out and spreading across the table beside the folded letter, the notes overlapping and settling flat, the envelope staying the same small size the whole time, morning light from a window, the camera directly overhead and static

Blank notes leave the letter and sort themselves into three even piles. the folded letter open on a bedside table under a lamp, plain unmarked paper notes rising off the letter a few at a time and sorting themselves in mid-air into three even stacks that build on the table beside it, each stack tapping itself square as it grows, the letter flattening out as the last notes leave it, the lamp shade throwing a warm circle, the camera close at table height and drifting slowly right

A short letter of looping scrawl is folded, licked and pressed shut. a child sized hand at a small desk by a frosted window finishing a short letter of looping illegible scrawl, setting the pencil down, folding the page into three firm creases, sliding it into a cream envelope and pressing the flap down flat with a thumb, the paper crackling, a drawn star in the corner of the page disappearing as the flap closes, low winter light across the desk, the camera close and overhead

Blank notes drop out of the chimney and gather in a heap on the hearth. a dark brick fireplace with the folded letter lying open on the hearth, plain unmarked paper notes beginning to drop one at a time out of the flue above, then falling faster in a loose column and heaping up over and around the letter, soot puffing out with each drop, a few notes catching the draught and gliding onto the rug, the room otherwise still, the camera low and square to the hearth

A long desk where notes leave the letter and build three counted piles. a wide shot of a long bare desk in a plain study with the folded letter at one end, plain unmarked paper notes streaming out of the letter in a low arc and building three neat counted stacks along the desk, each stack squaring itself off as it reaches the same height, the letter left flat and empty, a desk lamp the only light and the corners of the room dark, the camera easing in along the length of the desk

A sealed envelope rises off the hearth and disappears up the flue. a sealed cream envelope propped against the fire grate on a brick hearth, it tips forward, lifts clear of the bricks and rises steadily up into the dark of the chimney, turning once as it goes, a light fall of soot coming down where it passed and settling on the grate, the fire below burning low and unchanged, the camera tilting up from the hearth to follow the envelope into the flue

A wide garden path where a dropped envelope lays a trail of notes to the door. a wide shot of a snow-covered front garden path at dusk with a cream envelope lying halfway along it, the flap opening and plain unmarked paper notes fanning out of it in a line that runs on up the path to the front step, each note pressing a shallow print into the snow, the porch light coming on at the end of the trail, no footprints anywhere, the camera dollying slowly forward along the path

A returned envelope lands fat with notes and splits at the seam. a cream envelope drops through a letter slot onto a doormat and lands heavily, visibly swollen and straining at the seam, the paper creaking as the seam parts and the corners of plain unmarked notes push out of the gap, one note sliding free onto the mat, the slot flap tapping shut above, hall light across the mat bristles, the camera low on the floor and pushing in on the split seam