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.
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.
On The Trail - Working as a Videographer for the EU
It was an action packed few days on the road working as a video following the press tour to promote the Cashew Value Chain in Cambodia for the European Union.
The press tour kicked off with a launch event at the Phnom Penh, before moving on to Kampong Thom, Kratie and Stung Treng.
The aim of the tour was to look at the available processing facilities, promote the value chain and to ultimately improve exports direct to Europe.
Our job was to get out front of the media scrum to film interviews and b-roll of the processing plants and cashew farms and then to film the press tour when all the journalists rolled in.
Journalists from over 30 media agencies attended the tour.
Supported by the EU and GIZ, the tour was led by H.E. Im Rachna, spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
H.E. Im Rachana explained the reason for the press tour. ‘Our goal is to provide news coverage to Cambodians to promote the cashew nut value chain in Cambodia,’ she said.
Bryan Fornari, Head of Cooperaton at the European Delegation to Cambodia, spoke about the need potential benefits of promoting the cashew value chain.
‘The connection opportunities are there between one of the countries that produces most cashew nuts in the world and the largest market for cashew nuts,’ he said.
Bryan also spoke about the potential of expanding the cashew value chain in Cambodia.
‘The processing parts of the value chain is not here in Cambodia, and there’s a lot of potential to bring it to Cambodia,’ he said.
Over 95% of Cambodian cashews are exported raw and unprocessed.
Gunther Wessel, a GIZ programme manager and a cashew expert, also joined the tour.
‘There is more and more interest in Cambodia, but Cambodians, to start processing,’ he said.
If the cashew producers can adhere to EU standards it will give them access to the biggest market in the world.
Hopefully we see more investment in the cashew sector in Cambodia and growth in the number of direct sales to the EU.
You can see more my work with the EU here and read more of my blog posts here.
Collaborating with WHO on a Video Case Study About Malaria Prevention in Siem Pang, Cambodia
This was the third time in a bit over a year that I’d been hired by the World Health Organization to work as a videographer on a case study for them.
This time it was malaria prevention in Stung Treng Province following Chan Sophal, who supports The Mekong Malaria Elimination (MME) programme at the provincial level.
Sophal works with remote communities close to the Lao border in Stung Treng Province.
‘I am stationed in Stung Treng Province, with a focus on Siem Pang, which is a malaria hotspot’, he says.
Sophal works closely with the head Siem Pang Health Center and the nurse in charge of the malaria elimination programme.
‘We plan our outreach campaigns together’, he says.
It was a great experience to work as a videographer for WHO and get to follow Sophal to some of the remote villages he works in.
Siem Pang itself is very remote, but it took a small ferry, a horse and cart and small boat to get to some of the highest risk communities.
As part of the Last Mile to Malaria Elimination, Sophal and his team of Village Malaria Workers (VMW) focus on the target group of men aged 15-49 years, who go regularly go into the forest and are the most likely to catch malaria and transmit it in their community.
‘We educate and encourage them to take preventive medication before they go to the forest or other high-risk malaria areas. They have never heard of preventive treatment, so taking the medicine when they're not sick worries them a lot. It is important to build trust so the community believes the medicine is good for their health,’ he says.
The medical care and education they provide is a key factor in helping to eliminate malaria in Cambodai.
This isn’t something Sophal takes lightly.
‘The work I’m proudest of is the contribution I’ve madeto eliminating malaria in Stung Treng Province’, he says.
For me working as a videographer on projects like this is a pleasure. Sophal and his team are dedicated in their work, they’ve won the trust of the communities they work in and their efforts are having a genuine impact.
Here’s a shorter version that was used as part of WHO’s 75th annievrsary social media campaign.