Video team return

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 300, 18 August 1989, Page 10

Video team return

The all-Australian Track Video team is back again in Ohakune for its seventh ski season since 1983. Started by 'Video Bill' and Kim Adams in the winter of that year when they came over for a skiing holiday, the Track Video enterprise has gone from strength to strength. Initially it was to have been a ski-related enterprise only, with activities limited to the Turoa and Whakapapa skifields. But with each passing year, the team have taken on new projects all around the Central Plateau.

All members of the team work on contract for 'Video Bill' and Kim in Sydney during the summer months. Because of their professionalism their video work is of a very high standard and much in demand. Over in Sydney Bill has his own company - 'Inter Video' - specialising in filming social occasions. The team also supplies Australian television with videos of sports events during the football season. And, while the individual members of the team may sometimes change,

the high standard of filming and editing is maintained by Bill, a former cameraman for Australian TV. This year the team is the same as last year with the exception of the Whakapapa stills photographer who, whilst new to Track Video, was a Tiftie' on Turoa during the 1986 ski season. The 1989 team c^~ O , ideo Bill' Adams - video camera operator and editor (seventh season); Kim Adams - stills photographer and man-

ager (seventh season in); Simon Mclllroy - video camera operator (seco^d season in). c¥> oteve Lawler - video camera operator (second season); Nick Smith - stills photographer (first season with Track Video but a former Turoa Skifield 'liftie'). The Track Video team are no longer confined to the ski slopes. They are taking on assignments all over the place and have got more and more involved in producing promotional tapes for a num ber of different sporting, recreational and tourismrelated organisations. Their videos have been used to promote Turoa and Whakapapa skifields at various travel trade shows. They have recently filmed a sequence on 'jetboating for Ohingaitis', 'Flat Hills' tour operators and have produced a promotional tape for Taihape's 'River Valleys' white-water rafting operations.

Bill and Kim Adams acknowledge that their ability to undertake these additional assignments and ensure top quality is due to two main factors - technological advances and sponsorship. In the seven years since they first came to film in Ohakune the video camera gear they use has come down in size but, with this 'easier to handle' miniaturisation, there

has been a corresponding improvement in operational and optical quality. This factor, together with the sponsorship they now receive from Sony (video cameras and equipment), Rossignol (skis and boots), Junction Ski Shop (uniforms) and Optical Photographic Marketing (waterproof camera gear, goggles), enables Track Video to

provide its clients with the highest possible standard of finished product at the most reasonable cost. And, in addition to these sporting and recreational activities, the Track Video team are always available for those special social occasions such as weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and parties.