Orphaned children from Mariupol take a tour to the local TV channel

On May 18 and 19 pupils of Mariupol boarding school #2 took a tour to Sigma TV channel as part of "Mentorship" project of Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. The event was arranged to familiarize high school seniors with different professions and expand their horizons.

Andrii Vasylenko, the chief editor of Sigma TV channel showed the kids how television looks on the other side of the screen and how the work process is going on there.

TV audience sees the stories already assembled and prepared for the broadcast. But what's going on to have it all done? What processes are necessary to provide high-quality information? Andrii Vasylenko noted that TV presenters have to be real professionals. Because being able to present yourself on the air, have a trained voice and technical skills require a lot of studying and exercising. It is also important to have a healthy lifestyle, not only to look good on the air, but also to hold heavy professional shooting equipment in your hands!

The pupils of Mariupol orphanage #2 saw that the staff members of Sigma TV channel are young people with ideas, aspirations and interest to explore the world and share this information. Many of them are full-time employees, at the same time they study journalism in different universities of the country. Children saw that television teaches you to grow, improve yourself.

"In the studio children saw the final work product by Sigma employees" – Kateryna Stepanina, Coordinator of Mentorship project of Rinat Akhmetov Foundation in Mariupol, shares.  – Each story and every plot are the result of thorough work of sound engineers, operators, editors and many other TV channel employees, whose work always remains behind the scenes. Andrii Vasylenko enthusiastically told about the work on TV and took the children along the TV channel corridors, showed each of them the control room, linear and non linear editing systems and sound recording studio. The pupils were shown all the shooting and sound equipment".

When the kids entered the studio, they felt what real television was. For each of the programs that are recorded in the TV channel studios they design a set, which is equipped with powerful lighting engineering and expensive video equipment.

Since the excursion to television was organized not only for educational purposes, but also for vocational guidance, the staff of the channel allowed the pupils to feel like TV presenters: they switched on a prompter and children tried to read the text. The bright light of the projectors, the camera and complete silence in the studio made children realize the seriousness and responsibility of this profession. The pupils also tried to "hold the audience", highlight the key points to attract the attention of TV viewer, they learned some secrets of journalists' and presenters' work.

Also the high-school seniors got to know how PR department works and saw how news and various TV programs were created in the promo department.

Children who went on tour expressed their enthusiasm and delight from the things they had seen. Meeting with TV crew pleasantly impressed and inspired them for many things that can lead to real professional interest in media sphere in the future.