Ongoing collaboration as a videographer for the EU delegation to Cambodia
As part of an ongoing collaboration with the EU delegation to Cambodia, I was commission to work as a videographer for a series of videos about Erasmus +, The Youth Sounding board and the Inauguration of Phase II of Bakheng Water Treatment Plant.
Erasmus +
I had previously made a video about Cambodian students who want to study in study in the European Union to promote the Erasmus + programme.
This time I was commissioned to work as a videographer interviewing lecturers and civil servants who had visited Europe as part of the programme.
The people we interviewed spoke of the differences between universities in Europe and the universities in Cambodia, their experience of working with European lecturers, how the experience has informed their teaching and their experience in Europe.
Hopefully the video will raise awareness about Erasmus + in Cambodia and encourage more Khmers to participate.
I was also commissioned to make a video of H.E Som Ratana, Under Secretary of State for the MoEYS and the national focal point Erasmus + in Cambodia. He spoke of the benefits of the programme, his personal experience and encouraged Cambodians to participate.
Youth Sounding Board
I was also commissioned to make 2 videos to tell the stories of Mengkorn and Davit, 2 members of the Youth Sounding Board (YSB) in Cambodia.
The YSB gives young Cambodians a voice in EU cooperation overseas to make it more relevant and effective.
Mengkorn shared his experience of attending an education conference in Brussels and Davit shared her experience of visiting the Bakheng Water Treatment Plant as part of the YSB activities.
I shot the interviews and b-roll and worked closely with Sujash at Pixel Peers to create the intro sildes to the videos inline with the style guide for the YSB. This was complemented by archival footage and images the Mengkorn and Davit to give the videos a personal touch.
Inauguration of Phase II of Bakheng Water Treatment Plant
I worked as a videographer to make a video about the inauguration of phase II and the ground breaking of phase III of the plant.
H.E Aun Pornmoniroth, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, attended the ceremony.
"I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to all our development partners, especially the French Agency for Development (AFD) and the European Union (EU)," he said.
The plant supplies 390,000m3 of clean water across the capital per day.
You can see other examples of my videography work for the EU here and here.
Filming 2 social media videos about youth-led, climate change initiatives for UNICEF
As part of Kitty Van Der Heidjen’s visit to Siem Reap, I was asked to produce 2, short social media videos to showcase the young people’s climate-led initiatives.
The request was made on the second morning of the shoot, which didn’t give us much time, but the UNICEF communications team had a clear vision of what they wanted to achieve and everyone was in agreement that the young people’s campaigns were impressive. It was important to give young people a voice and the videos would be a strong tool for advocacy.
We decided to make two short videos. One about Fantastic 5, a group of five girls who had created an app to educate people about plastic use and deforestation.
The second video featured 3 of the young people’s campaigns including Fantastic 5, YOSO, a project about solar power and campaign about reducing the use of plastic in the community.
Fantastic 5
In Cambodia, it’s not uncommon for people to take videos and upload them to their own platforms. While it’s a complement for Apsara to post the video, the adverts for energy drinks they added aren’t really appropriate for the content!
Video showcasing 3 youth-led climate initiatives
Kitty Van Der Heidjen will be leading a UNICEF delegation to the COP29 conference in Azerbaijan and there will be representation from Cambodia.
My hope is that the videos can be shown at the conference and hopefully they can make a small change to give young people a voice at the table. It’s important that more resources are made available to support young people as ultimately the future of the planet is theirs.
Videographing Kitty Van Der Heidjen’s visit to Siem Reap for UNICEF
It was a pleasure to be contacted by UNICEF to make a video of Kitty Van Der Heidjen’s visit to Siem Reap. UNICEF’s communications department are always easy to work with. They have a clear vision of what they want to achieve. They provided me with a solid brief that we went over during pre-production so everyone was clear on what the outputs would be.
Kitty Van Der Heidjen is the Deputy Executive Director of Partnerships for UNICEF. She visited a school in Siem Reap to see how UNICEF has been supporting the life skill development for young people.
In the morning we visited a school and the students made presentations about their campaigns to raise awareness about the environment and climate change.
Kitty was impressed by what she saw. ‘I have been completely amazed by what I saw. In front of me on the podium, I had 12-year-olds, mostly girls, by the way, who were talking about climate change,’ she said.
‘They were talking about what they saw in their community. They were talking about what they saw in their community in terms of how that is impacting their lives. and the need to collect waste and the need to recycle waste,’ she added.
Kitty was also impressed by the tree planting campaign run by the students, ‘They were talking about planting trees and making sure that the trees were well-maintained, so that we could actually do something about climate change.’
In the afternoon we visited the communities to see the positive changes the young people’s projects had created.
‘A big part of what they are doing is not just talking about this in their classroom, but really talking to their parents, talking to other classmates, talking to their communities and making change happen,’ said Kitty.
It was a challenging shoot as Siem Reap was suffering from a heatwave and a severe drought that was taking away vital income from the communities surrounding the school.
‘The village pond, where they would take tourists to go on a boat ride is gone,’ said Kitty.
While the situation is dire, it was great to see youth-led initiatives making such a positive impact in their communities. Hopefully UNICEF can expand their work in this area both in Cambodia and globally and Kitty can mobilise more youth to join the Green Rising movement.
You can see more examples of my work with UNICEF here and here.
Capturing Commercial Drone Photography for Cambodain Zulite Stone
Panmin had a been in touch about about a corporate video and requested additional drone photographs for use on their website, print materials and at trade fairs.
I had recently bought a DJI Air 3 as I’d had a job that required indoor drone videography and photography and I’d hired a DJI Mini 3 Pro. With improved vision sensors and technology, the Air 3 was the ideal tool for the job.
The improved battery life enabled me to fly for extended periods while capturing all aspects of quartz processing.
While the 28mm lens was great at showing the scale of the factory, the new 70mm lens allowed me to punch in and use the drone for dolly shots to get in close and to highlight the key details of the process.
With the combination of sensor size, sensoring technology and dual lenses the Air 3 was the ideal tool for the job.
I also managed to capture a series of exteriors showing both the facitliy and the industrial park.
The client were happy with the result and have used the photos extensively on their website
You can see more examples of my drone photography here and here.
Corporate Videography Shoot for Cambodia Zulite Stone
I was contacted through my website to make a corporate video for Cambodia Zulite Stone Co. LTD. Their parent company was attending a trade show in New York, so they needed a corporate videographer to deliver a video they could show at the trade show to showcase the quartz products they make in their factory.
Despite the language barrier, the process was easy. They sent sample videos they’d shot and we communicated about the key aspects of the product and the key aspects of the process they wanted included.
I then travelled to their location and spent the afternoon recceing the factory before shooting the next morning.
A key aspect of what they wanted to show was the scale and capacity of their operation. Due to its omnidirectional vision system and a three-dimensional infrared sensing system my newly acquired DJI Air 3 was the ideal tool for flying inside their factory.
I also shot close ups on tripod to highlight the details and precision of the key parts of the process.
The edit was a smooth process. I quickly turned around 1st and 2nd edits and after receiving feedback, I made some final tweaks so the video was ready to present at the exhibition in New York.
The management at the factory were keen to show the favourable working conditions they’d created for their staff. The staff are given 3 square meals a day and are provided with accommodation as part of their contract. This allows them to save more money.
You can see more examples of my corporate videos here and here.