Kakadanisha Chang, Gin Butler at Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor, serving a drink at the temple dinner in Angkor for Condé Nast Traveler's Ask a Local, shot by George Jefferies and Kongkea Vann
I was director of photography on Condé Nast Traveler's Ask a Local episode in Siem Reap, filmed in early June. A Day Working at Cambodia's Most Luxurious Hotel follows Kakadanisha Chang, a Gin Butler at Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor who calls herself Nisha, from the Old Market in the morning to an evening temple dinner in the Angkor Archaeological Park, with a visit to a gin distillery in between.
We travelled to Siem Reap the morning after we wrapped Where the Chefs Eat in Phnom Penh, which I've written about in a separate post.
Condé Nast Traveler's Ask a Local with Kakadanisha Chang, Gin Butler at Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor, Siem Reap. Director of photography: George Jefferies
A new format over two days
Ask a Local was a new format for Condé Nast Traveler, and the production scheduled two days for it. Preshita Saha directed again, and the crew was the same as on Where the Chefs Eat. I was director of photography and A camera operator, Kongkea Vann was on B camera, Sokha Hun recorded sound and Bophay OukChan of Cambodia Film Fixers was our fixer. The production came through Mbrella Films, and Bophay arranged our filming permissions with the Apsara Authority, which manages the Angkor Archaeological Park.
I backed up the cards from Where the Chefs Eat overnight, and we left for Siem Reap in the morning with the same kit: two Sony FX6s with Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS lenses on Cinesaddles, a Deity TC-1 timecode unit and an Atomos Ninja V monitor on each camera. The camera settings were the same as on Where the Chefs Eat, and at the start of each scene we shot the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport on both cameras, followed by the slate app on my phone, which made it clear to the post-production team where we were filming.
We met the Raffles team when we arrived. That evening we did a recce of the filming locations in the hotel, using the Sun Seeker app, which shows where the sun will be throughout the day.
Early light at Angkor
We opened the day with an early start to get the better light, filming Nisha riding her motorbike through the Angkor Archaeological Park, at the South Gate of Angkor Thom on the road between Angkor Wat and the Bayon. "It makes me so proud to be here," she says about seeing the temples.
Filming at the South Gate of Angkor Thom for Condé Nast Traveler's Ask a Local
The Old Market and a pagoda
Nisha visits the Old Market to buy ingredients for the bar. "Absolutely anything in this market could be in a cocktail," she says, pointing out rambutan, durian, dragon fruit and pandan. On her way to the hotel she stops at a pagoda to pray before her shift.
A Gin Butler at Raffles
Nisha explains her job in the first minute: "a gin butler is a butler for absolutely anyone who enjoys gin." She goes from guest to guest with a trolley she calls Fernando, and she makes drinks at the hotel's Elephant Bar. We filmed her making the Angkor Amber, a drink she describes as representing Cambodian pride, with the amber standing for the sunrise and sunset at Angkor.
She also visits the Kulen Gin Distillery for inspiration. She describes Cambodian gin as herbal forward, with juniper taking a back seat to the other botanicals.
The temple dinner
The evening is the Raffles Bespoke Temple Dinner at Thommanon Temple, one of the temples in the Angkor Archaeological Park. Before service Nisha lights candles, with over 500 placed around the site, alongside a stage for Apsara dancers, a platform for the guests' dinner, a spot for the musicians and her bar. We filmed the set-up and the service through to her last drink of the night, a non-alcoholic gin gimlet made with ingredients she'd bought at the Old Market earlier in the day.
The episode ends at Calao Bar, a cocktail bar where Nisha unwinds with a friend after her shift.
Handover
I started uploading to the production's cloud storage from Raffles, where the internet was fast and the hotel offered extra bandwidth if I needed it. We travelled back to Phnom Penh the next day and I finished the upload from my office. There were breaks in the upload, so I went through everything with the post-production team to make sure they had all the footage.
The episode was released on Condé Nast Traveler's YouTube channel at the end of October.
You can see more of my work as a director of photography in Cambodia, including a BBC Travel Show segment at Angkor, where I was shooting producer, director and camera operator. Based in Phnom Penh and available for assignments across Southeast Asia. Drop me a line to discuss your project.