"Titanica" Imax Film Sheds New Light On The Legendary Shipwreck | Read more at in70mm.com The 70mm Newsletter |
| Written by: Imax Corporation, vintage press information, February 1993. in70mm.com paper archive collection | Date: 01.02.2026 |
 "Titanica" had its world premiere at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec on November 30th, 1992 and opened at IMAX and OMNIMAX theatres worldwide in Spring 1993.Production Notes. About The Film "Stephen Low's skills as a director lie in his ability to transform a documentary into a real drama. Titanica is no exception," says André Picard. Imax Corporation's (Imax) Vice President, Film. "Stephen shoots in a non-fiction documentary genre with real people and real situations, but stages and directs it in such a way that you think you're watching a drama. His films actually have character development, emotions and feelings." Low weaves several stories throughout the feature-length IMAX® film: the construction of the Titanic the world's largest and most luxurious ship in the Belfast shipyards; the personal and haunting tale of the sinking as told by survivor Eva Hart; and the high-risk underwater adventures of the members of the international expedition who come to the project with separate missions. | More in 70mm reading: in70mm.com's page about IMAX & Omnimax Omnimax in Copenhagen. Tycho Brahe Planetarium in70mm.com News Peripheral Vision, Scopes, Dimensions and Panoramas in70mm.com's Library Presented on the big screen in 7OMM 7OMM and Cinema Across the World Now showing in 70mm in a theatre near you! 70mm Retro - Festivals and Screenings |
Scientific Objectives | |
 The Titanic wreck site became a deep sea environmental observatory for the Russians and Canadians. Scientists and engineers from the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Geological Survey of Canada and Petro-Canada Resources took advantage of the state-of-the-art technology used to film "Titanica" in IMAX to investigate environmental processes active in the deep ocean.The superbly-equipped submersibles were invaluable for the scientific research. Designed and built by Finland's RAUMA-REPOLA Oceanics to the specifications of designer/engineer Anatoly Sagalevitch, the submersibles were modified to accommodate the weight of the IMAX cameras, lights and power package. A sea water scrub device regenerates the atmosphere during the dives "making everybody feel well." smiles Sagalevitch. The high-power battery system. recharged after every dive, has twice as much power as other submersibles, which could spend a maximum of 10 hours on the sea bottom as opposed to the 20 hours on the Mirs, which travel at a top speed of five knots with a range of 18 miles (30 km). The emergency life support time for the three-man crew is 72 hours. Using the Titanic as a time gauge, the expedition's chief scientist Steve Blasco, a Canadian marine geologist, and Lev Moskalev, a Russian biologist, conducted an integrated scientific program and made a number of observations: • the ocean depths at 12,500 feet (4,000 metres) are not the inert, isolated, lifeless void as generally perceived to be. This has a bearing on using the seafloor to dump waste. • bottom currents of 1/4 to 1/2 knot or more sweep through the site with considerable irregularity and with no consistent direction. These currents move bottom sediments around to form patches of sand ripples, like those seen on the beaches of the Caribbean. The pilots had difficulty in navigating the subs which often bumped into the wreck, shoved there by the currents. Using Kristofs 3D video footage, the scientists could measure the size of the sand ripples to determine the magnitude and direction of bottom currents. • some 10,000 years ago, a spectacular massive submarine landslide, taking the form of a 'turbidity current of fluidized muds, sands and gravels ripped down the upper slopes of Titanic Valley to come to rest as a rubble heap on the floor of the valley. These ancient deposits (more than one-million years old) underlying the Titanic wreck are very dense. The bow section penetrated only 16 feet (five metres) into these tough sediments, and wreckage from boilers to deck benches rest atop these sediments. If normal ocean-bottom oozy muds had been present, the Titanic and its debris would have been buried. • the articulated arms of the Mir submersibles were able to reach out and push 12-inch-long (30 cm) titanium tubes into the seafloor to recover sediment core samples. Analysis showed that these sediments may not absorb or contain toxic or other wastes that may be disposed of in the future. Toxic waste canisters would barely penetrate the surface at best, and may even become damaged on impact. possibly releasing toxic waste for recirculation in the environment and food chain. • The environment appears to be dynamic and biologically active. Twenty-eight species of animals and four species of fish inhabit the wreck site. Corals, crabs, shrimp, anemoneas, starfish and large rattail fish create the impression of a biologically alive, limited activity environment. Worms and other animals inhabit bottom sediments, generating burrows, mounds and 'bioturbating the sediments. • two processes, chemical and biological, are corroding the Titanic at a substantial rate. However, it looks like the biological