Shooting PD for the BBC on a segment about Phare for The Travel Show
Working as a shooting PD (producer, director) on a segment on Cambodia about Phare for The Travel Show was one of those occasions where I feel lucky to have the job I do.
The shoot started at Phare Ponleu Selpak in Battambang to document the performing arts school before heading to Phare Circus in Siem Reap to catch a performance.
I’d never been to the school or the circus, but I’d heard a lot about both, so I was eager to find out what it was all about. The school is in a cool spot on the outskirts of Battambang. The walls are adorned with lots of colourful artwork, there’s a large practice hall and they even have a big top where performances are held.
I interviewed one of the founding members and one of the teachers before fimling some rehearsals and a performance that was taking place for a group of visiting school children.
From Battambang, I travelled to Siem Reap to film some interviews with some of the graduates of the performing arts school and to see a live performance. It was a great end to the shoot and I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Siem Reap who wants to see more than just the temples. Roll Up! Roll Up! Get Your Tickets Here…
Once again thanks to Nick at the team at Hanuman Films for giving me the opportunity. The segment is in the link below and starts at the 12-minute 28-second mark. You can see another segment I was shooting PD on about the Angkor Archaeological Park here and you can see more examples of my video production work here.
Working as a shooting producer, director on a segment about Cambodia for BBC’s The Travel Show. I filmed the school in Battambang and the circus in Siem Reap.
Producer, Director, Camera Op on a segment for the BBC Travel Show
It was an incredible opportunity to work as a producer, director and camera operator on a segment for The Travel Show, filmed at the Angkor Archeological Park in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The segment was broadcast on BBC World News in over 200 countries around the world.
The team at Hanuman Films made a segment in May 2020 at the height of Covid, when there were no tourists at the temples. The idea was to catch up with the same three people they interviewed two years on to see how things had changed since the borders had reopened and tourists were starting to slowly trickle back.
Hanuman Films were busy on another project, so Nick graciously passed the work on.
It was a whirlwind shoot as I had to travel from Battambang, secure filming permission to film at the temples at the last minute, find Reaksmey, Korn and Ousa and film everything within the space of 24 hours.
Reaksmey and Korn were easy enough to find as we still had contacts for them, but Ousa had left he job at a stall at Angkor Wat and lived in a small village 20km away. When we finally caught up with her, she was heavily pregnant but very kindly agreed to film an interview and some b-roll with us.
It was a pleasure working with the team at The Travel Show. They did a great job putting the edit together in record time. Hopefully, I will get to work with them again in the future.
You can see more examples of projects I’ve worked on as a producer, director and camera op here and check out some more of the documentary projects I’ve worked on here.
A segment of the BBC’s The Travel Show, I produced, directed and shot at the Angkor Temples in Cambodia
Working as a videographer for the NGO Kiva in Siem Reap, Cambodia
I spent three days working as a videographer and photographer for the international NGO Kiva to document a series of case studies to show how their work providing with people with loans so they can buy energy-efficient ACE cooking stoves helps to improve their livelihoods.
I worked closely with the team at ACE who are based in Siem Reap. We filmed five case studies with a mixture of male and female loanees who have bought the stove to give a representation of their typical customers.
All of the people we interviewed said that the stove had helped them save money in terms of the fuel costs, which is particularly important as rural Cambodian continues to recover from Covid-19.
Other opinions included that Kiva’s loan product was well-structured and without being able to pay the loan back in installments, they wouldn’t have been able to buy the stove. Other benefits included the ease of use and the fact that it produces less smoke than conventional stoves which is better for their health and their houses don’t get covered in soot.
It’s a great initiative and it was great to see how the stoves had reduced people’s fuel costs to free up money for them to spend on other essential items. Hopefully the videos can be used as a marketing to encourage more people to provide more loans for good causes like this one.
To find out more about the type of loans Kiva offer and how to get involved, you can visit their website.
You can see some of the photographs I took here and for more of my work an NGO videographer, you can watch my reel here.
NGO videographer to cover school feeding programme | On Assignment with WFP
I was hired to work as an NGO videographer for World Food Programme (WFP) in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The video was to highlight the ongoing activities of World Food Programme’s (WFP) school feeding programme and the support that they receive from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The programme has helped to build infrastructure at schools. This includes gardens the children are responsible for tending to, where they grow healthy, green vegetables that are a vital source of nutrition in the meals that the school provides for them. They have also built handwashing stations, so that the children can wash their hands before eating. Having a facility such as this and training children in washing their hands with soap regularly is very important and has been shown to improve attendance rates.
Another key aspect is upgrading the cooking and the food storage facilities. This allows the school cooks to prepare food in a more hygienic environment. After getting up before the break of dawn the cooks trek across the rice paddies in the dark to make sure that the school children have a healthy, nutritious meal that helps them to stay healthy and improves their concentration when studying.
It’s always rewarding providing WFP with videography services and it’s great to see responsibility for the programme being handed over to the Royal Government of Cambodia.
You can see other examples of my work as an NGO videographer for WFP here and 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:
