Introduction
I analyze Gravity, the first Dolby Atmos mix to win the 85th Academy Award for Sound Editing. Originally planned for a 7.1-channel mix, director Alfonso Cuarón realize Dolby Atmos's emergence as the perfect medium to express immersion. He challenged both the music and sound design to embrace Dolby Atmos, realizing the world of Immersive Audio. The dynamic panning of dialogue and music within the vacuum of space, along with the innovative sound design concepts, make this a highly fascinating work.
*The first film to utilize the Dolby Atmos format was Disney/Pixar's Brave, released the previous year in 2012.
Director Alfonso Cuarón stated the following about this CINEMA:
{Inspired by a report stating that tens of thousands of defunct satellites currently orbit Earth's atmosphere, and that a collision with these—or even operational satellites—could pose an immense threat to human survival, I wrote the script in just three weeks.
The visuals are almost entirely VFX, shot at Shepperton and Pinewood Studios in the UK. Regarding the sound, I approached it as follows:
In conventional film sound design, dialogue is typically centered. I broke this convention by using Dolby Atmos' immersive spatial expression to dynamically pan both dialogue and music.
The advantage of Dolby Atmos is that intended sound localization is accurately reproduced in theaters. This proved especially effective for a film like this one, where characters move dynamically throughout the space.}
1 Production crew
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Sound Design: Glen Freemantle
Final Mix: Skip Lievsay /Niv Adiri/Christopher Benstead
At WB De Lane Lea London /WB Burbank U.S.A
Music: Steven Price at Abby Road Studio/British Grove London
Foley Artist: Nicolas Becker
Production Sound: Chris Munro
Sound Recordist: Glen Freemantle/ Nicolas Becker
2. Story and Main Characters
The main characters are Dr. Ryan Stone, a medical engineer conducting her first space experiment, and Matt Kowalski, who commands the space shuttle. While working outside the shuttle, they receive an urgent order from NASA Houston: a massive debris field from a destroyed Russian satellite is heading their way, demanding they immediately halt operations and abort the mission.
However, they fail to evacuate in time and are thrown into open space. Somehow, they manage to return to the shuttle. Matt devises a plan: if they can reach the International Space Station, they'll transfer to a Soyuz spacecraft bound for the nearby Chinese space station Tiangong, then return to Earth aboard a Shenzhou rocket. They proceed together, but tragically, Matt drifts off into space. Left alone in the void, Ryan overcomes immense challenges and safely returns to Earth.
3. Distinctive Sound Design
3-1. Introduction: 00:00:00——00:24:23
The intro is brilliant: starting with the logo, a full-bit musical sequence plays for 37 seconds. When it cuts out, a 9-second non-monophonic sound represents space. In space, Dr. Stone and Kowalski conduct EVA while their colleague Sharif repairs the telescope's circuitry. The peaceful scene of their work continues. Kowalski, who says “I have a bad feeling about this,” receives a command from Houston: “Abort immediately and return.” After returning to the space shuttle, the two see the destroyed interior and plan to return in the Soyuz spacecraft. This scene explains the situation where, due to the accident, only two people are left stranded in space.
In outer space itself, there is no sound. Therefore, all sounds heard on screen—such as Dr. Stone's breathing, the touch of the ISS, the rotation of screws—are solely sounds heard inside the helmet within the spacesuit. This material was recorded using various contact microphones that pick-up vibrations, then processed with effects to create a muffled sound quality. (Futz processing)
Communication voices from the NASA call center are randomly heard from any of the four height channels per phrase to emphasize height perception. This spatial localization is unique to the open environment of outer space.
An information comes in from NASA's call center: “Mission aborted! Return immediately!” But it's too late—Dr. Stone is hurled into outer space.
This is where Dolby Atmos' immersive audio design comes into play.
Amazingly, the entire soundtrack—Dr. Stone's breaths and dialogue included—spins 360 degrees.
3-2 Transition 00:24:23——00:44:46
As the two men connected by a rope advance toward the International Space Station, Kowalski's fuel runs out. He disconnects the rope and drifts alone through space, encouraging Dr. Ryan. Alone and isolated, Dr. Stone reaches the International Space Station and successfully enters it. Inside the oxygen-filled cabin, he finally removes his spacesuit and boards the attached Soyuz spacecraft, heading for China's Tiangong space station.
The scene where the two survivors, Dr. Stone and Kowalski, cling to the ISS battery panels also features the 360-degree rotating music.
Kowalski drifts off into space, leaving only Dr. Stone to reach the Soyuz. Upon entering the cabin, filling it with oxygen, and removing his helmet, the various noises within the cabin begin to be heard as normal sounds for the first time. Furthermore, the ME-style music used inside the cabin contrasts with the 360-degree music in space by being confined solely to the horizontal plane of the 5.1-channel sound field.
Suddenly, a fire erupts. Its flames race across the entire screen in a 360-degree rotation.
3-3 Main body 00:44:46——01:03:06
Dr. Ryan struggles to pilot the Soyuz toward “Sky.” But the satellite runs out of fuel. Drifting through space in despair, Aninga's DJ plays over the radio transmission received from Earth. Suddenly, a knocking sound is heard from outside the ship.