bacteria metabolizing the iron, producing rusticles is more dominant. Myriads of rusticles (shaped like icicles) dangling from all parts of the ship, piles of fallen rusticles on the seabed adjacent to the hull, rivers of rust flowing from the wreck and across decking and plating coated with rust combine to create this first impression. • follow-up research includes studying the issue of the ship and its dynamics. how it broke up and sank. Remarks Blasco on first viewing the IMAX footage. "Not only did the quality and the resolution of IMAX imagery allow us to make positive Identifications, but we saw the extent of the sediment disturbance more clearly on screen than through the porthole. We actually saw how much the impact of the Titanic had plowed up and disturbed the sea floor sediment creating big piles 30 to 75 feet (10 to 23 metres) of upthrust sediment. We didn't see that before. And Moskalev saw four additional species of animals. The IMAX film has made a huge scientific impact." Like all the expedition members, Blasco was emotionally moved by the wreck of the Titanic. He reminisces, "The sub was pretty miniscule compared to that gigantic wreck down there. Even though I knew it was 882 feet (270 metres) long, when we came up over the bow and actually sat down on the deck, it was huge. It was spooky and haunting. It took us a long time to get over it." | |
Deep Sea Filming at the Wreck | |
 IMAX 70mm frame from "Titanica". Shooting from inside a submersible presented enormous challenges. The steel-shrouded subs carried three men two-and-a-half miles (four kilometres) under the sea in a cabin six and a half feet (2 metres) high and 5 feet (1.5 metres) wide for an average of 18 hours. Each sub carried a pilot, camera operator and camera assistant. The two submersibles travelled in tandem for safety purposes. Led by Gord Harris, Manager of Research and Development, and Bill Reeve. Supervisor, Camera Services and Development, Imax adapted its camera system to operate within the confines of the two submersibles. The camera occupied the larger central porthole, 7.5 inches (200 mm) in diameter inside and 20 inches (500 mm) in diameter on the outside. Remarks Reeve, "It's the largest window available in deep-ocean submersibles. The porthole's wedge-like shape allowed us to use our 40mm lens, the normal perspective for the large format. It provided a clear view with no obstructions from the sub." Ironically, the audience will get a better view on the giant IMAX or OMNIMAX® screen than the crew in the submersibles saw through the portholes. As the three portholes face different directions, no one shared the same view. The camera operator occupied the place where the pilot would normally be, so he had the best view, albeit through the camera viewfinder. The pilot, looking through the smaller observation window, had a restricted field-of-vision because that porthole doesn't face the same direction the sub is travelling in. Furthermore. the pilot had to peer through the hydraulic mechanisms, camera equipment and the lighting systems mounted on the front of the sub. "It was like looking through a key hole while trying to steer a 20-ton submersible." said one crew member. In a couple of instances, the sub bumped into the hull, nearly damaging the lighting system. To support the 100-pound (45-kg) camera, a unique framework was created. The camera sat on a tray, positioned so the lens could get as close as possible to the window. A sliding mechanism allowed the camera to be reloaded fairly quickly and then slid back into the window, ready to roll. Only ten three-minute rolls of film could be carried on each dive. There were no "second takes" during the filming. "You had to be ready to shoot immediately when you found the subject," says Reeve. "There was no second chance." The sub's movement threw up clouds of sediment, obscuring the view and putting a halt to filming while the crew waited at least an hour for the silt to settle down. While waiting out one "silt storm," Low's crew broke for lunch. In that quiet moment, they made a startling discovery. Just outside the sub's porthole lay the Titanic's giant propeller. "We knew we were sitting under the overhanging section of the Titanic's stern, it was a very spooky moment," says Low. They got their shot and moved out quickly. "Filming at depth on any shipwreck is a dangerous business because things can fall off and pin you down. There are miles of cable and twisted metal and it would be very easy to get trapped down there." states Low, who admits that one submersible got hooked on some cables on the Titanic deck and another got stuck in a hole while trying to shoot the lower decks inside the hull. The pilots skilfully manoeuvred the submersibles out of danger. Remarks MacInnis, "The Russians performed like surgeons underwater with the 20-ton (18 metric tonnes), 23.5-foot (7-metre) submarines, driving around the wreckage that was ready to trap them at a moment's notice. While this was going on, the camera crew were grabbing marvellous images. These were people who couldn't talk to each other in the same language and yet they all out-performed their own expectations." The average dive to the Titanic took 18 hours from the time the hatch was locked to the time it was opened up. The launch procedure took about 30 minutes