Props & Costume: Some 'Oh-So-Convenient' Coincidences

The reason I'm saying we had some 'Oh-so-convenient coincidences' is because of the fact that just by chance, we had created ourselves a project that didn't require a hefty budget (next post) or many props. All we actually needed to take with us was some cash and our equipment - maybe some sunglasses too, it's HOT in Lahore!!!

Just think about it: our character doesn't need anything in her dream. What we did need to work on though, was Zara's costume, which I'll talk about in this post. I called Zara the night before the shoot to decide on what we'd do for the costume, after which she sent me two options. Both were white shalwar kameez, just with different color accents (and one of those was the kameez she wore for our preliminary task).

Our call led to 2 discussions: one "problem" being that we've both changed significantly over the last few months, both physically and mentally (thank you, A'Levels) so the change would be visible on camera, especially if she wore the same kameez, further pointing to the an important question:

"ARE WE USING THE PRELIMINARY OR NOT?"

This question had been very much in the air, but unaddressed, since we weren't sure of what we'd do and how the shoot would go. To elaborate, the question was more on whether we'd shoot the same scenes all over again (recreating them) OR if we'd shoot MORE to contribute to the original, utilizing shots from both the preliminary and the second shoot. The latter was the obvious choice - looking back I think the Ramadan fasts were getting to us because this wasn't a question we should've asked in the first place. Our shots from the first shoot were visually stunning, if I do say so myself. It's what we started with and saw potential in, so there was no use in wasting perfectly good and useful footage.

Now that we had that sorted, it was automatically decided that Zara would wear the same outfit as she did in the preliminary. It had the perfect shades of pink, green and white that made her stand out in the lighting and architecture of our location. The pink dupatta was the perfect pop of color, and the straight pants were the perfect modernist touch to an otherwise traditional outfit.

Furthermore, an important aspect of Zara's costume was her jewelry - more specifically, her bangles. Personally, I think bangles are some of the most beautiful accessories from South Asia. I have a humongous collection, because they're just such graceful pieces of jewelry, and anyone can carry them well. So of course, matching green and pink bangles was a given, especially since we wanted close-ups of Zara's hands. Next, we had her shoes - "khussas" to be precise. She wore these for the preliminary and they were a perfect match. As mentioned above, since we were taking close-ups of elements of Zara's attire, we needed everything matching perfectly.

A character's attire tends to make or break a shot, along with audience outlooks, I believe. It needs to compliment its surroundings, integrating them instead of clashing with them - it is what makes a shot or a frame completely cohesive. So that was an extremely important factor, one I'm glad worked out in our favour.