High-tech film shows little-known world; 'Volcanoes of the Deep Sea' literally sheds new light on hydrothermal vents in the Pacific and Atlantic. The filmmaker says it outdazzles shipwreck footage HOME EDITION

• Published in: The Los Angeles times
• Main Author: Baskin, Ellen
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, Calif Los Angeles Times Communications LLC 10.09.2003
• ISSN: 0458-3035

The film offers unprecedented video-recorded views of hydrothermal vents -- volcanic rock formations, openings in the Earth's crust out of which spurts water as hot as 750 degrees. Among the many remarkable elements of the vents -- they were first discovered in 1977 during a geological-mapping expedition -- is a thrilling ecosystem, a unique variety of life forms whose existence contradicts the long-held scientific assumption that energy radiated from the sun is necessary to create and sustain life on Earth. In this way, a much larger landscape could be captured in Imax's oversized frames, literally shedding new light on the subject. "It's a combination of having 50 times the light and 60 or 70 times the resolution," compared with standard images, [Stephen Low] points out. "Titanica" was released to great acclaim in 1992, and James Cameron used Low's lighting system in his 1997 movie about the doomed ocean liner. (Cameron also is an executive producer on "Volcanoes.") PARTNERS: Director Stephen Low with [Alvin], a deep- sea submersible in which 22 filming dives were made.; 'DUMBO': A type of octopus with large, ear-like fins.; MAGNIFIED: Computer animation of a vent shrimp.; NEW VIEWS: "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea" offers up-close views of hydrothermal vents -- volcanic rock formations, openings in the Earth's crust out of which spurts water as hot as 750 degrees.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Photographs by Stephen Low Co.; OLD CLUES: This fossil in the Atlantic is believed to have been created tens of millions of years ago.