A
silvery wall of sharks darts around the corner straight at you.
Turning, you find yourself in a dazzling marine metropolis, a
kaleidoscopic realm of tiny life forms living hundreds of feet
below the surface in peaceful partnerships. An octopus hides in
plain sight among the corals, perfectly camouflaged, while a
lionfish waves its feathery, but poisonous, spines. Suddenly, a
300-pound potato cod, feeling threatened, changes its spots
right before your eyes. And meanwhile, a cleaner shrimp,
wiggling its tiny antennae, swims boldly towards your mouth
looking for dinner between your teeth.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida – December 23, 2002
Welcome to a world unlike any other, a world that has been
called the 'soul of the sea.' This is life on a coral reef –
where some of the planet’s most diverse, fascinating and
mysterious landscapes and creatures exist hidden from our sight.
It is a world few human beings will ever experience up close,
yet one that helps sustain the very balance of life on earth,
and one that might contain unforeseen solutions to human medical
problems. Only now it is under siege.
The story of the reefs and how they’ve come to face worldwide
decline is brought to life seven stories tall in Coral Reef
Adventure, an all-new IMAX theatre experience that takes
audiences on a fantastic voyage of discovery to the South
Pacific’s reefs, revealing both their remarkable contribution to
life on earth and the imminent dangers they are facing right
now.
Following husband and wife cinematography team Howard and
Michele Hall on a 10-month quest across the Pacific Ocean –
during which they attempt to create a lasting cinematic record
of the reefs as they exist today – the film captures
unprecedented, mesmerizing underwater images of beauty as well
as sobering images of reefs in decline. In vivid detail, the
giant screen adventure reveals the vast array of unusual
creatures that inhabit the reefs; introduces everyday heroes
hoping to help save the reefs; and teams up with scientists
exploring the reefs for clues about their health and for
never-before-seen species that are adding to what we know about
life on earth. Using innovative and groundbreaking techniques,
the filmmakers also plunge to daring and record-breaking depths,
taking the notoriously cumbersome IMAX camera deeper in the open
ocean than any diver has ever taken it before.
Found in more than 100 countries around the world in
sun-drenched waters in the tropics, coral reefs comprise just
one percent of the ocean yet nurture one quarter of all marine
life. Coral reefs are the underwater equivalent of tropical
rainforests, rivaling and at times exceeding the diversity of
broad kinds of organisms in their terrestrial counterparts.
Built over hundreds of thousands of years by tiny coral animals,
a reef is a metropolis in miniature, providing services to
countless species, including humans.
Over 350 million people depend on reefs for food and survival
while medicines derived from reef species treat heart disease
and cancers, among other illnesses. Coral buffers entire nations
and anchor a multi-billion-dollar tourist economy. They even
help to make better waves for surfing. In fact, the reefs are
part of an ocean system that helps stabilize our climate, making
the rain that feeds our crops and oxygenating the very air we
breathe.
But more than a science lesson in reef biology, Coral Reef
Adventure is an inspiring personal tale of courage and hope, the
story of ordinary men and women seeking to make a difference to
the planet’s most vulnerable environments. As the Halls journey
across the Pacific, they discover oceans of hope in a growing
global effort – an effort that crosses borders and cultures – to
protect and sustain reefs for future generations. They discover
a team of Reef Check volunteers in Tahiti who are learning how
to monitor and protect their own local reefs.
Reef Check, a non-profit organization dedicated to globally
monitoring coral reefs and finding sustainable solutions for
reversing their decline, is spreading this knowledge to its
partners throughout the world. Coral reefs thrive on symbiosis –
a word that literally means 'living together' – and a similar
spirit of partnership drives the Halls on their Coral Reef
Adventure. Melding the story of the reefs with that of the
Halls’ impassioned quest to bring worldwide attention to the
plight of the reefs, the film mixes art and real life, science
and entertainment.
As a result, it is not only one of the most technically advanced
underwater films ever made, it is also a rare portrait of the
demanding and daring creative process by which underwater movies
are made at all.
