Sharks 3D is latest IMAX 3D film

Post, March, 2005 by Daniel Restuccio

LAS VEGAS -- Sharks 3D, a 3D IMAX presentation shot on high definition video and transferred to film using a Celco film recorder, recently held its world premiere at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. The film has since played at the Universal CityWalk IMAX theater.

The feature portrays sharks as endangered creatures, a species that needs to be protected not feared. At the premiere, host Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of Jacques Cousteau and chairman/president of Ocean Futures Society, said this of the film's strong environmental message: "I want to make it clear to those of us who have the privilege to be at this world premiere, that the quality of our lives, whether we live in Kansas City, Las Vegas or the middle of France, we are all connected and we all depend on the quality of the ocean for the quality of our lives."

Of the 400 species of sharks, he continued, the majority are completely harmless. Over 100 million sharks are killed every year for their fins to make soup, a tragedy that he hopes this film will help stop.

Cinematographer Gavin McKinney said the entire production was shot with two Sony HDW-750 HD-CAMs. Director Jean-Jacques Mantello built a special underwater housing that set the cameras apart a specific distance to provide the two distinct images necessary to produce the illusion of 3D.

Sharks 3D is their second 3D IMAX movie. Ocean Wonderland, released in 2000, also originated in HD. "The video gives us so much more latitude," said Mantello. Shooting digitally, they can shoot for 45 minutes underwater versus three minutes with IMAX gear.

"I made this movie to change the perception of what sharks are," explained Montello. "Sharks are the tigers and lions of the oceans and like all endangered animals, we must protect them."

Most of what they shot, he says, was impossible to shoot any other way. "We had to get the housing as small as possible, because we had to move with the animal, and with the hammerhead sharks the IMAX camera is very noisy. You start the camera and every fish goes away. With digital there is no noise, so you can approach the animals much closer and you can move." Something that cannot be done with the less flexible IMAX camera."

After over 500 hours of diving, they accumulated over 100 hours of footage. That was edited down using a proprietary editing system, first to a five-hour version and then to a 40-minute IMAX release version. McKinney says they have footage for two more movies, one with the theme of whales and dolphins and the other about amazing sea creatures.

To convert the 80 minutes of HD video to IMAX, the production used the Celco film recorder. It took only two weeks, on one Celco machine to image this entire film. The Celco film recorder can output an IMAX 65mm frame every 15 seconds. All four HD-originated IMAX features--Aliens of the Deep, Ghosts of the Abyss, Ocean Wonderland and Sharks 3D were output using the Celco film recorder.

Sharks 3D will begin worldwide distribution later this year.