before the submersible started its descent. Falling like a brick in the ocean at 100 feet (30 metres) per minute, it took two-and-a-half hours to reach the Titanic. Once on the sea bottom, the crews could function up to 12-14 hours before returning to the surface. The recovery lassoing the sub, hauling it in to the pickup clamps could take from 45 minutes to an hour. The extreme conditions that the crew was subjected to in deep-submergence diving is described by Titanic veteran Ralph White. "On the surface, even though we were in the North Atlantic, close to Newfoundland, the temperatures inside the submersible prior to the dive were usually 80-90 degrees F. with about 80 percent humidity. When we close the hatch, we have to purge the submersible with pure oxygen until we reach 25-27 percent of oxygen. Once in the water, we start to go down and the water temperature decreases and the sphere itself 'cold soaks'. And after about two hours of submergence, the inside of the submersible is about 35 degrees F. (2 degrees Celsius) and it remained that way until the end of the dive about 15 hours at freezing." "Inside a sub is almost as close to torture as you can do to yourself legally." jokes Low, who nonetheless managed to enjoy eating lunch on the bridge of the Titanic on his first dive. The high humidity posed condensation problems. IMAX designed a special water gutter that diverted drips around the window, and an electric blower was used to reduce condensation on the window. One droplet of water could ruin a shot. Furthermore, in the cramped cabin, changing a lens or loading a magazine involved moving 220 pounds (100 kg) of equipment and two humans. Recalls Reeve, "The sub has a tremendous capacity for hiding things. When you're inside a six-foot- (two-metre-) diameter sphere, you would think that you would be able to locate just about anything. But when you wanted a roll of tape or your Swiss army knife, or if you dropped something, you'd never find it because there was so much equipment in there. You can't really appreciate the frustration of dropping a screw and being scared of not being able to get it back again." Extreme caution had to be taken to prevent the powerful HMI lights from imploding. The time limit for burning the HMI lights was 20 minutes, followed by a 10-minute cool down. A stop watch on the four lights and travelling in the dark solved this dilemma. Other dangers were averted by opening the booms so the lamps, which were stowed facing the porthole windows, faced out from the sub. As the sub descends and ascends, the lamps go through pressure changes. An implosion of a lamp or electronics housing at such depths can create extreme shock waves which could jeopardize the safety of the sub crew. Sea water would rush in to fill the space. That volume of water collapsing in the space causes suction strong enough to pull the windows out of the sub. "We did the deepest dishwashing in the world." says camera assistant Per-Inge Schei, who pulled focus for IMAX cameraman Paul Mockler. Faced with thousands of stacked dishes and plates on the sea bottom, the crew manipulated the sub's arm to select a plate for filming. When they dusted off the silt, it clearly displayed the White Star Line emblem. The most touching items Schei saw were a pair of worker's boots sitting beside some bed springs. "It made you realize you're really in a graveyard." he says. After 29 days at sea, the crew returned to Halifax in August, 1991. | |
Filming Eva Hart, Survivor | |
 "Titanica" premiere in Copenhagen, Denmark. 1. July 1994.Titanic survivor Eva Hart, who had filmed a previous segment in her private garden in England, flew to Toronto in Spring 1992 to film some additional segments for Low. Reminiscing on the tragedy, she remembers her father carried her from her berth to the boat deck to place her in a lifeboat along with her mother. The frightened seven-year-old never saw her father again and was separated from her mother, only to be joyfully reunited with her on the Carpathia, the ship which rescued the survivors. Eva still maintains that, had there been more lifeboats, all lives would have been saved. "I am the last surviving survivor of the Titanic who can remember it clearly and am still able to get about," says Eva. "I do deplore the possibility of anyone going to the Titanic for the purpose of plundering it. When I first heard from Stephen Low, I thought I would have nothing to do with his project. But when I found that he had no intention of going down and taking artifacts from that ship. but merely to survey it and to learn from it, I was very pleased to take part in my small way." "Titanica will bring us back to the romance, adventure and challenge of building the ship through beautiful glass plate photographs taken at that time that are almost surreal in their quality and detail," points out Picard. MacInnis sums up the spirit of the expedition. "There is a realization that there is a shared vision here, that there is a shared promise. And what this does to people is it creates things like courage and compassion and elements of human behaviour that you don't normally find. A kind of community was created out there." "As I look back on the experience, I think that one of the motives, beyond the film, beyond the science, was to fuse these individuals into a