Case study · Incolour Films
Chadar
A period piece music video shot in Caledon, Ontario.
How Incolour Films used locations, production design, wardrobe and camera choices to make Caledon, Ontario play as 1950s Punjab for the music video Chadar.
- Project
- Chadar
- Artist
- Harman
- Format
- Music Video
- Year
- 2022
- Location
- Caledon, Ontario
- Shoot
- 1 day, including day and night scenes
- Incolour Role
- Producer and Director
01
The brief
Create a music video set in 1950s Punjab using locations in Caledon, Ontario.
02
What Incolour handled
- Producing and directing
- Location curation
- Visual-world and production-design approach
- Framing choices that concealed modern surroundings
03
The production challenge
Chadar is set in 1950s Punjab.
The production had to create that world in Canada while avoiding the modern buildings, roads, technology and construction styles that could immediately reveal the location.
04
How we approached it
Finding the right Canada
Location selection was the first major decision.
Caledon offered the rural landscape needed to support the illusion, including corn fields and access to a gurdwara that could sit naturally within the world of the piece.
The goal was not to recreate every detail of Punjab literally. It was to find the Canadian elements that already carried the right visual language, then control everything around them.
Building the period
The period look was shaped through a combination of production choices:
- Location curation
- A gurdwara
- Corn fields and rural landscapes
- Key props and Punjabi cultural details
- Wardrobe colour palette
- Art direction
- An older Jeep used as the picture vehicle
- Framing that avoided modern roads, buildings and technology
- Colour grading and a film-inspired finish
Costumes were sourced by the artist, while the broader visual world and production design approach were curated through Incolour.
Hiding modern Canada
A large part of making the location work was knowing what not to show.
Modern construction, road infrastructure, contemporary technology and other recognizably Canadian elements had to be hidden, avoided or framed out.
Camera placement became part of the production design.
One day, two worlds of light
The music video was shot in a single day and included both daytime and nighttime material.
That compressed schedule meant the team had to make the location, art direction and visual continuity work quickly while also managing the transition from daylight into night.
05
The result
The day-and-night music video was filmed in Caledon in one shoot day, using the rural locations and controlled period details to represent 1950s Punjab.
Production capability
Chadar demonstrates something directly relevant to international and Punjabi productions considering Canada:
A Canadian location does not always have to look Canadian.
With the right landscape, production design, wardrobe, picture vehicles, framing and finishing, the location can be shaped around the world the story requires.
06
Key credits
- Producer / Director
- Haad Bakshi
- Director of Photography
- Marco De Acetis
- Artist
- Harman
- Costumes
- Sourced by the artist
07
Watch the final piece
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