Our MMI Media Team learns how the professionals do things!
On the Wednesday of the AIMS tournament, our MMI media team decided it would be a great idea to visit the real media team of the Zespri AIMS tournament. They have a nice spot for all their work located at the Bay Oval building at Blake park. The Zespri AIMS Media Team were well set up, you could see where they edit photos and videos, and post on their social media. Zespri AIMS has an Instagram account, website, app and Facebook, but they mostly post on their website.
All feeling a bit nervous about entering this busy workspace, Kelly Schischka the AIMS tournament director met us and we quickly felt at ease. Kelly Schischka told us a bit about how things work. We found out that two of their journalists were still studying journalism at the University of Auckland, they travelled down just for the AIMS week which is a pretty special opportunity. They also have two media managers, Courtney and Amy. Around five photographers are around the place getting footage, and they have an app developer, and a web team. They also hired Zoe Hunter who is a BOP times worker, this week she is a full time reporter for the AIMS games.
We got to talk to Jamie Troughton, one of their main journalists. Jamie contracts with AIMS for about 6 months of the year and he is always chasing interesting stories to promote the Zespri AIMS Games. We then got taken through the process of their photography and how to make a story and photo look professional. This was really fascinating and a highlight for our team.
Jamie took us outside to find the perfect position for a team photo. We found a spot with the cricket pitch and the beautiful Mauao behind us, which looked really awesome. We each got put in a position with props to keep our hands busy. I (Savannah) was holding a Zespri microphone, Ayla had an ipad, Harry was holding a notepad and pen, and Indigo had one of Jamie’s professional cameras in her arms.
After the photos had been taken, we walked inside to edit them. Jamie first cropped out a bit of the unnecessary background, then played around with the saturation, highlights and shadows. It was surprising how a few features could impact a photo so much. Jamie showed us the before and after photos; while they still looked like the same photo, the edited version was so much more vibrant.
It was such a valuable experience to see how the professionals did things, and their workspace had so much interesting technology. The people there were so kind and welcoming, and they did their best to make sure we had the information we wanted. They used their own time to show us how they do things, and we learned so much from them.
Media team- Savannah Quinn
