On Location as a Lighting Camera Operator and Sound Recordist for the European Union
With very short notice, I was called upon to work for the EU as a lighting camera operator and sound recordist on The Third Global Conference on Assistance to the Victims of Anti-Personnel Mines and Other Explosive Ordnance in a Disability Rights Context.
This was second job of part of a very productive relationship working as the lead videographer with Landel Mills to provide a range of video content for the EU delegation in Cambodia.
I lit the interviews with 2 x Aputure Storm 300D mkii LEDs and ran a Sony a7iv and a7siii to give us 2 angles. I was also using 3 x Sennheiser radio mics with a combination of the Sony XLR-K3M Dual-Channel Digital XLR Audio Adapter Kit and a Zoom h4n Pro sound recorder to give me 3 channels when interviewing 2 people.
Below are some of the behind-the-scenes images, kindly provided by Nick Sells who was covering the event as a photographer. Nick Ray was also interviewing people. It was great to work with Nick again, who as ever, came fully-prepared with engaging questions.
The event was presided over by H.E. Ly Thuch, First Vice President of the Cambodia Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, H.E igor Driesmans, the EU Ambassador to Cambodia and H.R.H Prince Mired Raad Zeid Al Hussein of Jordan.
Funded by the EU and hosted by the Cambodia Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) the conference promoted the end of suffering and new casualties caused by anti-personnel mines.
The video was well received and the EU commissioned a shorter version to be distributed on their social media channels.
In Novermber 2024, Cambodia will host the world host the Convention's Fifth Review Conference in Siem Reap, Cambodia from 25 to 29 November 2024.
You can see more examples of my work as a lighting camera operator here and here.
Working as a Lighting Camera Operator on a Corporate Shoot for Advertainment Media
Jordan, the head of production for Advertainment Media, got in touch with me through my website about working as a lighting camera operator and recording sound for a series of corporate interviews they wanted to shoot for FFNews Show, which they produce.
It was great working with a production company with a clear vision of what they wanted to achieve. The process was straightforward: I was provided with a sample video and we discussed the technical requirements of the shoot and the equipment needed.
Taylor, the producer, did a great job of providing call sheets and securing the locations, which allowed my team to fully focus on our job.
We filmed the interviews at some of the leading financial institutions in Cambodia. The scheduling gave us time to arrive in advance to prepare the locations and set up lighting, cameras and sound before the talent arrived.
We went with a 3 camera set up (1x Sony a7siii and 2x Sony a7ivs), to give us a wide and a close up of both Douglas, the presenter. and the interviewee, 2 x Aputure LS 300D II lights and a radio mic each, with a backup in case there were any interviews with 2 people at the same time.
Below are a few behind the scenes photos Taylor kindly took:
Below are 2 more episodes Advertainment Media edited from the shoot. They were happy with the final results. It’s always good to see the final product when someone else has done a good job with the edit.
You can see more examples of my work as a lighting camera operator here.
On location in Phnom Penh as a lighting camera operator for ITN Productions and Everland
ITN contacted me to work as a lighting camera operator in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on a shoot they had for Everland. They also asked me to recommend a journalist to write and present the piece and conduct the interviews.
Everland help to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cambodia counties the REDD+ initiative. Hopefully, giving Cambodia carbon credits to not cut down their trees will preserve the natural forests and their ecosystems, allow people living traditional lifestyles in the forests to continue do so.
The scheme will hopefully have a positive impact on the environment as a whole. Unfortunately, the reality of the situtation is that there’s too much money in the timber in the forest, so the only viable option is to provide a financial impetus to conserve the forests.
Everland partner with a local production company here, so they kindly provided me with a sound recordist for the day while we shot all the Phnom Penh footage and I worked as a lighting camera operator for the interviews and pieces to camera for the intros and outros.
The studio intro was shot at the ITN studios in London, where I had the privilege of working for a few months when I was based in the UK.
On a personal level, it was an interesting project as I’ve spent extended periods working with indigenous Bunong in Mondulkiri while working on Last of the Elephant Men and have since worked with the mahouts at Elephant Valley Projects for Wild Animal Protection and on a self-funded pilot for a travel show.
Lighting camera operator on corporate shoot with CEO of Forte Insurance
Ooshot contacted me to work as a lighting camera operator on a corporate video shoot with the CEO of Forte Insurance Cambodia as the main interview on some branded content for Scor, a global reinsurance company. I also filmed b-roll of the CEO in their offices in Vattanac Tower and interiors and exteriors of the office space.
The brief was clear and Ooshot provided me with a good samples of what they wanted.
It was a 2 camera, 4k set up with 3-point lighting using Aputure 300c MKii lights. One of the cameras was locked off on a Miller DS10 tripod and the other was on a Zhiyun Crane 3 gimbal to add movement and dynamism to the interview.
We worked as a 3 person team with me acting as the producer, director and lighting camera op. The other team members were a lighting/ camera asssitant and sound recordist.
For the sound recording the we used a shotgun mic on a boom stand and a radio mic as a belt and braces approach to make sure we captured optimal sound.
For the lighting, we used the hyper reflector and the 2x fresnel mount through scrims to maximize the brightness of the lamps to balance the light with the bright outdoor conditions.
You can see more of my work on corporate videos as a lighting camera op here and more of my work as a camera operator here.
Lighting camera operator for BECL Corporate Video
A corporate video about testing construction materials for BECL.
It was great working as a lighting camera operator and drone pilot with Christina and the teams from Cast Laboratories Singapore and Cast Laboratories Cambodia to produce this corporate video for Board of Engineers Cambodia Laboratory (BECL).
The video highlights the work that BECL do to emphasize the importance of testing and ensure safety standards in both existing and new structures in the burgeoning Cambodian construction market. This is an increasingly important job as the construction boom in Phnom Penh and many areas of Cambodia shows little sign of slowing down.
The corporate video demonstrates the tests Cast Laboratories do in Cambodia, including compression strength testing of concrete, testing steel and concrete in a non-destructive way, rebar tensile testing and many more of the services they provide.
My work as a lighting camera operator included working with two, Apurture C300D ii lights and 2 LED panels to give the video clean, even lighting to highlight the technical processes. Overall the client was very happy with the quality of the images I shot. The variety I provided them with allowed them to create split-screen segments in post-production to add dynamism to the final video. You can see another corporate video I shot here and more examples of my camera work here.
Here are some behind the scenes (BTS) photos of me in action:
