Journalism student gets full picture from internship

Bachelor of Journalism student Janelle Miller has secured a volunteer role as a flash quote reporter at the gymnastics events at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Bachelor of Journalism student Janelle Miller has secured a volunteer role as a flash quote reporter at the gymnastics events at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

If you could picture a day in the life of a professional photographer on duty at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games what would it look like? Bachelor of Journalism student Janelle Miller has had that very experience … literally.

As part of her internship with the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation (GOLDOC), the 23-year-old turned to animation to depict the different parts of a photographer’s job and life when covering a major sporting event.

“It captures everything from grabbing a cup of coffee in the morning to working out the transport system and getting to the different venues to accessing facilities to edit and upload photos from the day’s competition,” Janelle says.

After analysing the many elements of a photographer’s daily to-do list, Janelle decided that cartoon offered a powerful medium for including all the relevant details while also bringing the story to life. Her visual concept impressed her supervisors at GOLDOC’s Press Operations team with the animation to be rolled out in the guidelines booklet for official volunteers supporting photographers at GC2018.

“GOLDOC volunteers will be there to help the photographers, particularly at the venues, so they need to understand what a photographer does and what a photographer needs. The booklet has all of that information.”

Janelle is also looking forward to her own volunteer role next April when her Bachelor of Journalism studies will be called into action as a flash quote reporter at the gymnastics at the Coomera Indoor Sports Centre.

“I will be working in the mixed zone and getting quotes from the gymnasts as they come off the floor,” Janelle says.

A keen gymnast in her own right, she will be well placed to ask timely and appropriate questions and interpret the responses in the context of the gymnastics performance she has just witnessed.

“I’ll upload the quotes and comments to GOLDOC’s media centre for journalists from around the world to access and include in their reports.”

The system will also include facts and figures about the athletes and photographs of athletes in action that media outlets can easily access.

“This will be an important service especially when events clash or a sports journalist has to attend one event at the expense of another.