Foley artist
Encyclopedia
Foley is the reproduction of everyday sound
s for use in filmmaking
. These reproduced sounds can be anything from the swishing of clothing and footsteps to squeaky doors and breaking glass. The best foley art is so well integrated into a film
that it goes unnoticed by the audience
. It helps to create a sense of reality within a scene. Without these crucial background noise
s, movies feel unnaturally quiet and uncomfortable.
Foley artists look to recreate the realistic ambient sounds that the film portrays. The props and sets of a film do not react the same way acoustically as their real life counterparts. Foley sounds are used to enhance the auditory experience of the movie. Foley can also be used to cover up unwanted sounds captured on the set of a movie during filming that might take away from the scene at hand, such as overflying airplanes or passing traffic.
in 1914 during the silent movie era. When Warner studios released its first film to include sound, The Jazz Singer
, Universal knew it needed to get on the bandwagon and called for any employees who had radio experience to come forward. Foley became part of the sound crew that would turn Universal’s then upcoming “silent” musical Show Boat
into the vibrant musical we know it as today. Because the microphone
s used for filming could not pick up more than dialogue
, other sounds had to be added in after the film was shot. Foley and his small crew would project the film on a screen while recording a single track of audio that would capture their live sound effect
s in real time. Their timing had to be perfect so that footsteps and closing doors would sync with the actors' motions in the film. Jack Foley created sounds for films until his death in 1967. His methods are still employed today.
Modern Foley art has progressed with the advancement of recording technology. Today, sounds do not have to be recorded live on a single track of audio. They can be captured separately on individual tracks and carefully synced with their visual counterpart. Foley studios employ hundreds of props and digital effects to recreate the ambient sounds of their films.
. Often there are many little sound effects that happen within any given scene of a movie. The process of recording them all can be tedious and time consuming.
Foley art can be broken down into three main categories:
Example:
The “Feet” category entails the sound of footsteps. In the example given the actors are walking down a staircase. What is heard are two Foley artists stamping their feet on a marble slab in a recording studio, they do this while watching the footage to make sure that their foot strikes happen at the same time as the actor’s steps on the screen. Foley studios carry many different types of shoes and several different types of floors to create footstep sounds. These floors vary from marble squares to gravel and rock pits. Creating just the right sound of footsteps can greatly enhance feel of a scene.
The “Cloth” category makes up many of the more subtle sounds heard in films. Foley artists will have to add the swishing of clothing as the actor’s pant legs rub together as they descend the stairs. This sound is created by rubbing two pieces of the same material together near the microphone at the same rate that the actor’s legs cross.
“Props” are the extra sounds added into a scene that are not feet or cloth. This means that anything the actor touches or moves must be recorded for the film. This also means that a Foley studio must have hundreds of props on hand for any scenario where a sound might be needed. Studios have collections of doors, chairs, canes, and guns, literally anything that might be used in a film. Props can make up most of the cost of a Foley studio and require more room to store than the studio space itself. In our example the keys that the actors are fishing out of their pockets would be considered specifics. These would be easily recreated with actual car keys from the Foley artists as they clink them around in their pockets the same way the actors are but with microphones directed at the keys to pick up their jingling sound.
The scene is only complete when a little reverb is added onto the new Foley audio and any dialog recorded at the set in order to recreate the sound of the hard, empty walls of the staircase. Reverb and echo can enhance the feeling of space in a scene. Both of these effects are subtle but descriptive to the human ear. Acoustically, these effects are how we judge the size of a given space. For example, a large hall will have strong reverberation, while a small room may have only slight reverberation.
Sound
Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
s for use in filmmaking
Filmmaking
Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...
. These reproduced sounds can be anything from the swishing of clothing and footsteps to squeaky doors and breaking glass. The best foley art is so well integrated into a film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
that it goes unnoticed by the audience
Audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
. It helps to create a sense of reality within a scene. Without these crucial background noise
Background noise
In acoustics and specifically in acoustical engineering, background noise or ambient noise is any sound other than the sound being monitored. Background noise is a form of noise pollution or interference. Background noise is an important concept in setting noise regulations...
s, movies feel unnaturally quiet and uncomfortable.
Foley artists look to recreate the realistic ambient sounds that the film portrays. The props and sets of a film do not react the same way acoustically as their real life counterparts. Foley sounds are used to enhance the auditory experience of the movie. Foley can also be used to cover up unwanted sounds captured on the set of a movie during filming that might take away from the scene at hand, such as overflying airplanes or passing traffic.
History of Foley
Jack Foley began what is now known as Foley art in 1927. He had started working with Universal StudiosUniversal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
in 1914 during the silent movie era. When Warner studios released its first film to include sound, The Jazz Singer
The Jazz Singer (1927 film)
The Jazz Singer is a 1927 American musical film. The first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences, its release heralded the commercial ascendance of the "talkies" and the decline of the silent film era. Produced by Warner Bros. with its Vitaphone sound-on-disc system,...
