In Saturn's Rings is a large format movie about Saturn made exclusively from real photographs taken by spacecraft. Director Stephen V. Stone used more than 7.5 million photographs and numerous film techniques to create the effect of flying through space around Saturn and among its rings. CGI and 3-D modeling were not used in any capacity to create the realistic feel Stone wanted for the viewer's experience. Most of the photos were taken by various major space missions. The film was originally expected to be released on December 31, 2014. It was scheduled for release on May 4, 2018, to coincide with Star Wars Day. The 45-minute film was released in four formats:
Native unmodified fulldome with true fulldome camera field-of-view. Dome-optimized master for digital (8K and 4K resolution) and 15/70. Flat-screen, 1.33-ratio, 4K giant screen version digital and 15/70. Digital cinema 4K/2K in flat aspect ratio.
Background Sparked by Cassini's arrival at Saturn in 2004 and the media's lack of coverage, Stone produced two art films about space exploration. Photos from space missions — including images of Saturn taken by Cassini — were included. But Stone was not satisfied with the results so did not release them. While listening to the Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber one day in 2006, Stone conceived the idea of creating moving images of Saturn based on a pan-and-scan 2.5-D effect they had seen in the 2002 documentary The Kid Stays in the Picture. The technique involves creating a 3-D perspective using still photographs. (The Adagio for Strings would later become part of the soundtrack for In Saturn's Rings.)
Outside In (2004–2012) After having success with a black-and-white HD animation of Saturn images from the Cassini mission based on The Kid Stays in the Picture effect, Stone wrote a script for a 12-minute film about why space should be explored. They envisioned the film, which they called Outside In, showing at planetariums, museums, and film festivals. James Hyder, editor of the large film format journal LF Examiner, learned about Stone's project and told them it belonged on the giant screen. Inspired by Hyder's encouragement as well as a viewing of the IMAX film Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D, Stone committed themselves to making their film in large format. Stone spent the next three years doing numerous rewrites and reworks of the film. They was unable to create a script using narration in classic documentary format that was able to express what they felt the images were conveying. A fan of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick, Stone finally found their moment of clarity during their annual viewing of that movie in 2009. "There are only 11 minutes of dialog in 2001's 140 minutes," Stone told LF Examiner in 2012. "I realized what Kubrick and writer Arthur C. Clarke understood: space is universal, primal, infinite. Words simply fail to convey the experience of exploring space." As a result, Stone eliminated the narration entirely and instead, allows the images and music to give each viewer a personalized experience of Saturn.
In Saturn's Rings (2012–present) After discussion with audiences at IMAX conferences, Stone decided the film title Outside In was not a good match for the film's sensibility. The Giant Film Cinema Association had been publicizing the film and surveys it conducted supported this. It was during a discussion in 2012 about the film's climax where he was describing Earth "in Saturn's rings" that Stone realized they had found their new title. A 2013 Kickstarter campaign has raised nearly double the initial $37,500 goal. Much of that amount was used to finance a new recording of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, performed by the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. (Stone currently resides in Greensboro, North Carolina.) The film's advisors include Dr. Steve Danford, retired associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Dr. Michael J. Malaska, technologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory; author and space journalist Andrew Chaikin; and NASA Solar System Ambassadors Tony Rice and Jonathan Ward. Although narration had originally been removed in 2009, by 2014 Stone realized that a sparse narration was necessary for the film. This amounted to 5 pages and about 1200 words in total. After listening to many voice actors one stood out and he asked LeVar Burton to be the narrator for the film in 2017. LeVar Burton recorded the narration in Los Angeles on 3 February 2018.
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