community with a single purpose. And it was that vision that I carried away from the experience as the sustaining vision that will move us into new worlds together." As befitting the special nature of the expedition, two plaques were laid on the bridge of the Titanic. One was a personal memorial to diving pioneer Frank Busby, a colleague of the Russians and the Americans. Sagalevitch had it made in titanium, so it would last forever. The second plaque commemorated the IMAX Titanic expedition, listing the main participants: Imax Corporation, the P.P. Shirshov Institute, the National Geographic Society, Undersea Research, Low Films International Inc., Ocean Images, Petro Canada and the Geological Survey of Canada. Some red and white silk flowers were placed to mark the occasion, a touching moment for the entire crew. | |
About The Filmmakers | |
 STEPHEN LOW, DIRECTOR/PRODUCER, is a veteran of four previous films in the IMAX® format. By combining a passion for nature and a fascination with technology. Low has succeeded in creating a series of unique and powerful giant-screen films.He began working in the IMAX format as a researcher on "Hail Columbia!" and soon after directed his first IMAX film, "Skyward", for the Suntory Pavilion at the 1985 Tsukuba International Exposition in Japan. In 1987 he established Montreal-based Low Films International Inc. to produce "Beavers", for Dentsu Inc. of Japan. In addition to his roles as director, producer and writer, he also undertook the challenging underwater cinematography for this portrayal of the life of the beaver. "Beavers" was awarded the Jury Prize and the Public Prize at the Second International IMAX/OMNIMAX Film Festival, Paris. France. More recently. Low directed the IMAX 3D film "The Last Buffalo" for EXPO '90 in Osaka, Japan. This film became the most popular attraction at the fair, drawing some 1,940,000 visitors during the six-month exhibition. "The Last Buffalo" won Japan's Minister of the Environment Award and received the Outstanding Film Award (Expo/Fair category) from the Audio Visual Association of Japan. Born in Ottawa, Low studied political science at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, graduating in 1973. He began working in film in 1976 as a cameraman/edito in Newfoundland. Four years later he directed and produced the award-winning one-hour documentary "Challenger" with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). In 1981 he won the distinguished Grierson Award for achievement in documentary film. Low has since written and directed numerous documentaries including "The Defender" and "The Train". His work has won more than 40 awards worldwide. He was the first man to dive under the North Pole. In archaeology, he led the team that discovered the world's northernmost shipwreck, the Breadalbane, under the ice in Canada's Northwest Passage. His work has earned him a number of distinctions, including three honorary doctorates, the Queen's Anniversary Medal and his country's highest honor, the Order of Canada. MacInnis has written a companion book to the film, Titanic: In A New Light, published by U.S.-based Thomasson-Grant. PIETRO L. SERAPIGLIA, CO-PRODUCER, first worked with director Stephen Low as production manager on "Beavers". After involving himself in the distribution of the award-winning IMAX film, he produced Low's most recent effort "Flight Of The Aquanaut". Early in his filmmaking career, Serapiglia cut his teeth as a producer on several low-budget films including the comedy "Remembering Mel", the suspense-thriller Dreamline and horror film Evil Judgement. In addition, he produced the television trilogy Dangerous Dreams and produced a number of award-winning records and music videos featuring prominent Canadian artists for CBS, RCA and Atlantic Records. Serapiglia's first IMAX film was "The River", produced by the National Film Board ((NFB) and External Affairs Canada for the New Orleans World's Fair in 1984. He began his film career in 1974 when he joined the NFB. Through his experience working in various capacities on special projects and in administrative and technical departments, he developed a detailed understanding of the production process. Since 1979, he has been a freelance production manager of more than 30 films, including documentaries, TV dramas and feature films. PAUL MOCKLER, SUBMERSIBLE CAMERA OPERATOR, is a specialist in underwater cinematography. Mockler has worked on many documentary. commercial and dramatic films on assignments which have taken him around the world from beneath the tropical seas to the Arctic ice cap. Graduating from the Ontario College of Art in 1969, he began his career as an instructor of photography from 1971 to 1975. He then became involved in several television series for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as a writer/director/cameraman for the series New Wave, an ocean environment and technology series. He worked in the same capacities for the series This Land. As underwater director/cinematographer he worked for the Disney/CBC series, Danger Bay and MGM's Sea Hunt series. In 1987 Mockler won a Gemini Award for Best Cinematography in a TV series or performing arts program. Working with commercial diving and research institutions, he has filmed aboard numerous deep-water research submersibles. ANDREW