DPA Captures Sound For Netflix Original Film: Oxygène

When it came time to record the Netflix original French-language film, Oxygène (Oxygen in English), the audio team had quite the challenge in front of them.

The premise of the scientific horror film focuses on a scientist, played by French Actress Melanie Laurent, who has lost her memory, awakens, trapped in a medical pod and must find her way out before the oxygen levels diminish. Given the setting, the pod is used for 90 percent of the film and, with its tight quarters, Production Sound Mixer Ken Yasumoto and Boom Operator Josselin Panchout knew they needed a reliable and unobtrusive microphone solution, which they found in DPA Microphones.

Having small, portable, easy-to-use tools became even more important when the film's Director Alex Aja and Director of Photography Maxime Alexandre built a second pod for ease of filming some of the tighter shots. Although there were two sets, the team utilized only one video/audio production kit, which required them to frequently move gear from one location to the other. Fans of DPA from previous work, Yasumoto and Panchout decided to primarily utilize the brand’s 6060 CORE Omnidirectional Subminiature microphone for the film because of its diminutive size and discreet yet powerful presence on the narrow set. They also deployed DPA’s 4080 CORE Miniature Cardioid and 6066 CORE Omnidirectional Headset microphones for the film.

Panchout explains that he outfitted a pair of 6060s with Bubblebee lavalier concealers, designed specifically for the 6060. Wardrobe then used a tube to run the lavalier’s cable along a seam on Laurent’s top, which was made of fishnet material. On the other end, Yasumoto used a cable to plug the mics directly into the main pod, which was specially designed to include an active microphone jack. This, he says, ensured consistent, quality sound versus using it as a wireless option.

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