￡45 million on this? Well worth it!

These are the images shot for an underwater film created using revolutionary technology.  
The film took four years to shoot and costing a staggering £45 million to produce. But it's easy to see why: 500 hours of unedited film were shot using remote-controlled mini helicopters, divers, hydrodynamic cameras dragged behind boats and top speeds, and carefully tied poles.

The film, Oceans for Pathi, is set to be launched this year.

Sand-eye view: This eerie image of horseshoe crabs scuttling on a beach was part of the 500 hours of unedited footage 

 A diver appears dwarfed by a sunfish in footage from the film.

It took two years of planning before 15 cameramen could even begin filming Oceans for Pathi, which will be out on general release on 27 January 2010.

The crew filmed in 50 locations across the world and captured 80 species of fish, dolphins, whales, squid, lizards, crabs and turtles. The secret to the production is its revolutionary filming carried out in a bid to get within the ocean's most intimate events. 

Cuddles: A walrus with its baby in another image from the film 

Cannonball!: Sea birds dive bomb the water in search of fish

Head first: An Adelie penguin diving from an iceberg in the film 

Hold that pose: Two Weddell seals turn their inquisitive eyes on the camera in footage from the film 

Two Californian sea lions look as though they are dancing through the reefs in the footage

The scale of the production was matched by the directors' vision for the film.
'In an attempt to tell the story of the oceans, we sought to open doors other than those of statistics: those of a fantastic and magical tale, the marvels of the little world of the coral reefs, the heroism of dolphins in full charge, the gracious dances of the humpback whale and giant squids, the horror of the attacks made on the oceans and to their creatures, the incredible spectacle of the sea unleashed in a titanic storm, the silence of a museum of extinct species,' said co-director Jacques Cluzaud.
Scientific director Sephane Durand said: 'The directors' dream was to swim with fish and dolphins, to track their underwater movements and ocean crossings whatever their speed, their evolutions, their acrobatics.' 

A humpback whale appears out of the astonishingly blue ocean to peer into the camera in another shot from the film, which cost £45m to produce 

A ball of horse mackerel in a scene from the film