Coral Reef Adventure is the latest IMAX theatre film from
MacGillivray Freeman Films, the Academy Award-nominated
producers of Dolphins and The Living Sea and the highest
grossing documentary and large-format film in history, Everest,
who specialize in bringing back visceral, larger-than-life
stories from the world’s most remote environments. A labor of
love for long-time ocean enthusiast and surfer Greg MacGillivray,
the film’s director and producer, Coral Reef Adventure is the
third in his series of ocean-themed films. “I have a mission to
relate to the world the importance of the ocean to all of us on
land,” noted MacGillivray. “In that regard, I have committed my
company to funding and producing at least six IMAX theatre films
that share my love of the sea.” Coral Reef Adventure was
produced in association with the Museum of Science in Boston,
the National Wildlife Federation, Lowell, Blake and Associates,
and the Museum Film Network, and with major funding from the
National Science Foundation. MacGillivray Freeman Films itself
funded 75% of the film.
Four years in the making, the genesis of Coral Reef Adventure
began with the sounding of an alarm. For more than two decades,
celebrated underwater cinematographers Howard and Michele Hall
had used their cameras to explore the magic of reefs and other
ocean environments. They fell in love with a world where the
nooks and crannies of jagged coral shelter a multi-colored
carnival of life. But, suddenly, the long-time partners began
witnessing an unsettling phenomenon: the decline of corals in
their favorite places worldwide and the sight of once vibrant
reefs being drained of their color, left bleached and ailing.
They learned that over-fishing, coastal development and rising
sea temperatures caused by global warming are decimating
sensitive corals and shredding the web of life they support.
According to Reef Check and the United Nations’ Global Coral
Reef Monitoring Network, 10% of the world’s reefs died in the
past 4 years and nearly a quarter are suffering. More than half
of the remaining reefs are seriously threatened, and scientists
estimate that if today’s trends continue, corals may vanish
entirely within the next 40 years.
The Halls voiced their concerns to producer/director Greg
MacGillivray who had approached the Halls about collaborating on
a film about coral reefs. Adding further urgency to their sense
of mission was the story of Rusi Vulakoro—a native Fijian
distressed at watching his once beloved childhood reefs turn
into empty ghost towns. Stirred to action by Rusi’s story and by
what they had seen with their own eyes, the Halls and
MacGillivray set out to document in IMAX what was happening to
coral reefs. Using the awesome scope, visual power and
incredible detail of the large-screen format, the entire
production team dedicated itself to creating a film that would
give audiences the visceral experience of an underwater
adventure while inspiring in them a new love for the world’s
coral reefs.
The Halls and their crew embarked on a 10-month “detective” trip
with IMAX camera in tow, looking for signs of the reefs’ decline
and survival in such exotic realms as Australia’s Great Barrier
Reef, the deep waters off of Fiji, volcanic Tahiti and Moorea
and the mysterious Rangiroa atoll. Traveling in the company of
marine scientists including deep-reef ichthyologist Richard Pyle
and marine conservation leader Jean-Michel Cousteau, the Halls
made thrilling and unexpected discoveries and endured daunting
personal risk, all while seeking out local perspectives on the
reefs as they journeyed from island to island. Their adventures
and discoveries, along with the story of the coral reefs, form
the heart of Coral Reef Adventure.
“Our film was born out of passion for the world’s oceans,” says
Greg MacGillivray. “Howard and Michele have taken the IMAX
camera into these underwater worlds so audiences will experience
these far-off, magical places that nevertheless are absolutely
vital to our survival as a species. Lucky for us, Howard and
Michele were uniquely suited for the risky logistics of filming
in this extreme environment. Their story is one not only of
great human adventure, but of real hope for the future of coral
reefs.”
MacGillivray hopes that audiences seeing Coral Reef Adventure
will fall in love with the reefs just as he and divers all
around the world have. And while the film ventures off to
far-away locations, MacGillivray also hopes it will bring
attention to the endangered reefs closer to home in the U.S. He
says: “Everyone involved in this film shared the same goal: to
make Coral Reef Adventure an exciting, emotional film that will
open many people’s eyes to the severe and complex stresses which
threaten corals – and open their hearts to the beauty of the
reefs, so that they may understand, as never before, the
absolute and urgent need to find sustainable means of preserving
them.”
“We all have a stake in the future survival of coral reefs, not
just those who live near them,” explains Dr. Gregor Hodgson,
Professor at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Director of
Reef Check. “For someone living in Kansas with cancer, a rare
coral reef sponge may hold the secret to the cure he needs to
survive.”
Other than dedicated divers, most people have never had a chance
to explore a coral reef, let alone learn about their incredible
potential to sustain and enhance life. While most land surfaces
on earth have been extensively mapped and explored, only 10% of
the known reefs in the Pacific Ocean have even been visited by
scientists. So Howard and Michele Hall had their work cut out
for them in Coral Reef Adventure.
