The Story behind THAT Penguin Footage

NHNZ veteran cameraman Max Quinn left New Zealand in 1991 to make The Emperors of Antarctica and The Longest Night as part of a series on Antarctica. With only one crew member, (soundman Donald Anderson) Max filmed, directed and produced both films. The men were required to winter over at Scott Base for a continuous period of 11 months.

The Emperors of Antarctica focussed on the lives of emperor penguins living in Antarctica. Most of the footage of penguins was shot at Cape Crozier approximately 85km (or a treacherous seven hours) northeast of Scott base.

Wintering in Antarctica to film the birds was fraught with challenge and danger including extreme cold, darkness, blizzards and crevasses. Despite having all the necessary cold weather gear, the men endured long periods filming on the ice where they experienced temperatures of -25 to -55 degrees Celsius.

The Antarctic is an incredibly dangerous place to film. In addition to the challenge of isolation, the determined duo also had to struggle with constant darkness from the end of April through to August.

At the end of March 1991, Don and Max were filming on sea ice on McMurdo Sound where a group of 40 penguins had gathered by a smallish hole in the sea ice. With temperatures dropping Max knew the group had a small window of opportunity to feed before the sea was completely frozen.

Here's his account of what happened next...

"I started to film when I saw one of the penguins moving towards the thinner ice covering their ice hole. This penguin stepped off the thick ice on to the thinner ice then walked a few steps before falling face first into an ice pool. Immediately a number of other penguins followed into the ice pool helping to break up the thin ice and thus keeping their feeding hole open for longer. I kept the camera rolling and immediately knew I was on to something special".

He was right.

Max had captured a key behavioural moment in the life of these penguins. The clip immortalises a deliberate behaviour that had never been previously filmed, with this unique footage showing the fattening process the penguins go through before their food source is completely shut off for winter.



The result is also a comical clip that has delighted viewers around the globe for over a decade. It has since been added to by would-be CGI artists who now have the penguin bring tripped and even slapped over the head before it falls.





The clip has also been the source of legal action after a company plagiarised the footage and on-sold it without NHNZ's permission and, more recently, has become one of You Tube's most popular clips.

More than being in the right place at the right time, the world-renowned "Penguin Falling Through Ice" clip is testimony to the skills, knowledge and expertise of the people involved in bringing it to the world's attention.

This penguin clip forms part of the NHNZ documentary "Emperors of Antarctica", which can be viewed online at NZ On Screen.

Do you need awesome penguin footage for your production? Check out our Penguins showreel on the NHNZ Moving Images website. Contact NHNZ Moving Images at images@nhnz.tv for all your stock footage needs.

AVALANCHE EXCLUSIVE HD FOOTAGE 1080/25p

Moving Images commissioned Emmy award-winning Kiwi-born cameraman Mike Single to venture into Milford where he successfully captured thousands of tonnes of fresh snow cascading down rocky mountain sides above the Homer Tunnel, some of the largest controlled avalanches ever filmed.

An unusually mild winter in 2008 saw the expedition postponed. However, this year’s heavier snowfalls proved fortuitous, with Mike's recent expedition into the high country in many ways serendipitous.

Mike was home in Queenstown between Weird Eden shoots, had an NHNZ varicam with him, and was available to head out with the Downer Works crew, who are responsible for controlling the avalanche hazard on the Milford Road, at relatively short notice.


Emerging Media Manager Caroline Cook explains.

"As soon as I knew the Milford road was closed, I contacted the Downer crew and learned they were planning to blast unstable snow above the Homer Tunnel within the next two days. On the off chance, I couriered Mike 4 HD tapes, alerted Downers that he was on standby and kept my fingers crossed everything would fall into place.

The next day dawned bright and clear. Mike got the call from Downer, raced from Queenstown to meet the crew in Te Anau and was flown in by helicopter onto a ridge overlooking the blast site where he shot the resulting footage.

Set against a backdrop of sheer peaks and plunging forested valleys, the footage was shot on a bluesky day under powdersnow conditions. The scale of these avalanches turns giant size snow diggers into matchbox toys, and dwarfs the tourism highway and Homer Tunnel that takes thousands of visitors to the famed Milford Sounds every year.

"Mike's experience, combined with ideal weather conditions, has guaranteed us footage that will be a major asset for future productions and ongoing footage sales for years to come," Caroline says.

NHNZ Moving Images has over 30 minutes of incredible HD 1080p25 avalanche footage available for all broadcast and creative use. The footage was originally shot at 60 fps which means that we can also offer it at 1080p25 slomo.

Until now really big avalanche footage has only been available in standard definition. The trip was part of an ongoing footage acquisition project aiming to source new HD footage for Moving Images, either through commissioning top camera people for specific tasks or by acquiring HD footage from third parties to bolster the library's collection for its global clientele.

Looking for great footage in HD? Send us your research request!

RED HOT CHILE PENGUINS in 1080/25p Full HD

In the blazing hot Atacama Desert the super cool Humboldt penguins find creative ways to chill out!

The NHNZ Moving Images Red Hot Chile Collection offers stunning 1080p25 footage available for all broadcast and creative use. Drawn from footage and shot on film for the highly acclaimed Chile - Land of Extremes television series, this collection spans the Chilean landscape from the deserts of the north to the Castaway Islands, where the original Robinson Crusoe survived for six years.

Footage is available from the llamas and puma of the Andean plateau to intimate shots of the Juan Fernandez Fire Crown Hummingbird, to the remnant villages of an ancient civilisation.

Contact us at images@nhnz.tv to see more of the Red Hot Chile Collection.