KITZANUK, DIRECTOR OF SURFACE PHOTOGRAPHY, was responsible for scenes shot on location following the underwater expedition. He first worked with Stephen Low on the IMAX film "Beavers". He was Director of Photography on the IMAX 3D film "The Last Buffalo", also directed by Low. His other IMAX credits include the IMAX SOLIDO film "Echoes of the Sun" and the IMAX concert film Rolling Stones "At The Max". Following a stint at Panavision, Kitzanuk began his film career as an assistant cameraman. He joined the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) in 1974 working as assistant cameraman and camera operator, gaining a wide range of experience on documentaries, dramas and features, and working in different film formats and in special effects. As a director of photography, his work encompasses some 60 films including the NFB features 90 Days and The Last Straw. He left the NFB in 1987 to join the crew of "Beavers". BILL REEVE, IMAX CAMERA SPECIALIST, who works for Imax's Camera Services, was responsible for shooting some of the deep-ocean sequences at the wreck site of the Titanic as well as some surface filming. He built camera mounts for the Russian Mir submersibles and made four dives on the expedition: two dives to test the optical quality of the IMAX lenses and the lighting installation and two down to the Titanic during which he pulled focus, maintained exposure control and loaded film. Reeve also supervised the construction of a full-scale interior of the Mir sub as a film set used in "Titanica", and headed the team that created special video imaging effects used in the interior submersible sequences. Reeve graduated from Toronto's Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in 1974 with a B.A in Motion Picture Production. He has worked exclusively in motion picture production for 18 years, specializing in camera operation. He worked as the Director of Photography on the feature That's My Baby, a half-dozen documentaries and some animated commercials and as focus puller on more than 400 films and commercials. His favorite challenges have been creating camera rigs for special applications such as helicopters and adventure vehicles. Since joining Imax in 1984, he has been helping to develop new IMAX camera equipment and is responsible for training IMAX cinematographers and assistant camera persons to use the large film format for the first time. GORDON HARRIS, DEEP SEA CAMERA SUPPORT, is Manager. Research and Development for Imax. For "Titanica" he was responsible for coordinating engineering design and safety of the mounts, optics, video and power systems used to interface the IMAX cameras to the Mir subs. He worked with technical advisor Chris Nicholson (Deep Sea Systems International) to specify and develop the new IMAX Deep Sea Underwater HMI Lights. He was submersible camera assistant for Low on two dives to the bow section of the Titanic. Harris, began working part-time at Imax after he graduated with a B.Sc. Honours. Physics from Guelph University in Ontario in 1975. He joined the company full-time after completing his degree in Film Production at York University with an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1977. Harris' primary skills are in electronics and cameras, and he has also worked as assistant cameraman/chief technician on "Hail Columbia!" and "The Dream Is Alive", the first IMAX space film. He established Imax's Camera Department and managed the camera rental operation until transferring to Engineering in 1986. where his responsibilities included significant involvement in Research and Development. Harris developed the camera/computer interface hardware used for Imax's computer film "We Are Born of Stars" and for the first IMAX SOLIDO film. "Echoes of the Sun", which featured more than 10 minutes of sophisticated computer graphics. In addition he directed the technical team that developed the prototype IMAX SOLIDO projection system unveiled at EXPO '90 in Osaka and featured at EXPO '92 in Seville. CHRISTOPHER NICHOLSON, LIGHTING ENGINEER, an inventor and builder of ocean technology for almost 20 years, had the task of interfacing the lights, ballasts, switchboxes, penetrators etrators and control panels with the two Mir submersibles and replacing lights and reflectors damaged during filming on the expedition. Nicholson has designed and built a wide array of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV). One of the largest ROV's he built was in the 1970s, the SMIT SUB, for Smit International of Holland. He returned to the U.S. in 1980 to work for Benthos Corporation, designing and building the smaller ROV 430. This undersea vehicle explored and documented the two 1812 American war ships in Lake Ontario, the Hamilton and the Scourge. The ROV was also used to photograph and videotape the Breadalbane under the Arctic ice. ROV video tape of these three ships was featured in a National Geographic Special. He has also designed and built the first low-cost ROV, the Minirover, a breakthrough in underwater robotics. It made the first 500 feet underwater more accessible to scientists and small diving companies. The minirover is now capable of working at 3,000 feet. Its larger brother. Searover, is the backbone of the National Geographic ROV activities, and has been used by the U.S. Navy for mine hunting in the