Xavania Original · Feature
The Gauge
98% match2024PG-131h 48mHDR · 4K5.1 + Binaural
A rail engineer refuses to abandon her line.
When the last regional railway is scheduled for closure, an engineer keeps the night service running out of her own pocket for one final winter.
Cast & digital humans
Kaia Nakamura
Lead@kaia-nak
On screen: engineer in the cab
Voice print: worn contralto, cab-boxed
SoulPrint Pro · face, eyes, hair, hands, wardrobe and voice locked across every take
Dov Iyer
Supporting@dov-iye
On screen: signalman on the platform
Voice print: gruff older baritone
SoulPrint Pro · face, wardrobe and voice print locked; blocking free
Berit Okonkwo
Supporting@berit-oko
On screen: clerk at the board
Voice print: young tenor, hesitant
SoulPrint Pro · face, wardrobe and voice print locked; blocking free
Sound design — every person, action and object
Dialogue & voice
- Kaia Nakamura — They can close the line. They can't close the run.Cab lav with the engine bleed left in, -23 LUFS
- Dov Iyer — Points are frozen at the north end again.Open-air boom, snow-damped
Foley — frame-matched to the render
Pressure gauge
Needle tick and a brass case ring on the tap
Coal shovel
Blade bite into the pile and a firebox throw, door clang on the close
Signal lamp
Wick adjust and a glass housing rattle in the wind
Frozen points
Lever strain, ice crack, then the throw
Boots on snow
Compacted squeak, pitch by temperature
Ambience beds
- • Snow-deadened yard, unusually short reverb
- • Idling locomotive breathing
- • Wind across the open platform
- • Distant road traffic muffled by snow
Score
Solo accordion and low strings, plain and unsentimental, sitting under the engine bed
Mix- • 5.1 and binaural stereo folds rendered from one bed
- • Dialogue -23 LUFS, trailer master -14 LUFS, true peak -1 dBTP
- • Every element is placed from its on-screen position and tracked as the camera moves
- • Snow absorption is modelled — every exterior source loses its tail and its top end
- • No library loops on visible actions — each hit is cut to the frame it happens on
