Live sports and cinematic storytelling meshed earlier this month (9/14) at MSG Sphere, the revolutionary new entertainment venue in Las Vegas. UFC 306, Sphere’s first live sports event, brought mixed martial arts boxing matches together with the world premiere of a film–For Mexico, For All Time–which played out in six 90-second chapters in between the bouts on the UFC pay-per-view card.
Each chapter focused on a different period in Mexican history and its influence on shaping Mexican identity. Shown on the massive interior display of Sphere, For Mexico, For All Time was created by filmmaker Carlos López Estrada and produced by Valerie Bush via Antigravity Academy, and co-produced by Nexus Studios.
Sound designer, supervising sound editor and lead re-recording mixer Drazen Bosnjak and his team at New York-headquartered Q Department brought their creative and technical wherewithal to For Mexico, For All Time, dovetailing with the sound ensemble at Sphere and indie composer Germaine Franco. They contributed to what turned out to be the highest grossing UFC event of all time, and the highest grossing single event at Sphere, playing before a sold out crowd of 16,024.
López Estrada, whose work as writer-director on Raya and the Last Dragon earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature Film in 2022, described For Mexico, For All Time as “a larger-than-life project,” referring to its size and scope–on varied fronts. For one, Sphere houses the world’s highest resolution LED display coupled with a 167,000 speaker audio system, facilitating an immersive multi-sensory experience. López Estrada’s studio, Antigravity Academy, had a steep learning curve relative to the process of creating and producing a film that could play on such a canvas. He partnered closely with head of production Bush, who came aboard Antigravity Academy following her collaboration with López Estrada on the feature film Didi. They assembled a team which included directorial talent for each chapter of the film, a VFX ensemble, and music and sound artisans such as Franco and Bosnjak.
The scope of the assignment, though, extended far beyond the enormity of the Sphere’s physicality, noted López Estrada. There was also the matter of doing justice to Mexican history–and its warrior spirit–within the confines of some 10 minutes. Furthermore, those cinematic chapters had to juxtapose with live UFC matches, engaging sports fans while providing a thoughtful, educational dimension and perspective on Mexican people and their culture to properly celebrate Mexican Independence Day.
The six chapters of the film–ranging from live action to CG, VFX, animation, and combinations thereof, consisted of:
–1) In The Beginning, directed by Joe Sill and Brian Tang via the studio Impossible Objects. Echoes of warriors past resonate through time, honoring Mexico’s enduring legacy.
–2) Early Civilizations, directed by Saad Moosajee via Analog Studios. In the dawn of what we now call Mexico, the first settlers forge a deep resilience, igniting a fighting spirit that will shape the nation for centuries to come. Moosajee, a Brooklyn-based artist known for his multidisciplinary approach to animation and visual effects, transports viewers to the beginnings of Mexican civilization.
–3) Rituals & Traditions, directed by Paul Nicholls via Factory Fifteen. Through the rituals and traditions of Mexico’s earliest civilizations, the essence of the ancestors lives on, immortalized in customs that endure across generations. “This project blended the fascinating research of Mexican rituals and traditions with the creation of an epic fantasy world for UFC 306 inside Sphere,” stated Nicholls. “It perfectly showcases our detail-oriented maximalist style— beginning with a single flame drawing back through a ritualistic cave and culminating in a striking symbol of Mexico: a colossal skull. We aimed to leave the audience utterly awestruck.”
–4) Battle For Independence, directed by Diego Huacuja of BASA Estudios. At a defining moment in history, Mexico stands against centuries of colonial oppression, Inspired by the greatest muralist artists of Mexico–Diego Rivera, Juan O’Gorman, and David Alfaro Siqueiros–11 years of struggle for independence are symbolized through an epic animated piece.
–5) Fighters & Heroes, directed by Shynola via Nexus Studios. Spanning from the origins of Mexico’s history to the present, iconic figures–from ancient leaders to modern sports heroes–embody the relentless spirit that defines the nation’s identity.
–6) Mexico Today and Tomorrow, directed by Paul Trillo via Factory Fifteen. This final chapter envisions a future Mexico–a place and civilization evolving from its rich lineage, as its people propel their culture forward into eternity.
López Estrada knew going in that the stakes were high–a bit daunting but at the same time exciting. Dimming the lights during a UFC extravaganza which included a pair of championship bouts, said López Estrada, meant that “we were fully asking people to embark on this storytelling journey–something unheard of for a sporting event. But it worked. People were engrossed in many different ways. The goal ultimately was to create a new dialogue between sports and entertainment. That was the bar set for us. We were trying to move in that direction.”
