“The Piccards” is based on the true story of father-son explorers Auguste and Jacques Piccard. In surreal fashion, the film reimagines the individual achievements of both men as one continuous upward journey—an odyssey across time and space—to the stratosphere and the deepest point of the ocean.

Today, the story of the Piccards goes largely untold in the United States. But their cultural impact is undeniable. As the first man to reach the stratosphere, Auguste Piccard paved the way for all subsequent commercial air travel. Additionally, he and his son Jacques have inspired well-known cultural characters like Tintin’s Professor Calculus and Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

The purpose of sound design in this film was twofold. First, we needed to create realistic diegetic sound that could accentuate the action and ramp up drama and intensity. Our goal was to make people feel like they’re 50,000 feet above the earth, then seven miles beneath the sea. Our second use of sound was to explore the psyche and emotions of our characters—to make people feel what these two men must have felt. This came through particularly after the balloon burst, where sound was used to communicate the panic and fear of Auguste Piccard’s situation.