, Universal knew it needed to get on the bandwagon and called for any employees who had radio experience to come forward. Foley became part of the sound crew that would turn Universal’s then upcoming “silent” musical Show Boat
Show Boat (1929 film)
Show Boat is a film based on the novel by Edna Ferber. This version was released by Universal in two editions, one a silent film for movie theatres still not equipped for sound, and one a part-talkie with a sound prologue...
into the vibrant musical we know it as today. Because the microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
s used for filming could not pick up more than dialogue
Dialogue
Dialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
, other sounds had to be added in after the film was shot. Foley and his small crew would project the film on a screen while recording a single track of audio that would capture their live sound effect
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
s in real time. Their timing had to be perfect so that footsteps and closing doors would sync with the actors' motions in the film. Jack Foley created sounds for films until his death in 1967. His methods are still employed today.
Modern Foley art has progressed with the advancement of recording technology. Today, sounds do not have to be recorded live on a single track of audio. They can be captured separately on individual tracks and carefully synced with their visual counterpart. Foley studios employ hundreds of props and digital effects to recreate the ambient sounds of their films.
How Foley is created
Foley is created by mimicking the actual sound source in a recording studioRecording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
. Often there are many little sound effects that happen within any given scene of a movie. The process of recording them all can be tedious and time consuming.
Foley art can be broken down into three main categories:
- Feet
- Props
- Cloth
Example:
- Two actors are walking down a marble staircase in a film, having a discussion while fishing in their pockets for their car keys.
The “Feet” category entails the sound of footsteps. In the example given the actors are walking down a staircase. What is heard are two Foley artists stamping their feet on a marble slab in a recording studio, they do this while watching the footage to make sure that their foot strikes happen at the same time as the actor’s steps on the screen. Foley studios carry many different types of shoes and several different types of floors to create footstep sounds. These floors vary from marble squares to gravel and rock pits. Creating just the right sound of footsteps can greatly enhance feel of a scene.
The “Cloth” category makes up many of the more subtle sounds heard in films. Foley artists will have to add the swishing of clothing as the actor’s pant legs rub together as they descend the stairs. This sound is created by rubbing two pieces of the same material together near the microphone at the same rate that the actor’s legs cross.
“Props” are the extra sounds added into a scene that are not feet or cloth. This means that anything the actor touches or moves must be recorded for the film. This also means that a Foley studio must have hundreds of props on hand for any scenario where a sound might be needed. Studios have collections of doors, chairs, canes, and guns, literally anything that might be used in a film. Props can make up most of the cost of a Foley studio and require more room to store than the studio space itself. In our example the keys that the actors are fishing out of their pockets would be considered specifics. These would be easily recreated with actual car keys from the Foley artists as they clink them around in their pockets the same way the actors are but with microphones directed at the keys to pick up their jingling sound.
The scene is only complete when a little reverb is added onto the new Foley audio and any dialog recorded at the set in order to recreate the sound of the hard, empty walls of the staircase. Reverb and echo can enhance the feeling of space in a scene. Both of these effects are subtle but descriptive to the human ear. Acoustically, these effects are how we judge the size of a given space. For example, a large hall will have strong reverberation, while a small room may have only slight reverberation.
Common Foley tricks
- Corn starch in a leather pouch makes the sound of snow crunching
- A pair of gloves sounds like bird wings flapping
- An arrow or thin stick makes a great whoosh
- An old chair makes a controllable creaking sound
- A water soaked rusty hinge when placed against different surfaces makes a great creaking sound. Different surfaces change the sound considerably
- A heavy staple gun combined with other small metal sounds make good gun noises
- A metal rake makes a great fence sound (it can also make a great metallic screech when dragged across a piece of metal)
- A heavy car door and fender can create most of the car sounds needed but having a whole car in the studio is better
- Burning plastic garbage bags cut into strips make a cool sound when the bag melts and drips to the ground
- ¼” audio tape balled up sounds like grass or brush when walked on
- Gelatin and hand soap make great squishing noises
- Frozen romaine lettuce makes great bone or head injury noises
- Coconut shells cut in half and stuffed with padding makes great horse hoof noises
- Cellophane creates crackling fire effects
- A selection of wooden and metal doors are needed to create all sorts of door noises but also can be used for creaking boat sounds
- A heavy phone book makes great body punching sounds
See also
- Foley in Film-makingFoley (filmmaking)Foley is a term that describes the process of live recording of sound effects that are created by a Foley artist, which are added in post production to enhance the quality of audio for films, television, video, video games and radio....
- Sound effectSound effectFor the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
s - Sound designSound designSound design is the process of specifying, acquiring, manipulating or generating audio elements. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking, television production, theatre, sound recording and reproduction, live performance, sound art, post-production and video game software...
- MellotronMellotronThe Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
- Audio signal processingAudio signal processingAudio signal processing, sometimes referred to as audio processing, is the intentional alteration of auditory signals, or sound. As audio signals may be electronically represented in either digital or analog format, signal processing may occur in either domain...
- Old-time radioOld-time radioOld-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
- Voice FoleyVoice FoleyVoice Foley refers to the non-talking Foley, or sound effects, that a voice actor makes to enhance a performance. Such sounds include grunts, groans, breaths, wheezing, humming and many more. Typically, voice Foley is used in reference to anime, but can refer to any type of voice acting....
- Brand Upon the Brain!