We recently had a request to shoot a Christening. Is seems pretty simple, but I'm concerned that there won't be enough things going on to make an interesting video. The family is Catholic, so it's basically a Catholic Mass with baptizing at the end. So far so good, but based on Christenings I've attended the reception consists of a blessing and the people eating. Not very visually interesting.

What kind of stuff could we add to make the video more entertaining?

Treat it like a wedding shoot. Get shots of the baby's dress, veil, mom dressing up the baby, shoes, all the details. Shot with the God parents, mom & dad, etc.

After that you got nothing else to do but document the event. On a brighter note the priest is usually not that strict in terms of movement.

Hope this helps.

Allow for the possibility of the baby screaming all the way through the Baptism when planning the shoot. (Happened once to me.) A lav on the priest lets you salvage most of the event and a shotgun facing the congregation will pick up singing and responses (the organ will take care of itself). I know of no software plugin which will mask a determined infant.

It the child is really hollering the priest will tend to back off from him/her a bit and that helps, but there comes a point when you are really going to hear it as the actual Baptism takes place.

May this not happen to you!