Their journey begins in the flourishing nationally protected
Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the largest natural
architectural structure on earth, which can be seen even from
the moon. Here images of giant Potato Cod (grouper) pausing to
allow small Cleaner Wrasse to give them a teeth-cleaning
indicate how reef species thrive in close partnerships when
their habitat is protected by law. The Halls would use these
teeming, impressively healthy reefs as a benchmark for observing
reefs in other locations. Concerned for what might be happening
to other, less-protected reefs in the Pacific, the Halls set
sail for Fiji, 2000 miles away.
Amidst swaying palms and turquoise lagoons, the Halls reunite
with their friend Rusi Vulakoro, who offers a whale’s tooth to
his village elders in a ceremony to obtain permission for the
Halls to dive the local reefs. In accordance with Fijian
culture, which has long focused its fairy tales and myths on the
sea, access to Fiji’s reefs is controlled by local villages and
many soft corals are flourishing. But the Halls also discover
that parts of Rusi’s reef are indeed eerily dead. And here,
bleaching is only one part of the problem.
The Halls learn that adding further stress to the reefs are
sediments from logging and agriculture that are literally
choking the sensitive corals, and overfishing by local fisherman
trying to feed their families. As reef scientist Richard Pyle
explains: “Amazingly, the corals can often fight off one threat,
but three-at-a-time is more than even they can handle.”
Looking for further explanation, the Halls meet up with renowned
conservationist Jean-Michel Cousteau, who, in continuing the
Cousteau legacy, has come to Fiji as a passionate advocate for
stewarding healthy coral environments. “Coral reefs are the
canary in the coal mine, and the canary is now sick and dying,”
warns Cousteau. “When coral reefs suffer, it is a sign there is
something seriously wrong with the natural balance of our
planet. The world has got to wake up and take dramatic action to
stop this trend before it is too late.”
Cousteau is doing just that in Fiji – introducing a new
generation of children to the wonders of the reefs and the
importance of respecting and caring for them. In Coral Reef
Adventure, we watch as Cousteau leads a joyous group of Fijian
children on their first snorkeling adventure to their hometown
reefs.
It is here in Fiji where the Halls also endure their greatest
test – a series of dangerous deep dives to depths over 350 feet
into realms where standard SCUBA equipment is inadequate to
support a diver and high-tech mixed-gas closed-circuit
rebreathers are required. For this leg of the journey the Halls
are joined by deep reef scientist and deep diving pioneer,
Richard Pyle. Pyle’s specialty is studying fish and other
species found on the deep reefs located at depths greater than
200 feet – a seldom-visited realm that Pyle has dubbed “the
Twilight Zone.” Millions of new species remain to be discovered
at these depths, and Pyle is leading the charge to uncover their
mysteries. “We can’t know if something is extinct if we never
knew it existed in the first place,” says Pyle. “It is only by
understanding all parts of the reef and how they work together
that we can ever fully understand it at all.”
To bring these dramatic stories of the reef up to the surface,
the filmmakers of Coral Reef Adventure faced many extreme
challenges and underwater dangers. Submerging cameras to a realm
where hammerheads circle and where water pressure can crush
machinery as if it was a balloon required both consistent
courage and constant invention on the part of the filmmakers.
“This film is one of the most technically complex underwater
films ever made,” says Howard Hall, who also served as the
film’s Underwater Director of Photography. “Taking a 250-pound
IMAX camera, along with lights and other necessary equipment, to
depths of 350 feet pushed the envelope way beyond the usual
difficulties of filming under the sea. It was some of the most
strenuous and demanding filming I’ve ever been involved with.
But it is also this technology that makes it possible to truly
show how marvelous the reefs are and to reveal how very much we
stand to lose without them.”
Howard Hall’s mission was to film Richard Pyle as he searches
for and discovers new fish species on the deep reefs. To do
this, he must use specially designed camera equipment created to
withstand the extreme pressures – nearly twelve times greater
than sea level – at these depths. Despite frequent equipment
failures and occasional flooded cameras, all went reasonably
well until one dive when Howard’s underwater communication
system failed, causing him to become distracted and forget to
turn an important switch on his rebreather, which regulates the
gas mixture Howard is breathing.