Bush added, “It was funny to watch the audience try to figure out when to step out of the venue–when to get a drink, go to the restroom–as they started to understand the rhythm of the event. They didn’t want to miss any part of the experience. It was cool to see that.”
López Estrada said he found it “very rewarding and encouraging to see we could tell a story so unapologetically Mexican, so specific to my culture and my country’s history–and that it could resonate the way it did not only at Sphere but in a broadcast sent out to millions of households around the world. We found the universality in the specificity of these stories….Seeing people feeling curious and excited about Mexican culture is a pretty big accomplishment.”
The casting process, noted López Estrada, was crucial, including the selection of directors and studios for the film. And in the case of working with Nexus, that studio in turn, recalled Bush, had recommended Bosnjak and Q Department.
Among the factors behind the selection of Q Department was its extensive experience on immersive and spatial audio projects dating back to 2013. Q Department has been a pioneer in immersive audio production, turning out more than 150 immersive pieces of content over the past decade-plus. Furthermore Q Department was behind the launch of Mach 1, a breakthrough spatial audio technology company which in 2018 won a Lumiere Tech Award from the Advanced Imaging Society. Mach 1’s high profile VR and AR titles at that time included 20th Century Fox’s The Martian VR and Alien VR; Lockheed Martin’s The Mars VR Bus; Oculus Story Studio’s Emmy-nominated Dear Angelica; FX’s Mr. Robot VR; Microsoft Hololen’s Legion: Sessions for FX; Sony’s Passengers VR; SyFy’s NightFlyer; the immersive theatre VR experience Chained: A Victorian Nightmare; and the Emmy-nominated Meta Red Rocks VR series.
Just as the decision-makers behind For Mexico, For All Time were drawn to Q Department, so too was Bosnjak captivated by the opportunity to create for a Sphere space featuring a 160,000 square foot (15,000 square meters) screen that’s 500 feet wide with the aforementioned 167,000 speakers opening up a world of possibilities. The sheer physicality of the challenge to create for such a venue was both staggering and inspiring. Bosnjak and his Q Department colleagues teamed with the audio ensemble at Sphere to embrace the challenge. They were extensively prepared with much material completely pre-mixed. Bosnjak said that he and his compatriots spatialized (panned) some 1,800 audio sources across the six films or chapters that collectively came together to make For Mexico, For All Time. And his enthusiasm for the project grew even more once he experienced the only other narrative film rolled out at Sphere, director Darren Aronofsky’s Postcard From Earth.
“It really envelops you,” affirmed Bosnjak who acknowledged at times being “super jaded” and generally immune from feeling such a high level of visceral excitement at any venue. But Postcard From Earth at Sphere, he said, “blew my mind. It was bigger and better than anything I ever anticipated. His film resonates loudly. It’s a perfect piece of work to demonstrate the beautiful immersive power of media.”
Bosnjak’s Q Department contingent included his right-hand man JB Saint Pol, sound designer and partner in the Paris office, along with re-recording mixer, sound designer and VO editor Matthew Orlando, yet another “right-hand,” and executive producer/company CEO Jacqueline Bosnjak.
The sound team at Sphere consisted of principal audio artist Paul Freeman, sr. sound editor Matt Soule, audio systems supervisor Ryan Hurt, and audio systems expert Nate Flanagan. Michael Abbott served as audio consultant and while not a staffer at Sphere, he’s worked on assorted Sphere projects. Sphere also shared its mixing tools and was generous with its expertise. Drazen Bosnjak noted that without their help, cooperation and talent, it would have taken Q Department much longer to attain the results they got, working together to deploy and spread the sound so it had the most impact.
Helping to unify the six chapters of For Mexico, For All Time was the overarching direction of López Estrada as well as the narration from actor Gael Garcia Bernal.
Logistical hurdles included being able to schedule enough time at Sphere given the demand of multiple projects–including Aronofsky’s film as well as concert performances by U2 and the Eagles as part of their residencies at the facility. Spending time at Sphere–to work, listen and experience–made its mark on Bosnjak. He described Sphere as “an absolute marvel of human technological achievement.” Bosnjak added that the space, its features and resources are akin to “the pyramids of our time.” Creating and experiencing sound there was somehow like being at a divine audio altar, he observed.
Antigravity Academy’s Bush similarly marveled at the collaborative spirit that emerged for the Sphere project. “I was truly in awe of the human capabilities when working together as a team and realizing what can be done. This whole project was unprecedented. Without all of the collaborators, our production team and all the teams involved, it wouldn’t have been possible,” said Bush, estimating that the production workforce consisted of some 125 people.
