Holiday video

Photos freeze a holiday; a film keeps the sound of the abra engine, the wind on the beach, the way the children run into the sea. Ninety minutes of filming becomes a 2–3 minute film and a 60-second vertical reel. The reel arrives in 3 to 5 days and the film in 2 to 3 weeks, because the edit, colour and music for a longer piece take that long to do properly. A clip-on microphone records anything you want heard, from a toast to a child’s first ride on an abra.

Video asks more of light and movement than photography does. Shots are built on actions — walking through a souk, stepping onto a boat, opening the curtains to the sea — so plan a place with things to do rather than a viewpoint to stand at. Old Dubai works in the morning, the Marina and JBR in the hour before sunset. Summer middays are avoided for the same reasons as with photos, and because heat shimmer softens distant towers on video. If you plan to post the film publicly, tell us, so the music suits the platforms.