Persian Gulf. He is working on 3D video to add to the ROV line. along with other innovations. JAMES LAHTI, EDITOR, was involved with the post-production of "Titanica" since the start of principal photography: organizing archival photographic plates and supervising the first rolls of footage that were flown back from the Akademik Keldysh. Lahti has been involved in almost every type of film production: commercials. music videos, documentaries, feature films, television dramas and mini-series. He edited the Emmy-Award winning mini-series Anne of Green Gables and was Associate Producer and Editor of the award-winning sequel Road To Avonlea. His IMAX credits include "The Last Buffalo" in IMAX 3D, "Echoes of the Sun" in IMAX SOLIDO, and Stephen Low's "Flight of the Aquanaut". Lahti received an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Film from York University in 1977. | |
Imax Film Sheds New Light On The Legendary Shipwreck, February 1993 | |
 "Titanica" takes audiences on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure of discovery to the site of the world's most famous shipwreck. For the first time, the world can experience the Titanic life-size on the giant IMAX® screen. The 90-minute feature-length film was shot during the expedition of the Akademik Keldysh to the North Atlantic by award-winning filmmaker Stephen Low. It had its world premiere at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec on November 30th, 1992 and opens at IMAX and OMNIMAX theatres worldwide starting in Spring 1993.In its day. the R.M.S. Titanic, the largest and most luxurious liner ever built, was described as unsinkable. On April 15, 1912, on its maiden voyage, it collided with an iceberg and sank; 1,502 people lost their lives. Nearly 80 years later, in the summer of 1991, a high-risk Canadian-American-Russian expedition set out to explore the shipwreck and to conduct important scientific research. Director Low weaves a dramatic story of this modern-day expedition and the legendary Titanic, the symbol of an era. Startling, eerie images of the Titanic as she now lies on the ocean floor are contrasted with the exquisitely-preserved archival photographs of the ship in all its splendour, taken in 1912. Juxtaposed against a crazy quilt of geologists, biologists, engineers and explorers, each with his own vocal and determined agenda, are the touching and eloquent comments of Eva Hart who, as a seven-year-old girl, survived that tragic night but lost her father. According to Low, audiences will see the ghostly wreck in extraordinary detail. The expedition made 17 dives in two state-of-the-art submersibles. Mir 1 and Mir II. They worked off the largest research vessel in the world. Russia's Akademik Keldysh. The average dive lasted 18 hours, ten hours longer than on any previous expedition. Using specially-designed HMI underwater lights, the most powerful ever used under water, the expedition was able to see very large expanses of the wreck. Were it not for these lights, "Titanica" would not have been possible. The scientists used the Titanic as a time gauge to measure environmental processes active in the deep sea. The sea at that depth is not the inert, passive void it is generally perceived to be. Active currents indicate that the sea bottom is not the place to dump the world's waste. Twenty-eight species of animals and four species of fish inhabit the wreck. The expedition and the IMAX footage will present scientists with invaluable data to study for years to come. Filming the Titanic in IMAX had been Low's dream since its discovery in 1985. Then he had hoped to put an IMAX camera on the wreck during the French-U.S. expedition in 1986. Underwater expert Dr. Joseph MacInnis, who studies human performance in high-risk environments, had similar thoughts while diving on the second Titanic expedition in 1987. MacInnis had developed a friendly relationship with Dr. Anatoly Sagalevitch, Head of Manned Submersibles at the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, which would make a new expedition possible. André Picard, then Imax Corporation's Vice President, Film, introduced Low and MacInnis in early 1990 and, along with Michael McGrath, Director, International Development, pulled together the financing in record time. A year later the expedition members were on their way to Bermuda. first to test the lights, and then to the Titanic site itself. The sense of anticipation was palpable and is captured throughout the film. Using the largest film frame in motion picture history ten times the size of conventional 35mm and three times the size of standard 70mm together with state-of-the-art sound systems, the most advanced projector ever built, and specially-designed theatres, IMAX provides audiences the most powerful and involving experience possible. Titanica is directed and produced by Stephen Low. Co-producer is Pietro Serapiglia. Co-executive producers are André Picard and Dr. Joseph MacInnis. It was made possible with the participation of Telefilm Canada. Export Development Corporation, Zurich Canada. Motion Picture Guarantors Ltd., Ontario Place, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and Undersea Imaging International Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Imax Corporation. | |
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