Introduction
I examine Arrival (Japanese title: Message), the groundbreaking sci-fi film that won the 2016 Academy Award for Best Sound Editing. The film's defining feature lies in its immersive audio design, where complex themes are conveyed through an ambient-style score crafted using acoustic elements like instruments and voices via the classic tape-loop technique. This seamlessly integrates with the alien voices, movement sounds, and diverse ambiences created by the Canadian-New Zealand-French sound team, also based on natural materials.
Director Denis Villeneuve, based in Montreal, Canada, is a new-generation director who went on to helm Blade Runner 2049, the 2017 remake of the classic Blade Runner.
１ Production crew
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Sound Design: Sylvain Bellemare
Vessel sound: Olivier Calvert
Heptopod vocal sound: Dave Whitehead. Michelle Child
Final Mix: Bernard Gariépy Strobl,
Music: Jóhann Jóhannsson
Music Sound design: Simon Ashdown
Scoring Recording: Daniel Kresco
Scoring Mix; Paul Corley
Foley Artist: Nicolas Becker. Greg Vincent
Foley Rec: Yellow Cab Poly Son Post
Production Sound: Claude La Haye
Sound Recordist: Steve Perski Justin Wilson
7.1CH Final Mix; MELS Post at Montreal Canada
Dolby Atmos Mix [It's a studio in Paris, but couldn't find the credits.]
2. Story and Main Characters
Unmarried linguist Louise Banks experiences a series of déjà vu-like visions depicting scenes from her daughter's birth to her death from a terminal illness. While teaching a class, she hears news of mysterious spacecraft arriving at twelve locations around the world, causing global uproar. Colonel Weber then visits her. His purpose is to...
Colonel Weber of the U.S. military played the recording he had brought and pressed Louise for its meaning, but she replied that she couldn't understand it without going to the site. Ultimately, she headed to the base monitoring the spacecraft that had arrived in Montana, accompanied by physicist Ian Donnelly.
Their mission is to uncover the purpose behind the arrival of two extraterrestrial beings (the “Heptapods”). After much trial and error, they begin deciphering the Heptapod written language, which resembles ink splatters. Throughout this process, flashbacks to his life with his daughter occur. While troubled by the cause of these flashbacks, he achieves communication with the Heptapods and learns their true reason for coming to Earth. They reveal they are offering a gift so humanity can rescue them 3,000 years in the future. Louise also comes to understand that the Heptapods transcend time, and that the flashbacks she experienced were actually her own future.
The spaceship vanishes, and at the base where the mission was successfully completed, Ian proposes to Louise. Knowing she cannot avoid the fate of later divorcing Ian and her daughter Hannah's untimely death; Louise accepts the proposal.
At first glance, it appears to be a standard sci-fi adventure film, but its main theme is based on Ted Chiang's short story “The Story of Your Life,” exploring the philosophical idea that “the flow of time is not only the past; humans also possess the power to perceive the future leading up to their death.”
3. The Four-Act Structure and Its Distinctive Sound Design
3-1. Introduction (00h00'00“-15'18”)
The main theme quietly plays over flashback footage of Louise's days with her daughter. In the opening classroom scene at the university, where only a few people are present, PC and mobile phone sounds gradually emerge. Then, people evacuating the campus, alarms, ambulances, and bold jet sounds flying L-R expand the dynamic range, building tension as a spacecraft approaches. The design features ambient-style music enveloping the space through height channels and horizontal 5.1 Ls-Rs, with the remaining channels dedicated to sound effects. A fundamental design concept is established: dialogue-heavy scenes boldly center the sound, while scenes depicting space utilize height channels to softly envelop the environment.
The final scene of the opening sequence shows Colonel Weber and his team arriving by helicopter in Ian's backyard to pick him up.
Ian, lying in bed, is listening to the TV news. Here too, the sound design is cleanly focused solely on the hard center. Suddenly, the sound of the helicopter's approach spreads from the front hard center to the rear in a flyover, rapidly increasing in range. Then, in the next wide shot of Ian looking outside from the living room, the helicopter's hovering sound resonates powerfully from the height channel. The sound design sequence, where the wide shot of Ian boarding the helicopter with Colonel Weber shifts to a pure front L-C-R mix, is a brilliant example of tempo-driven design.
3-2 Transition 15'18“-23'09”
The helicopter cabin scene also demonstrates the effectiveness of the height channel. Though simple, by separating the BASIC CH and HEIGHT CH, it conveys the enclosed, confined space where various cabin noises would otherwise mask each other in a standard horizontal 5.1CH setup. Later, when Louise and physicist Ian converse via headsets— “Language is culture!” “Language is science!”—the HEIGHT CH component disappears, and the scene proceeds solely in horizontal 5.1CH.
