Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1076412
21 open when they talked or reduced air noise. I sent the actors a feed of their own off-camera reader, the feed of the other actors, but not themselves, and mission control comms to all. When Damien talked, it shut down every feed, including their own so they could hear his direction. I also routed the First ADs voice of god to any one of them if needed. All this was done each day. I had to break it all down every night and set it up again the next day. It took two hours." Earwigs were not used inside the helmets because if they went out, 108 dB of white noise would blast into the actor's ear. Instead, Comteks were hardwired inside a prop earwig and set to the earwig frequency and surveillance systems for sound to have complete control over. "The great thing about this was the batteries lasted all day as the actors could be in the capsules for up to seven hours. Also, I could change a battery without taking off the suit in case one failed, though that never happened," says Lowe. Additionally, the original launch day recordings from NASA came into play on set when actors wanted to listen to the delivery. "Ryan was very particular about mimicking Neil's inflections, specifically when we were on the moon," notes Lowe. "I fed Ryan a recording of Neil and he would work out his moves with the dialog." To find the right mic placement for Gosling, the actor was all about experimenting and finding the right levels. "Ryan doesn't like to do any ADR, so we needed to find the right balance between the air level and audio level so he wasn't looping two months of capsule work," says Ellis. Another point of emphasis was placing plant mics as ISO tracks outside the gimbals as they got creakier for post. For its moon landing, production took over the Vulcan Rock Quarry, a rock quarry south of Atlanta. The shoot took place outdoors in December and at night. Sound approached the work utilizing wires instead of booms to give the actors solitude. "It was a real internal moment for them so we wanted to give them as much space as possible," says Ellis. Reflecting on the show, Ellis admits Sandgren gave them some challenging situations. "He would always come over to say sorry but he didn't have to. He had an amazing team and we were able to have this really great dance together thanks to the crew I had around me." Damien Chazelle inside mission control set On set with Sound Playback Alexander Lowe Damien Chazelle and Costume Designer Mary Zophres review mock-ups Cinematographer Linus Sandgren on a catwalk with actor Ryan Gosling