Neung, Sorng, Sahm, Action!

After weeks of preparation we had our first day of shooting for the HIV/AIDS awareness video!

The purpose of the movie is the provide members of a local migrant community with correct information about HIV/AIDS: how and how it is not transmitted, where they can go for help, etc. We worked with a local NGO on this project, and while we as HELP volunteers supplied a lot of ideas, the local group had the insider cultural knowledge what was going to be most effective for them. HIV/AIDS is a problem in this community and there is a lot of misinformation, and it was decided the facts would be best conveyed through a story.

After weeks of planning and meetings to come up with a script that was both entertaining and informative, we put our funds together to buy a video camera and tripod, and the NGO found actors and a location. The only people available to give up so much time to film are teenagers.. so yes, fifteen and sixteen year old kids are acting as these presumably older characters! They were really excited about it and brought a lot of enthusiasm for acting, which was helpful. We met everyone on location for filming, and after showing doing some really basic how to on the camera, we were off!

The location was awesome! That's baby rice waiting to get big enough to be planted in rice paddies.

Beer bottles. A surprisingly easy prop to find! They're filled with water, of course.

These guys had never made any sort of movie before, and their excitement reminded us of the movies we used to make with our siblings when we were younger!  We were there to give little pointers, but they really took charge of this project.  It was so fun to see!

Because of the political turmoil in neighboring countries, we are not allowed to post any pictures or videos of the actors’ faces.

Lunch break! Noodles with plenty of mix ins. It was unlike any of the food we normally eat here because it was made by the migrant villagers. It tasted a little like spicy spaghetti!

We finished the scenes that need to be shot at this location and will continue filming at the health care facility next Saturday, and editing can begin during the coming week! We won’t be able to post the final video unfortunately, but we’ll definitely have more updates as the project progresses. The most amazing thing about all of this is that members of this NGO have wanted to do a video like this for a long time and just haven’t had the time or resources. Cue us coming to Thailand as volunteers looking for any kind of service possible who have time and resources, and something that started as just an idea can finally take hold. With the equipment and skills we have provided we hope that a mental health video will eventually be produced, too!

Even after six hours of shooting we still could not believe the scenery!