DEEP SEA 3D

Year: 2006
USA: Warner Bros Pictures
UK: IMAX Corporation
Cast: Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet (narrators)
Director: Howard Hall
Countries: Canada / USA
USA & UK: 40 mins
USA Rated: G
UK Certificate: PG contains mild scenes of natural threat
USA Release Date: 3 March 2006 (Limited Release - IMAX theaters)
UK Release Date: 3 March 2006 (Limited Release - London, bfi and Science Museum IMAX cinemas)

UK Distributor

Synopsis

Continuing the legacy born with the marriage of groundbreaking IMAX® 3D technology to out-of-this world subject matter that has resulted in such titles as Into the Deep and Space Station 3D, IMAX now catapults moviegoers into a world of amazement that lies just beneath the surface of the Earth's oceans in its latest IMAX 3D experience, DEEP SEA 3D.

DEEP SEA 3D, the new immersive, underwater adventure from IMAX, transports audiences deep below the ocean surface in multiple locations around the waters of the globe and gives them never-before-seen, up-close encounters with a wide range of undersea life. There, moviegoers—with only their 3D glasses for a diving mask—will be able to swim alongside some of the most exotic creatures on the planet, from the bizarre Rainbow Nudibranch to the Giant Pacific Octopus. Through the magic of IMAX and IMAX 3D—complete with the world's largest film format and movie screens and state-of-the art digital surround sound—audiences will be introduced to a colorful cast of characters and observe at arm's length these creatures living out their lives in a variety of unique and often humorous relationships...some predatory, some symbiotic, yet all ultimately dependent upon one another for survival.

From the Mantis Shrimp—who engages in a one-on-one, matador-like challenge with a threatening octopus—to the Green Sea Turtle—who allows schools of fish aestheticians to clean its shell of unwanted algae—DEEP SEA 3D focuses on the unusual and often surprising alliances struck between some of the world's most exotic creatures. Audiences are given much more than an underwater, front-row seat as they dive below the ocean surface and actually swim among these unusual animals, witnessing their innate day-to-day behaviors, all the while surrounded by the unbelievable beauty of a world hidden just underneath the
waves.

An entertaining motion picture that will appeal to moviegoers of all ages, DEEP SEA 3D is the newest underwater IMAX 3D film which includes the team of

HOWARD HALL as director and director of photography; multiple Academy Award® nominees JOHNNY DEPP and KATE WINSLET as narrators; TONI MYERS as producer; MICHELE HALL as producer for Howard Hall Productions; GRAEME FERGUSON and BRAD BALL as co-executive producers; and JUDY CARROLL as associate producer. Oscar®-nominated composer DANNY ELFMAN provides the score. The film is being produced and distributed by IMAX Corporation and financed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

DEEP SEA 3D FILM FACTS

The Shoot

• The film crew shot in nine different locations: Sea of Cortez; The Channel Islands, CA; Monterey, CA; La Jolla, CA; Kona, HI; Outer Banks, NC; Gulf of Mexico; Bahamas; British Columbia.
• The coldest water the filmmakers dove in was 46ºF in British Columbia.
• The film crew's scariest encounter was with Tiger Sharks in the Bahamas. One of the sharks was nearly 14 feet long, and they are one of the few shark species that actually prey on humans!
• 379,120 feet of 15/70 film was used to shoot Deep Sea 3D, which translates into about 73 miles of film.
• At least 67 unique species of sea creatures were profiled in Deep Sea 3D, with many being featured in IMAX 3D for the first time EVER!
• During the filming of Deep Sea 3D, the crew encountered a school of juvenile Mola molas—an occurrence never before seen by any of the crew members, nor believed to be captured on film ever before.
• The longest dive the filmmakers embarked on was 4 hours, 30 minutes in North Carolina—2 hours of which was decompression.
• The IMAX 3D camera, in its underwater housing, weighs more than 1,200 pounds.
• It typically required six divers to shoot underwater with the IMAX 3D camera: two camera operators, two gear handlers (lights, cables, etc.) and another two divers to retrieve the camera and gear once the shoot was complete. The retrievers were necessary because the camera operators and gear handlers often required decompression, so they weren't able to immediately surface with the equipment.
• Though seven-minute rolls of IMAX 3D film can be specially ordered, a typical roll runs for only three minutes before the camera must be returned to the surface for reloading. Reloading takes about 30 minutes, and then the camera system can be sent back down to shoot another roll of film.
• The Deep Sea 3D filmmakers communicated with each other, as well as the surface crew, via OTS (Ocean Technology Systems) microphones that were built into their regulator mouthpieces.
• During coral spawning in the Gulf of Mexico, an event that takes place for only about an hour on a particular night each year, a barracuda bit through the light cable just prior to filming. Thankfully the crew brought a spare light, because if they hadn't been so prepared, the filmmakers would have missed their chance to capture this spectacular event.

The numbers

• 1,850—total number of hours the crew spent underwater for filming
• 92—total number of nights the film crew spent on the boat
• 84—number of days spent diving
• 73—total miles of film shot
• 21—total number of crew members (although only 8 went on every expedition)
• 17—number of consecutive days spent diving
• 9—number of different shooting locations
• 2—number of hurricanes encountered while shooting

The Creatures

• The Mantis Shrimp uses its appendages to spear or smash their prey. The force of a strike from a large Californian species approaches that of a 22-caliber bullet, capable of breaking double-layered safety glass.
• The giant Pacific Octopus can reach more than 25 feet tentacle-to-tentacle and weigh over 200 pounds.
• The Wolf Eel crushes and eats spiny sea urchins—spines and all!
• For every human killed by sharks, more than two-million sharks are killed by humans.
• Some nudibranchs 'steal' their venomous stinging cells from sea anemones. When the nudibranch eats the anemone's tentacles, the tentacles pass through the nudibranch's gut and are deposited in its gills to serve as protection; the anemone's tentacles grow back.
• Octopuses can change their size to manoeuvre through the tiniest hole. As long as their beak can get through, they can squeeze the rest of their body through a tight spot.
• Barracuda and other fish change color to signal cleaner fish that they are willing to be cleaned of the parasites that live on their skin.
• Scientists have been observing corals spawning in the Gulf of Mexico so closely for so many years that they are able to predict within moments when a species of coral will spawn.