Christchurch film cameraman’s work

Press, 6 August 1976, Page 11

Christchurch film cameraman’s work

b)

KEN COATES.

The Christchurch freelance cameraman, Keith Hawke, was one of the men chiefly responsible for the outstanding filming in the documentary on Mount Jannu in the “Challenge” series which has begun on TVI. He was one of a film crew which accompanied the 12-man New Zealand climbing team which last >ear made the first attempt to climb the north face of Jannu, in the

Himalayas of eastern Nepal. The result s compelling television — enough to make anyone break out in a cold sweat, and even a hardened climber colleague admitted to having felt the tension. What made the programme so gripping was the accurate reflection of how the climbers felt when confronted with the harsh and awesome realities of cold, snow, wind, thundering avalanches and

the towering bastion of Jannu itself. Keith Hawke, who had no climbing experience before he set out on the trip, said he carried camera, tripod and tape recorder to a height of about 19,000 ft. “The climbers were very good really,” he said yesterday. "We wanted to take sound equipment so we could record their everyday conversation and reflect their moods and feelings.” Hawke and his assistant, Warwick Attwell, learned how to climb and use ropes as they went along. “I had one narrow escape when climbing up a rope up a rock face.” Keith Hawke recalled. "I felt dreadfully weak and exhausted at one stage, but after a rest I went on. Near the top I slipped, carrying all my gear, and

although 1 was still roped and fell only three feet, it felt like a thousand feet.” Keith also recalls a time when the film crew, wearing only light clothing, climbed from sub-tropical temperatures up to a glacier where the weather changed. “We were not sure of the way, and the director, lan John, had hurt his leg. “We became colder and colder, and fortunately came accros a hut in which an old woman was bent over a tiny fire.” he said. “We took shelter there and she gave us something to eat.” The producer of the “Challenge” series, Peter Morritt, of TVI. had earlier expressed disappointment that the New Zealanders had not climbed Mount Jannu, and was inclined to write off the documentary. But he need not have worried. Avalanches crashing thousands of feet, climbers scaling vertical - ice cliffs and, with laboured breathing in the thin atmosphere, toiling up impossible terrain — all made fascinating viewing.

Sometime television interviewers can be embarrassing. Tony Farrington on TVl’s “Tonight” programme sucessfully demonstrated the critical attitude of back-bencher Mr Minogue towards the Minister of Works (Mr W. L. Young). But why he should labour the point by asking the man to confirm that such a situation was unusual was beyond comprehension.