“Wiqkat kasibrlackg ckag. Ckpyokc kasipuyat. Naaa. Walalalalala.” – Dave Whitehead, MPSE
With credits on major sci-fi blockbusters like District 9, Arrival, Project Hail Mary, and James Cameron’s Avatar franchise, Dave Whitehead has become a go-to Sound Artist for out-of-this-world sounds. Learn how whale songs and throat singing inspired the language of the Prawns in District 9, how Whitehead blended sound effects with his own voice to make it more alien, and how he and his partner Michelle Child impressed Denis Villeneuve with their take on the Heptapods in Arrival.
00:15 - The District 9 Prawns
When Neil Blomkamp first talked to Whitehead about District 9, he proposed an “insectoid” language for the alien species known as Prawns in the film. But although insects make many interesting sounds, they don’t really have languages, so whale songs became the starting point.
“The way that they spoke was more like a whale would sort of have a voice, but it was very ethereal and it was not really locked into a language enough,” says Whitehead. “I remember Peter Jackson came in and had a look with Neil and he made the note that he didn't think it was enough of a language.”
That night, Whitehead went home and created a language from scratch, complete with syntax and slang. “Because some of the lines didn't fit the animation of the prawns speaking on screen, I'd slang them up,” he explains. “In English language, you'd say, ‘good morning,’ or ‘morning.’ You cut things down as you're talking.”
01:36 - Blending voice and sound effects
“Once I came up with the language, then I went into my room and did a sort of a base version,” says Whitehead. “I performed it with my voice, but I didn't want my voice, and so I found that croaky sort of in-between.” With practice, he developed a guttural-sounding vocal technique similar to throat singing and became a voice actor, recording lines of alien dialogue in a language only he knew.
The next step was to make it less human and more alien by replacing certain vowels and consonants with sound effects: rough squeaks from rubbing pumpkins, “S” sounds from a toy snake, angry cicadas, and squawking seagulls. “It was like this melting pot of things that kind of built up the palette of the aliens,” he explains. “It was a bit of a task, you know, arriving at it, but once I found the formula, it was very quick to work those lines.”
“It was like this melting pot of things that kind of built up the palette of the aliens.”
03:13 - The Arrival Heptapods
Whitehead’s work on District 9 got the attention of director Denis Villeneuve and editor Joe Walker, who were in need of something similar for their upcoming film Arrival. Whitehead’s wife and “partner in sound design crime” Michelle Child helped put together a first pass of the Heptapod creatures’ language that blew Villeneuve away. “He was so excited,” Whitehead recalls. “It sounded like the alien that developed on screen, and it really set the tone for the whole thing. So we had found the alien at the start, and we just started to really work it.”
“It sounded like the alien that developed on screen, and it really set the tone for the whole thing.”
One of Villeneuve’s notes was that the Heptapods should sound ‘sacred.’ “Imagine standing in a church with a pipe organist playing, or if I was under the water staring a whale in the face and trying to communicate with it, you know, even mentally,” says Whitehead. “It was about trying to have that feeling and then trying to bring that about with sound.”
Inspired to create your own alien languages? Check out Whitehead Collection: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 for fresh, unique sound design material. Both general libraries feature an assortment of modern, high-quality sound effects in various categories, from sci-fi elements to insects, ambiences, Foley, and more. Here’s a taste of what you’ll find inside.