​The Story​

 

Tawangchu Tides is a whitewater rafting and kayaking competition held in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, bringing together players from across India and internationally. Having worked in the adventure sports space before, Capture And Motion was brought on to document the full competition, from the team's journey into Tawang through to the event itself, as a documentary-style event film.

The shoot began before the players even left Guwahati, documenting the team packing kayaks and gear ahead of a planned 15-hour drive into Tawang. Coverage continued throughout the journey across changing terrain, including an unplanned overnight stop at an army camp when snow blocked the mountain roads ahead.

The team of 6 split coverage across every vehicle in the convoy, with one camera person per vehicle alongside the players, coordinated in real time over walkie-talkies to stay in sync and avoid missing key moments. Ground coverage was paired with aerial footage at key points along the route, including Sela Pass, shot within the operational limits set by the army's presence in the area.

Once in Tawang, the team covered the players' river recce, walking the course with them as they read the water and studied the gate setup ahead of competition day, alongside establishing shots and interviews for the documentary.

When the competition began, the energy on the riverbank was unmistakable, players from across the country and abroad, gates set across three distinct competition categories, and a course that demanded as much precision from the crew as it did from the athletes. Coverage ran across multiple competition days, split between both banks of the river and in the air, tracking each run as boats threaded the gates in fast water. The team stayed mobile throughout, repositioning between categories to catch every heat without losing the flow of the event, capturing the sport the way it actually happened, not staged, not repeated, one run at a time.

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Impact

 

Full Event Documented, Start to Finish - From the packing in Guwahati to the final competition day, nothing in between was missed.

Ground and Air, Fully Synced - Real-time walkie-talkie coordination across a 6-person team meant no camera ever missed a key moment.

Delivered Despite the Odds - Blocked roads, high-altitude terrain, and equipment losses along the way didn't stop the story from being told in full.

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