Dr. Stone's parachute, detached from the Soyuz spacecraft, snags on the spacecraft, creating another tense moment as an alarm sound appears with a 360-degree rotating effect.
In the scene where the parachute is cut away with a wrench, the sound of the rope being cut is heard inside the helmet. As mentioned earlier, sounds constantly heard inside the helmet utilize material recorded with underwater microphones or contact microphones.
3-4 Conclusion 01:03:06——01:23:54
The encouraging voice of Kowalski entering the cabin was Dr. Ryan's hallucination.
Summoning his courage, he transfers to the “Sky” module and enters the attached satellite “Shenzhou”.
Reading the green manual, he performed the landing procedures. At the critical moment of “life or death,” the parachute deployed safely, and Houston confirmed the “Shenzhou.” Landing on the ocean surface, Dr. Ryan panicked due to an internal fire but managed to escape the ship and reach the shoreline. Staggering to his feet, Ryan looked up at the sky, feeling Earth's gravity.
In the final scene of the twist, during Dr. Stone's hallucination where “Kowalski came to rescue him,” the 37 seconds he spends entering the ship are rendered in complete silence. However, when the alarm sounds and Dr. Stone snaps back to reality, he transfers to the Chinese sky. This music also employs a 360-degree expression.
Inside the sky, they board the small escape vessel “Shenzhou” and begin their journey back to Earth. As they descend, various debris falls from the rear and height channels in the background. I believe Immersive Audio design is optimal for expressing this sense of enclosed space.
*In the 2018 film A Quiet Place, it also proved effective in scenes like when monsters roam the first floor while a parent and child hide underground.
In the underwater scene where she lands safely, tense sound effects like ringing in the ears unfold in 360 degrees.
Dr. Stone, having swum ashore, walks while objectively hearing the sounds of insects and falling debris.
As Ryan slowly rises and begins to press his feet firmly against the ground, feeling its gravity, the final music—accompanied by a chorus sampling part positioned in the height channel—expresses the joy of being alive. However, I believe this SCORING and END MUSIC stand alone as superb Immersive Audio pieces when listened to separately.
3-5 End Credits: 01:23:54–01:31:00
After a 1h24'53" blackout, the staff roll begins and a communication tone appears.
4. Scoring Music
Key features include:
● Music for outer space scenes employs a 360-degree design utilizing all directions freely
● Music for scenes inside the spacecraft employs a flat 5.1-channel design.
Music occupies approximately 81% of the film's runtime, meaning some form of music is almost constantly present. This is likely because the music was produced more as ambient soundscapes than traditional scoring music, to support the drama unfolding in the silent vacuum of space.
Composer Steven Price stated that he wanted to create a new orchestral sound by sampling material at Abbey Road Studios and assembling the orchestra, rather than using conventional orchestral recordings. In particular, he mentioned in an interview that the glass harp material proved extremely effective.
For the 360-degree panning in the music, they first pre-mixed the stems in 5.1 channels, then grouped several of those stem mixes together before performing the 360 panning. Besides Abbey Road Studios, they also recorded at British Groove Studio London. This studio is quintessentially British, boasting a rare, spacious environment in London alongside a vintage 60s console.
5. Foley. Sound Effects. Material Recording
The sound design was handled by veteran British sound designer Glen Freemantle. The author first took notice of his work through his sound design for Slumdog Millionaire (2008). (Winner of 8 Academy Awards at the 81st Academy Awards)
During the interview, they discussed how to represent the silent void of space with sound. They decided to consistently depict outer space itself with ME-style surround music, while contrasting it with actual sounds heard inside the helmet—heartbeats, breathing, and tactile sounds.
For this reason, Foley recording primarily utilized contact microphones, incorporating elements like guitar sounds recorded underwater. Additionally, for mechanical sound effects, the team visited General Motors to capture location recordings of robot assembly and air conditioning sounds.
The communication material with NASA was apparently recorded by him talking alone on Skype in a hotel room.
Chris Munro, credited as Production Sound Mixer, stated that this time he focused more on building the communication system to smooth the movements of the two actors in the studio than on recording dialogue. He has long favored Sanken microphones for production sound booms and hidden mics, particularly liking the natural sound quality of the COS-11 hidden mic. There was also the happy news that this very COS-11 won the 2021 Academy Scientific and Technical Award.
In Conclusion
Originally intended for a 7.1-channel mix, this work underwent an urgent shift to a Dolby Atmos mix following the advent of immersive surround sound technology. By dynamically panning both dialogue and music across 360 degrees, it stands as a landmark production that demonstrated the superior spatial expression capabilities of Atmos.
In the 1970s, three directors—G. Lucas, S. Spielberg, and F.F. Coppola—emerged championing an anti-Hollywood stance. Similarly, in the 2000s, three directors from Mexico rose to prominence.
These directors are Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and Guillermo del Toro. Director Alfonso Cuarón went on to win an Academy Award for his film ROMA, distributed via the new Netflix distribution system in 2018. Director Guillermo del Toro won for his fantasy film The Shape of Water, and Director Alejandro Iñárritu won for The Revenant.
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