While the visuals of a Science Fiction Film may be the most obvious focus for your attention, do not mistake how profound the sounds you experience are in the believability of the worlds conjured in these stories. The sound of the Enterprise teleportation deck, Darth Vader’s unmistakable breathy flanged voice; these are massively recognizable components of the most well-known Sci-Fi franchises and they attest to how vital the sonic style of storytelling can be. Ethan Yuheng Xie works in a variety of genres including Sci-Fi and he revels in the creativity his vocation as a re-recording mixer affords him. A true artist, Ethan is immersed in the world of dialogue and sound with a passion for bridging futuristic ideas to our present day reality. Ethan confides, “When I am working as re-recording mixer, I love doing Sci-fi and horror, which allows postproduction sound to have a ton of room to create. With a bit of music related background, being the sound mixer both onset and in post-production, I have the chance to hear films, not only when I am working on projects but it also opens up a new world when I am watching films in cinema.”
Falling up takes place during the Cold War era and centers around Gary, a Russian interpreter working for the CIA. The climate among Gary and the military heads whom he interacts with is volatile due to his repeated encounters of strange signals which he suggests are extra-terrestrial. Warned that this pattern should not continue, Gary is hesitant to bring a highly pronounced signal to the attention of his superiors. His personal investigation of this auditory beacon pulls him into a strange and frightening place. The main cast of this film includes Anton Nassif (of Oscar Award Winning film Ford v Ferrari) as Gary, Diane Franklin (of such classic films as Better off Dead and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) as Elizabeth, and Phillip-Charlie Daniell (of Primetime Emmy Award winning series This Is Us) as General Ross.
Ethan confirms that he was brought onto this production after the picture edit was locked and precisely for the reason to correct a number of issues with the sound. Falling Up is a film which relies heavily on its sonic personality to deliver the intended emotional impact; making any minor sound issues a far greater impediment than is typical. Thinking creatively, Ethan found solutions for a number of problems. An issue with the recording of a tense dinner scene between Gary and his wife produced a less than desirable take. Since the actors’ schedules would not permit a timely ADR, Ethan pivoted to using the sounds from the headphones Liz (Gary’s wife) was wearing to overtake the dialogue and create the idea of a shift in the narrative point of view. Another massive contribution of Ethan’s occurs during the film’s climactic scene as Gary encounters the aliens and their ship. With the soundtrack already in place and taking up a substantial part of the sonic bandwidth, a means of presenting the “awe factor” of the alien ship required space. Ethan describes, “The soundtrack was overtaking the scene and there was not that much room for me to fit sound effects in. I knew this was the climax and resolution of the film. The use of organ in the score is certainly great but it lacked the ‘granular’ and ‘robotic’ texture I was looking for. I talked to the director and the composer and we coordinated the frequencies of certain parts. I also asked for some shot pauses on the score so the audience could still hear the UFO and feel the enormousness of it. Then I had the chance to fill in layers of sound designs. I also actively balanced the sound level of the music and effects to make sure they played nicely with each other.” There are numerous moments like this in Falling Up which benefited from Ethan’s ability to perceive “what could be” in sonic terms. The canvas he paints on is an audible one comprised of complex layers. The “Best Sound Design” award (Los Angeles Film Awards) bestowed upon this film attests to this. Ethan explains his passion for sounds stating, “I originally thought I’d be a cinematographer but when I started noticing how bad the sound was on some student films, I began to understand how important sound is in allowing the audience to believe the story. As I investigated more about sound in film, I perceived a whole new approach in storytelling and it excited me. I’m very aware of the fact that most people don’t notice the sound; sometimes my fellow filmmakers don’t pay that much attention to it. Recognition is not why I do what I do; it’s because I care deeply about making each project the best it can be.”
Ethan Xie recently directed and served as re-recording mixer on the upcoming science fiction romance Erase which is set for a May 2023 release.
Writer: Sharon Howe
