Episode 134Dolby Creator Talks

Building Mars From the Ground Up: The Making of Good Night Oppy

November 29, 2022

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Director Ryan White and Academy Award-winning sound designer Mark Mangini join us today to discuss the making of “Good Night Oppy.” This charming new documentary tells the story of the two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which were sent to the red planet back in 2003 and were expected to survive long enough to collect data for — hopefully — 90 days. Instead, they blew everyone’s expectations away and one of them, nicknamed “Oppy,” lasted over 15 years.

The filmmakers had the advantage of almost a thousand hours of archival material from NASA, but since much of the film takes place “on Mars,” that came with its own unique challenges.

Mark Mangini, who worked as the film’s sound designer, supervising sound editor, and re-recording mixer, then had the unique challenge of “recreating” what exactly those machines and environment might have sounded like on Mars… but without the benefit of microphones on any of the rovers. But as always, he was able to craft an incredible soundtrack and mix in Dolby Atmos®.

I didn't want it just to be an earthbound story. I wanted it to also take place on Mars. And I didn't want that just to be like grainy black and white photos. And so I asked [our production company] Amblin, ‘is it possible to put the audience on Mars, almost as if I could be there with my documentary crew during this adventure, in a way that is photoreal?’ And Amblin said, ‘we don't know, but luckily our best friends are Industrial Light and Magic.” … Spirit and opportunity each had nine cameras. We know what every day of their journeys looked like. And so we were able to supply all of that photography and all of the data that NASA could give us. So for instance, the weather, where the sun rose and sun set on a day, or how much dust was in the air on a certain day that Spirit was going through. And we asked Industrial Light and Magic, ‘can you take all of this information, all of this data, and create a photoreal Mars?’ And they said, ‘we've never done that before, but we love a challenge. We will build Mars from the ground up for you.’

Ryan White, Director, “Good Night Oppy”

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