A "jewel" (and a Jimmy Jib) in Woking

Thursday March 13 - Friday March 14, Woking, England

Kairouan, Prague, Budapest, Istanbul, Singapore, Jerusalem… Woking

Should I confess that both the cameraman, Tim Knight and I are steeled for disappointment after the thrills of previous weeks? After all, we’re driving to an industrial estate on the outskirts of Woking. It’s early in the morning, it's drizzling and it’s cold. We’re stuck in traffic on the M25 and our uncharitable mutterings feel entirely justified.
That is, until we turn into Oriental Road, Woking and catch our first glimpse of the Shah Jahan Mosque. The first purpose-built mosque in Europe (outside of Muslim Spain), the Shah Jahan Mosque is a delightfully modest, compact and individual building – Tim and I take the drive-way round the entire building and are charmed by its dimensions, colour and other-worldliness. We head off, in much better spirits, for that staple of crew-food, the egg sandwich.

Awaiting us on our return is interviewee, Brother Khalil. Treasurer of the Mosque Committee, local resident and a convert from Christianity, Khalil proves a really able communicator, almost a born presenter. We take advantage of a break in the drizzle and Khalil performs an impeccable on-camera introduction to the Mosque.
Built in 1889 by orientalist Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner, the mosque (part of a greater Oriental Institute) was designed to help acclimatise visiting dignitaries from foreign Islamic communities, and to offer them a place to worship.

Leitner died ten years on and the mosque fell into disuse – until a visiting Indian lawyer, Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, established an Islamic mission there. Daily prayers were commenced and soon an influential, articulate and passionate group of converts began to devote themselves to spreading Islam. One of the earliest converts was Lord Hedley who would later make a speech to the House of Lords reminding the British Government that there were more Muslim subjects than Christians in the Empire, and beseeching the Government to do a better job of representing them.
By 1924, there was a total Muslim population of 10,000 in Britain (mostly based around Woking). The population rocketed after the Second World War due to a large number of Muslim immigrants but conversely the influence of the Woking mosque declined as attention became re-focussed on the capital.

It’s a compelling story and it’s well told by Khalil. He talks to us outside the mosque and then takes us inside. He’s a great advocate of the building, describing it as one of the architectural “jewels” of Islamic art and I believe he’s justified. There’s something very pleasing about the building’s proportions and scale. The local worshippers are also very welcoming, and excited about what we’re doing.

We break for a late lunch and the afternoon is spent filming an in-the-car interview, partly to introduce a different quality to the film. It works pretty well but we’re concerned about the number of driving shots we have time to film (these will be cut around the interview). By the time we get round to filming some up-and-past car shots, the light is fading, it’s raining again and Tim and I are concerned about whether the interview will cut with the other images. I’m sure Holly, the editor, will let us know soon enough… in no uncertain terms.
The next day, and we’ve got the morning to film the mosque itself. We’ve even brought a toy. It’s a Jimmy Jib – a small-ish crane which can extend to over thirty feet and is often used to circle over studio crowds. We’ve tried to be quite spare with toys during the rest of the shoot; not only are they expensive but occasionally if the photography becomes too whizzy, the audience stops listening to the interviewee or looking at the building and instead becomes a little distracted by the snazzy moves.

That said, the Shah Jahan Mosque lends itself to the use of a crane – not only can one better appreciate the building’s design but one can also “locate” the mosque in its surroundings and, inside, get some extraordinary shots of the mihrab. If we’re careful, we think we can really lift the visuals of the mosque which might otherwise appear a little “flat” on a grey day.
Operating the crane is Arun and he’s ably assisted by an assistant, Jenny. It’s a remarkably skilful job and requires extraordinary precision, dexterity and control – the camera itself can be tilted or panned at the same time as the crane is being arced around or craned higher or lower. Add in controls of focus and exposure, and erm... the pressure of manoeuvring fifty thousand pounds-worth of camera within inches of walls, and I’m left in awe of Arun.

I’m delighted with the results, and even more pleased with Khalil’s interview – the Shah Jahan Mosque might not possess the visual splendour of the Dome of the Rock but it brings another, uniquely British flavour to the series. (Seb Grant)