Gazing into the Secret Reef exhibit is as close many Tennessee Aquarium guests have come to scuba diving. Now “Oceans 3D: Our Blue Planet” is giving audiences at the Tennessee Aquarium IMAX 3D Theater a look at underwater environments ranging from the Arctic Ocean to Antarctica.
Using OceanX’s research vessel, the Alucia, as the base of operations, the filmmakers hopscotched from the frigid waters of Earth’s polar regions to the brightly-lit tropical waters of Indo-Pacific.
A pod of bottlenose dolphins leaping through the surf kick off the journey from the coastal shallows to deeper worlds.
One of the first stops is a vibrant coral reef. Although these underwater cities cover just 0.1 percent of the ocean’s surface area, they’re a vital aquatic habitat that houses one quarter of all known sea creatures.
“Oceans 3D” also features a scene with a tuskfish, which carries hard-shelled clams to a coral outcrop, which it uses as a tool to crack open its food.
During another scene, the filmmakers captured a common octopus gathering shells and rocks in its suckers, creating a “suit of armor” to protect itself from sharks and other predators.
While “Oceans 3D” primarily explores underwater environments, the filmmakers also captured intimate moments with polar bears, walruses, sea otters and other creatures that live at the edge of the sea.
To take audiences as deep as possible, the filmmakers also made an unprecedented descent in a pair of submarines to capture the first footage of erupting methane volcanoes on the sea floor. The basketball-sized bubbles will fill the six-story IMAX screen as they shoot out of the seabed almost one half-mile underwater.
“It has been an incredible experience to collaborate with BBC Earth on this film, which will give audience members unparalleled access into the world’s oceans and their fascinating inhabitants,” says Mark Dalio, founder and creative director of OceanX Media.
“Oceans 3D” will screen daily at noon, 4 and 6 p.m.