PS: Be sure to compare this to the 1993 66th Academy Award-winning film Jurassic Park, which similarly features a helicopter flight to the island. You'll understand the effectiveness of height CH.
３−３Main body 23’35“-1h16‘15”
Scenes of the command room communicating with bases around the world appear repeatedly inside the tent. Here too, the murmur of the command room echoing within the tent is subtly placed in the height channel, representing the enclosed space inside the tent.
Meanwhile, the adjacent analysis room for Louise and Ian's team has no height CH ambience, allowing them to focus on the meaning of the dialogue.
３−４Conclusion 1h16‘15“—1h56’30”
The Chinese military declares war on the Heptapods. Twelve bases worldwide begin evacuation, and the Montana base receives withdrawal orders, creating a frantic scene.
Here too, helicopters circling overhead and the various sounds of withdrawal underway on the ground form a three-dimensional spatial experience.
4. Scoring Music
The scoring was handled by Jóhann Jóhannsson, an Icelandic composer who can be described as a post-classical artist active in contemporary music, folk music, pop performances, and composition. After reading the script, he intuitively envisioned an ambient-style music centered around tape loops. He sent several sample pieces to the director before filming began. The director, liking the sound, reportedly played these samples during filming.
The tape loops are no half-measure—this music was created using a technique where various sound sources were recorded and played back on a loop of 2-inch tape in a Studer A-16 analog multitrack tape recorder. Emphasizing pauses and silence as a core concept, and collaborating with the sound design team, the result leans more towards an ME-style finish than pure scoring.
The musical design varies across four distinct patterns, as shown below, depending on the presence or absence of sound design. This variation was likely achieved by preparing stems for mixing and then adjusting them during the final mix.
The music sources include a 65-piece orchestra recorded at SMECKY MUSIC STUDIO in Prague, the VOICE London chorus group, the lingering resonance of Apf, and drum sounds like 16-beat rhythms.
For this reason, the main recording miking was done in mono or stereo rather than the standard DECCA TREE configuration. The resulting music was also fundamentally treated as two separate stems, with the final placement and balance being handled during the final mix. The behind-the-scenes footage included as a bonus feature on the Blu-ray disc showcases this process, and the sight of the 16-track Studer A-16 tape loops playing is truly impressive.
* His work featuring full orchestral scoring can be fully appreciated in the 2014 British film “The Theory of Everything,” which depicts the life of Dr. Hawking.
The music runs for 62 minutes, accounting for a modest 53.4% of the film's runtime.
He was scheduled to compose for the director's next film, Blade Runner 2049, but tragically passed away suddenly in Berlin in early 2018, ending his life at the age of 48.
5. Foley. Sound Effects. Material Recording
The 2013 award-winning film {Gravity} also used a Paris studio for its Foley work. Perhaps Paris has many studios and Foley artists well-suited for this type of recording.
Another example is a New Zealand-based sound design team who designed the voices for the alien heptapods.
The materials used for this were also purely analog: New Zealand wild birds, the breath of a Maori flute, a camel's throat sound, the contraction sound of bagpipes, and materials created by filling a paper carton with water, contracting it, and blowing air into it through a straw. These were used to create voices tailored to the two characters.
The spacecraft sounds were also produced by a dedicated team, utilizing instruments like trumpets and horns for this material.
The scenes feature conversations from TV news, helicopter in-flight headset chats, spacesuit communications, and cell phones. For these too, they meticulously sourced actual transceivers and used audio recorded by transmitting and receiving signals through those real devices.
Sound supervisor Sylvain Bellemare, based in Montreal, stated in an interview, “Typically, such processing is done using plug-in tools, but we went to these lengths to achieve the authenticity of each element.”
He has a video lecture from the Montreal Art university where he lists the following elements as essential skills for sound design. Please also refer to this.
● Value the relationship with music
● Study film itself and learn its history
● Voraciously absorb the latest technology
● Approach sound with free thinking
● Concentrate on hearing sound with your ears—Not Wave Form
I wholeheartedly agree with his point. Lately, too many people have become fixated on seeing sound as waveforms!
In Closing
Based in Montreal, Canada, Denis Villeneuve is characterized by a distinctly contemporary production style that crosses borders to combine diverse talents, making him one of the directors breaking away from Hollywood. If you get the chance, be sure to watch his 2015 film Sicario, which can be considered his true American debut.
The sound design of this film stands out for its distinct approach to both sound and visuals compared to typical sci-fi movies. While the main narrative thread—the crisis management between aliens and Earth—keeps audiences on the edge of their seats, it actually plays a supporting role. The design, which uses Dolby Atmos height channels to softly envelop the entire experience, contributes significantly to conveying the philosophical themes of ‘time and memory’ inherent in the source material. This is achieved by centering the story around Ian's memories, inserted as flashbacks.
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