Young video journalists explore the modern value of traditional wet markets
Secondary school students in Hong Kong promote the revamp of Lok Fu Market with a minute-long Smartphone video, as part of the Fresh Modernity Video Competition, and change people’s view of traditional fresh markets
The site tour culminated in taking a picture of Myron Ng, Lok Fu Market ambassadors, secondary school students and School of Journalism and Media Studies Center teaching assistants at the entrance.A growing number of Hong Kong people are more inclined towards health conscious eating habits and thus, prefer to cook their own food. The question then is from where as a customer would you prefer to buy meat and vegetables? The majority of Hong Kong people would choose supermarkets due to the convenience, comfort and cleanliness. But would they choose the supermarkets if they would receive the same benefits in the traditional fresh markets? Maybe they would then say yes or maybe.
Nowadays, fewer young people like to shop at fresh markets as they consider them wet, dirty and smelly. It is essential then to revamp the traditional fresh markets and provide the basic requirements to their customers, differentiate the markets and project a caring image.
Link Management Limited, the first and Asia’s largest real estate investment trust listed in Hong Kong, have taken the initiative to revamp some fresh markets, such as Tai Yuen, Tin Shui, Yau Oi H.A.N.D.S and Lok Fu Market. Their vision, mission and values highlight the need to support the development and sustainability framework of the fresh market industry. To further promote awareness, they cooperated with Young Post to organise a Link’s Fresh Modernity Video Competition, where Form 4 and 5 secondary school students will be market ambassadors for the Lok Fu Market.
To better equip the young reporters with the skills and techniques needed to prepare a one-minute news package, a workshop was organised on July 10, 2015 led by Professor Masato Kajimoto, associate professor of the Journalism and Media Studies Centre of the University of Hong Kong. Students learnt the effectiveness of using different camera angles, the basics of mobile phone video shooting, the various visual composition styles, methods to achieve better sound quality and lastly, skills to conduct interviews.
On July 14, the students set out to interview Myron Ng, assistant general manager of Fresh Market Asset Management, who outlined the company’s vision of transforming shoppers’ lives with a new generation of fresh markets whose innovative enhancements will greatly benefit customers. He introduced the purpose, mindset and journey of establishing Lok Fu Market. He said it was essential to raise public awareness about the unique benefits and services within the market.
After the site tour, the students began to scatter around the market in pairs to find their own news story ideas based on happy community, transformation of the fresh market industry and the change of cooking culture among consumer groups. They began to think of various angles and perspectives to showcase the unique and excellent features of Lok Fu Market.
Hong Kong people should revisit these fresh markets to understand how they advocate healthy eating culture and provide customers with a range of fresh ingredients to choose from in improved facilities to initiate a better shopping environment. People who think of traditional as being simply old would not expect much from these fresh markets. Hopefully with time and increased awareness, they can see that “traditional” embeds a deeper social sense of cultural heritage and then, this initiative will indeed be a successful revamp and change people’s perspectives of fresh markets.