Telling Athlete Stories with Wattlenest
- Hugh Whitehouse
- May 20
- 3 min read
Client: Wattlenest, Sports Entertainment Network
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Despite being a sports obsessed nation, the journey for a professional athlete in Australia is ...rough. Many juggle jobs, training schedules, and the mounting costs of gear, travel, and competition fees, all while striving for greatness. This is what The Wattlenest are endeavouring to change and I was happy to help them by producing a series stills, social, and broadcast assets to help tell their athletes' stories.
Field producing packets about an athlete's success is like Australian Video Journalism 101. You meet on-site at a sports or training ground, film b-roll in BBC 5 shot coverage on a range of sports-related activities, then jump in to a stand up interview (Who are you? Where did you compete? What did you win?), and end with smiles or a hero shot of someone holding a medal. I, however, wanted to do things a little differently.
Much like when I produced the start-up documentary series #Ventured, I wanted to know more about the Athletes we'd be working with and the struggles they had to endure in their committment to excellent. I know verry well that persuing a dream comes with great personal sacrifice. I've worked in The Arts for almost 20 years :D So telling athelete stories for Wattlenets was something I was able to execute quickly and professionally.
Telling Athlete Stories with Wattlenest
Most of the Athletes were from more niche or underrepresented sports. Most of them were already celebrated champions. Most of them were either working multiple jobs to survive (while still training full time). My key objective when telling these stories was three fold:
Introduce the athlete to the wider audience (especially if they did not follow or know about the sport they participated in),
Give the audience an insight in to their personalities and empathise with their story,
Get angry that they aren't being provided with the support they need and (especially with the more corporate-orientated pieces on web and social) be motivated to sponsor the athlete and help them achieve sporting excellence.
I worked with gymnasts, boxers, paralympians, swimmers, breakdancers, cyclists, and even olympic champions. The packages I developed and assets I created were used in broadcast TV coverage (For the Glory, embedded below), in news pieces promoting the athletes or their sponsorships, at conferences and donor events, and online on social media. I produced over 20+ athlete stories for The Wattlenest, helping the next generation of Commonwealth and Olympic champions to compete for Australia. I made a bunch of really good friends and I learned a lot about the life of Athletes outside of raw competition.
One of the most memorable moments was when I interviewed four-time Olympic medalist and water polo icon Bron Knox here in Brisbane. Bron talked about sleeping in her car right before departing for the Tokyo Olympics because she couldn't rent a place. She talked about couch-surfing and the charity of good friends. This is someone i'd watched on TV compete at multiple Olympic games. It was wild to me.
Yet Bron was still positive and smiling and charming throughout the entire time we spent together.
"If it's never changed, why do you keep doing it?" I asked. Admittedly less as a thoughtful interview question and more out of general curiosity. As she reflected on her response, she turned to the pool behind us where some kids were training. "So that maybe they can have it a little easier" she replied. Honestly, she's OAM material.
The Wattlenest doesn’t believe affordability should be a barrier for anyone to reach their full potential and know that investment in sport strengthens community. You can support them and their mission via The Wattlenest and be part of the journey to help create the next generation of Australian sporting champions.
Lumix S5iix (x2)
Rigid PRO Cinerig
Lumix S9
PolarPro VND (1-5) (x2)
Hoya IR Cut (x3)
Samyang 35-150mm f2/2.8
Lumix 24-105mm f4
Sigma 50mm F1.8 (EF)
Sigma 85mm f1.8 (EF)
Blackmagic Design 12G 5" Monitor (x2)
Blackmagic Design 12G 12" Monitor
Blackmagic Design ATEM Extreme ISO
Aputure 150d (x3)
Aputure Light Dome
Aputure Fresnel
Aputure Chinaball
Rode WirelessGO 2 (x2)
Sirui SVS75 Tripod (x3)
Production (on site): 2 hrs
Post Production (Assembly): 2 hrs
Post Prodution (Colour Grade): 1 hrs
Post Production (Audio Mix/Master): 1 hrs
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