Ring of Fire (1991/II)

Director:

George Casey

Writers:

George Casey
David Hamilton
(more)

Release Date:

6 June 1997 (Spain)

Genre:

Documentary | Short

Plot:

This spectacular presentation explores the volcano belt known as the Ring of Fire. Breathtaking cinematography displays close up shots of past and present Pacific Rim volcanoes from Chile, USA, Japan and the Philippines.

Plot Keywords:

Ring Of Fire | Volcano | Pacific Rim | Narration | Mount St Helens

Cast

Robert Foxworth	...	Narrator
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Norman Banks	...	Himself (voice) (as Dr. Norman Banks)
Lawrence Blair	...	Himself (voice) (as Dr. Lawrence Blair)
Gary Rosenquist	...	Himself (voice)

Directed by
George Casey

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Lawrence Blair		(as Dr. Lawrence Blair)
George Casey
David Hamilton		(as David L. Hamilton)
Sean MacLeod Phillips		(as Sean Phillips)

Produced by
George Casey	....	producer
Mike Day	....	executive producer
Jeffrey Kirsch	....	consulting producer (as Dr. Jeffrey Kirsch)
Ammiel G. Najar	....	associate producer (as Ammiel Najar)
Paul Novros	....	producer
Mal Wolfe	....	location producer

Original Music by
Michael Stearns

Cinematography by
Mehran Salamati

Film Editing by
Tim Huntley

Production Management
Lawrence Blair	....	production manager
Michael Cook	....	production manager
Masaki Kaneko	....	production manager
David Weiss	....	production manager

Sound Department
George Berndt	....	sound editor
John Morris	....	supervising sound editor
Jennifer Myers	....	foley walker
Margie O'Malley	....	foley walker
Peter Michael Sullivan	....	sound editor (as Peter Sullivan)
John Thomas	....	sound editor

Visual Effects by
Rob Dickson	....	programmer: computer animation sequences
Geoffrey Fennell	....	animator: computer animation sequences (as Geoff Fennel)
Larry Luther	....	programmer: computer animation sequences
Sean MacLeod Phillips	....	creative director: computer animation sequences (as Sean Phillips)
Sean MacLeod Phillips	....	special visual effects (as Sean Phillips)
Tim Sassoon	....	credit titles photography
Doug Smith	....	animator: computer animation sequences
Chris Walker	....	director: computer animation sequences
William Powloski	....	motion control (uncredited)

Stunts
Jon Agro	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Neil Ayers	....	assistant camera (as Neil Ayres)
Brian Bailey	....	assistant camera
Sean C. Casey	....	location grip (as Sean Casey)
Chuck Davis	....	assistant camera
Dave Evans	....	camera pilot: Bluebird Helicopters, Mount St. Helens
John Greenaway	....	camera pilot: Hawaii, Hilo Bay Helicopters
Ken Guthrie	....	camera pilot: Bluebird Helicopters, Mount St. Helens
Jeff Johnson	....	assistant camera
Bill Lacey Jr.	....	camera pilot: Hawaii, Lacey Helicopters
Mehran Salamati	....	director of photography
Rodney Taylor	....	assistant camera
Denny Tedesco	....	location grip (as Dennis Tedesco)
Pat Walters	....	camera pilot: Air There Helicopters, San Francisco

Editorial Department
Dan Hamilton	....	negative cutter
William Pine	....	color timer: DeLuxe Laboratory (as Bill Pine)
Andrew Pratt	....	negative cutter

Other crew
James Carney	....	production coordinator
Bundy Chanock	....	set medic
Lin Law	....	additional laboratory services: Columbia Optical
Robert McDaniel	....	production coordinator
Dash Morrison	....	color prints: DeLuxe Laboratory
Vince Roth	....	additional laboratory services: Columbia Optical
Don Shinneman	....	color prints: DeLuxe Laboratory
Sera Skoll	....	production coordinator

Thanks
Michael Boeckmann	....	grateful thanks
Joel Estes	....	special gratitude
Ryuichiro Goto	....	special gratitude
Linda Johnson	....	special gratitude
Kosuke Kamo	....	special gratitude: director of Sakurajima Volcano Observatory (as Dr. Kosuke Kamo)
Duane Kocik	....	special gratitude
Sobroto Modjo	....	special gratitude: director of Volcanological Survey of Indonesia
Masaharu Suzuki	....	special gratitude

Production Companies

• Graphic Films (as Graphic Films Corporation)
• Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater & Science Center, The (presented by)

Distributors

• Alta Dimensión Cinematográfica S.A. (Spain)
• Lumivision (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Ventura

Special Effects

• Mr. Film (computer animation sequences)

Other Companies

• ABC Sports  additional historical footage provided by
• Aero-Asahi  aerial services
• Air There Helicopters  aerial services
• B.A.S.E.  spacial sound track processing
• Bluebird Helicopters  aerial services
• Cascades Volcano Observatory  special gratitude
• Continuum Montage, Marina del Ray, California  soundtrack mixed at
• Fort Worth Museum of Science and History  presented by
• Gatari Helicopters  aerial services
• Goto Optical MFG. Co.  special gratitude
• Hawaii Volcano Observatory  special gratitude
• Hilo Bay Helicopters  aerial services
• Imagica  kine-recording and optical compositing
• KPIX  additional historical footage provided by
• Kecak Dancers  special gratitude
• Lacey Helicopters  aerial services
• Meridian Studios  sound transfer
• Sakurajima Volcano Observatory  special gratitude
• Science Museum of Minnesota  presented by
• The Fire Drummers of Sakurajima  special gratitude
• UCLA Film and Television Archive  additional historical footage provided by
• Yokohama Science Center  special gratitude

Also Known As:

Runtime:

40 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.44 : 1

Sound Mix:

IMAX 6-Track

Certification:

Spain:T | Australia:G | South Korea:All

Filming Locations:

Chile

Company:

Graphic Films

Very Good IMAX Experience

First, I have to say that I'm really not a fan of documentaries, and in general they put me to sleep. That said, IMAX films are some of the only documentaries I've ever been able to sit through. Part of that, perhaps most of it, is their extraordinary presentation. It's a terrific format, and the films made for them are usually well put together.

RING OF FIRE is such a film (at least in it's original IMAX format - I have not seen the DVD). The title refers to the ring of volcanoes on the Pacific Rim, not a hard subject for me to be interested in to be sure. The narration is genuinely informative if not all that exciting.

But it's the cinematography that really makes RING work. The combination of great camera work, and the format itself, was immersing. Short of visiting these volcanic sites (and I'd imagine at some personal risk), I doubt a better experience could be had on the subject. You can forget all that stock volcano footage you've seen before, RING has all that beat, hands down.

If anything, the film's 40 minutes just isn't long enough for me. But even modern IMAX work like James Cameron's ALIENS OF THE DEEP run about the same length. This most likely is due to the expense of shooting the format, but it's still unfortunate. Also, I'm not sure if this can even be seen in an IMAX theater these days, and it will certainly lose much of it's impact on DVD. In comparison, IMAX has done a couple of other films (on the space shuttle and the ISS) that I found superior to this one overall. But as documentaries go, RING OF FIRE is still quite good, and certainly worth the time. 7 out of 10 stars.