A baraat in a film from Lahore or Jaipur has a street that opens. A baraat in London often has a hotel canopy, a bus lane, and a manager who wants the dhol finished before the next function. The feeling the family wants is the same. The geography is not. Shoot the geography you have, and lead it.
Three positions
- Ahead of him, walking backwards, 35mm, gimbal or a steady pair of hands. This is the face through the sehra.
- Inside the procession, near the dhol but not in the drummer’s arc. Brothers, sisters, the mess of it.
- A long lens at the venue door that does not leave, even when the dancing looks better. The arrival is why the street happened.
Two people can cover three positions if the long lens is planted before the cars move and the backwards walker is free. One person cannot. The shot you will lose is the door, because the dancing is louder.
The spotter
The person walking ahead does not also watch the pavement. A spotter holds a hand on their shoulder and says kerb, guest, horse. This is not an extra. It is how you do not injure an uncle and how you keep the take. Tell the spotter they are allowed to pull you off the line. Praise is useless from a hospital.
Horse, car, sehra
A horse in a forecourt is a large, nervous collaborator. Do not flash it. Do not put a gimbal under its nose. The tack and the flowers are a still, from the side, before it is asked to stand still for a photograph it does not understand. A car that has been dressed to feel like a procession is not a failure of tradition. Film the flowers, the sisters at the window, the door opening. The sehra is the portrait either way: eyes through flowers or beads, a little shade on the face, which the flowers are already giving you.
If a Qur’an is held above him at the threshold, or a garland is waiting, the energy drops in one cut. You should already know which custom this family uses. Ask in the morning. A low-angle hero shot of a book is the wrong frame. A still doorway, his head, the hands, is the right one.
The hinge
Sikh baraats end at a gurdwara door: shoes, head coverings, the dhol staying outside. Muslim arrivals often fall quiet a few metres before the nikah, especially if a recitation starts. A Hindu baraat can spill further, and still should not follow a gimbal into the mandap. The film needs the hinge. If your cut carries the drum under the first prayer, you have not arrived.
What London will not give you
A drone over a street in this city is usually illegal and always a distraction. Rain is normal. A cover on the cinema body, a cheap stills body, and an acceptance that the white sherwani will be brighter than the sky. Find an edge — the canopy, the horse, a tree — so his face is not a disc. Do not wait for golden hour. The hotel has a time, and the time is not yours.
Scout the forecourt the day before if you can. The door you think is the entrance is sometimes the kitchen.