eMotion Video Training & Production was honoured to be named the inaugural Cairns Business Women’s Club Collaboration of the Year. It was an incredibly proud moment for Founders and Co-Directors, Kirsty Nancarrow and Suzie Cray.
Early Media Pioneers
When Kirsty started her journalism career on her local newspaper, The Blacktown Guardian in Sydney’s west in 1994, it was unusual for a reporter to also be the photographer. Media jobs were strictly demarcated in the Fairfax and Murdoch newspaper stables, but the Guardian’s limited budget, independence, and the fact that Kirsty was the only member of the editorial staff with a car, meant that she was sent out to do interviews and take photos; an early bi-media pioneer.
Suzie was also breaking ground in the Rockhampton newsroom, as WIN Television’s youngest ever regional director, aged 19, and as part of the Sky News Australia team from its first day of broadcasting in 1996. Sky News was the first newsroom in Australia to use computers to edit video. As the broadcaster grew to deliver news 24/7, Suzie began training the producers and journalists to edit their own news stories. Her technical prowess, leadership skills, and talent for video editing led her around the world training teams in companies like Disney and MTV, in countries such as Egypt, Japan, and the UK. Suzie worked at all major commercial networks before joining the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in Cairns, where she met Kirsty.
Rapid Change in the Media Industry Leads to Innovation
Both Kirsty and Suzie have seen technology and the newsgathering model change vastly over their three decades in the industry. By the time Kirsty left the ABC in 2017, she’d gone from being exclusively a radio news reporter in 1999, to filing stories for radio, television, online and social media, as well as filming ABC Television stories and live crosses. Suzie had swapped the edit suite and the heavy camera gear for the classroom, sharing video skills with communities across Far North Queensland as an ABC Open Producer.
With the explosion of social media and the advent of smartphones, Kirsty and Suzie saw an opportunity to put video storytelling in the hands of people themselves. Where individuals and organisations would once have had to rely on media coverage or hire a film crew to create a compelling video, this could now be done with the tool in their pocket – a smartphone.
eMotion Video Training & Production evolved out of a need to make video skills more accessible to people in remote and regional areas.
Smartphone Video Workshop Launched in Cairns
The first smartphone video workshop was an immediate hit with small business owners and communications professionals who needed to generate engaging content as part of an effective marketing and social media strategy.
When they started in business together in late 2019, Suzie and Kirsty had no idea they would have to pivot within months, as the global COVID-19 pandemic upended normal life. With public gatherings restricted, they switched to delivering live training online. Requests for video production also started rolling in, as companies realised its value as a communication tool.
Since officially registering eMotion Video Training & Production as a business in 2020, Kirsty and Suzie have delivered their video and media training workshops to hundreds of clients as far away as Tasmania and the Northern Territory. They’ve also produced high quality videos and animations for many organisations, from small businesses to universities, State and Federal Governments.
Committed to the Community
Giving back to the community has always been a strong driver for eMotion Video Training & Production. Suzie was honoured with an Australia Day Achievement Award in 2021 for her contribution producing training videos for the State Emergency Service (SES) during COVID and continues to help in disasters as an SES volunteer. Kirsty volunteered teaching journalism and video skills in a remote village in Nepal devastated by the 2015 earthquake and continues to financially support the education of children through the Cairns-based not-for-profit organisation, Friends of Himalayan Children. Both Suzie and Kirsty regularly volunteer as mentors and guest presenters, sharing their knowledge and empowering individuals and businesses.
CBWC Award Win
After being named finalists in the 2022 Cairns Chamber Commerce Business Excellence Awards for Innovation, winning the Cairns Business Women’s Club’s Inaugural Collaboration of the Year Award was the icing on the cake for the media veterans.
“The winners of this award inspired the judges by demonstrating a well-rounded approach to collaborative commercial success by capitalising on each other’s strengths, they were truly in sync.”
Suzie and Kirsty were humbled to see so many of their video workshop, media training, and video production clients cheering them on at the Awards ceremony.
The media veterans genuinely love what they do and eMotion Video Training & Production will continue striving to reach all corners of Australia with their workshops to ensure everyone, regardless of where they live, has the chance to own and share their stories.
