works were done at Todd-AO's mixing facility in Hollywood; Joseph Ellison, later the creator of Don't Go in the House (1980), participated in this segment. For the sound effects, Sam Shaw was the editor while Ray West and Jack Woltz were mixers. Because of IMAX's advanced sound technology, some scenes in the film were made just for the audio experience. For example, a multi-screen scene in which two jet airplanes cross each other uses the surround nature of the sound system; MacGillivray expected audiences to "shiver" due to the dramatic shift of attention. In the locomotive screen-hitting scene, the engine noises gradually surround the audience. After the post-production process which—combined with the space sequence production—took six months, clients applauded the film's rough cut; two of the biggest, the Smithsonian and Conoco, gave input for the final cut, which spans more than of film stock. Conoco later attributed themselves as the film's sponsor. Themes and style To Fly! depicts how the imagination of the American people pioneered aviation, and how aerial scenes revolutionized it. This is illustrated with scenes of aircraft flying over American landscapes. Critic Daniel Eagan said most of the views depicted in the film's opening sequence is "stately, processional, celebrating the American landscape while remaining distant from it". From there, the film explores the US, "igniting patriotic empathy". It was also viewed as a nationalist film, linking the American quest for national identity to the development of aviation through metanarratives, as well as the linear, westward progress of aviation, though its visual rhetoric shines only in the space sequence. MacGillivray supported these analyses, calling the film "an audiovisual voyage through time". The Smithsonian, in reference to the film's final narration, said its theme is: "Flight, in all its forms, is part of the Human condition, part of our Destiny". This refers to manifest destiny, a mythic cultural belief that foreshadows the American westward expansion; this motif guides the film through its euphoric narrative. Collins said To Fly! style makes it "a break from the learning going on in the rest of the museum", and NASM former assistant LeRoy London, alongside Chief of Presentations and Education Von Del Chamberlain, said it is an amplification of visitors' fascination of flying after seeing the museum's exhibits. Film author Alison Griffiths said the film is an add-on to a museum admission: whereas the exhibits give visitors information and interest, the film gives