TV FILM OF ANTARCTIC

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31206, 2 November 1966, Page 22

TV FILM OF ANTARCTIC

German Unit In Christchurch

Among the first films to be screened when West German television changes to colour next summer will be a 45minute documentary on the Antarctic. The film will be shot in the next month by a three-man team, headed by Dr. W. Buesgen, from Channel 2 based at Mainz.

Dr. Buesgen said in Christchurch that Channel 2 was a national channel, which meant that almost every viewer in West Germany and West Berlin would see the Antartic film.

Technicians in Germany had experimented with 16 mm colour film for television, but results so far had proved disappointing, he said. “From all accounts no satisfactory methods or materials have been developed as yet.” Dr. Buesgen said that although it was inconvenient to cany about bulky 35 mm. equipment, 35 mm. allowed better quality.

The Antarctic film would emphasise scientific research and the political aspects of the Antarctic Treaty—a unique experiment in cooperation, he said. Dr. Buesgen is a producer for the channel’s foreign desk. His last documentary in colour was made in Glasgow. His last experience of polar conditions was in 1963 when he produced a television film about the American air base at Thule, Greenland.