Combined with the incredible physical exertion necessary to film
at such depths, the error caused Howard to develop a
life-threatening case of decompression sickness, or what divers
call “the bends.” After spending eight hours underwater trying
to decompress, Howard was rushed to the town of Suva where he
spent eighteen hours in Fiji’s only hyperbaric chamber, a
critical move that likely saved his life. The expedition was
shut down for weeks as Hall recovered, and the filmmakers
struggled with whether or not to go on. But Hall courageously
returned to the film more committed than ever, diving back to
370 feet – a new record for a diver using an IMAX camera in the
open ocean – and capturing in vivid detail Pyle’s thrilling
discovery of a new fish species previously unknown to science.
After the harrowing experience of the deep dives, the Halls
looked forward to reaching their final destination – the
volcanic paradise of Tahiti and the deep underwater canyons off
the Rangiroa atoll. Here, the Halls participate in a local reef
survey and learn how to report their findings back to Reef Check
scientists, an important step in monitoring the health of reefs
worldwide.
In Rangiroa, the crew’s main mission is to search for the huge
schools of sharks that were said to roam these reefs. An
impressive 90% of Rangiroa’s reefs are flourishing, all except
for the few that are close to human populations, revealing just
how closely tied the reefs’ fate is to human presence. After
weeks of searching, Howard and the film crew finally locate the
sharks – a school of over three hundred who appeared to be
mating. They take it as a sign of hope and renewal that the
reefs continue to sustain such an abundance of marine life.
As Howard Hall summarizes: “Coral reefs thrive on partnerships
and one of the most important partnerships right now is that
between humans and the sea. The more people learn about the
great impact we have on these often unseen but always vital
underwater communities, the harder I think we’ll see people
trying to live in better harmony with the reefs.”
“Making this film was a true adventure,” says Michele Hall.
“There were some gut-wrenching moments along the way but the
result is some of our most spectacular footage. Our dive team as
a whole logged 2,421 dives and 2,800 hours in the water, and
over 100 miles of 70mm film was shot above and underwater, a new
record for an IMAX theatre film. And what’s fun about the film
is that audiences get a chance to witness both the thrill of
discovery and the challenges we faced in capturing these
images.”
Sums up Greg MacGillivray: “While few people on earth will ever
experience the intense challenges and rewards of ocean
exploration, Coral Reef Adventure opens up this world of
unprecedented beauty and great scientific importance to
everyone. The result is a rare glimpse at what we could lose –
and also an exciting reminder that maintaining a sustainable
relationship with nature is in all of our hands.”
Coral Reef Adventure is
sponsored locally by Maroone, an AutoNation company.
For more information about the film or the Halls, please visit
www.coralfilm.com ,
www.howardhall.com
and www.macfreefilms.com
. IMAX® is a registered trademark of IMAX Corporation. Academy
Award® is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts & Sciences.
ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY AND SCIENCE
The mission of the Museum of Discovery and Science is to promote
and increase the understanding and appreciation of science in
children and adults through entertaining interaction with
educational exhibits, programs and films. Founded in 1976 as The
Discovery Center, the nonprofit facility serves approximately
400,000 visitors each year.
The Museum is open seven days per week, Monday through Saturday
from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m.
with extended IMAX hours on Friday and Saturday evenings (closed
Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day). General admission prices
are $14.00 for adults; $13.00 for seniors and students; $12.00
for children 3 to 12. Children under 3 are free. A General
Admission Ticket includes admission to the Museum exhibits and
one IMAX® film. The Museum of Discovery and Science is located
downtown at 401 SW Second Street, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
33312. For more information about the Museum, visitors should
call (954) 467-MODS (6637).
ABOUT THE BLOCKBUSTER® IMAX® THEATER
The Blockbuster® IMAX®Theater owned and operated by the Museum
of Discovery and Science, opened in 1992. The 300-seat theater
is a showcase of state-of-the-art motion picture technology. The
Blockbuster® IMAX®Theater features a 60-ft. x 80 ft. screen and
a 15,000 watt digital sound system that delivers six discrete
channels of clear sound through 42 speakers. The IMAX®
projector’s 15,000 watt Xenon bulb projects images of
unsurpassed brilliance and clarity onto the five-story-high
screen. Both 2D and 3D films are shown in the theater. 3D films
are viewed using electronic headsets. The IMAX® experience is an
unparalleled fusion of sight and sound. For show times, visitors
should call 954-463-IMAX (4629).
Media Contacts: Marlene Janetos 954-713-0915
email: mjanetos@mods.net
Theresa Waldron 954-713-0901
email:
twaldron@mods.net
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