Foley

When you watch a film most of what you hear was created in a studio using different elements by Foley artists. The art of Foley was first originated in the 1920’s by a man named Jack Foley (Crabtree, 1999). Foley is the Reproduction of sound effects added to the film in the post-production stage, in other words, It is recreating sound with different objects and syncing it to the film to enhance sound quality for the audience while creating the right natural atmosphere.

The average audience mostly takes sound for granted because they are already used to hearing everything in high quality and in sync with the motion pictures, but they would miss it if it wasn’t there. That is where Foley artists come in, they use their craft to create sounds that can’t be perfectly picked up with the microphone on the set of filming and then they sync it to the motion pictures. There is no limit to this art as it goes as far as the artist’s imagination and creativity go. Crafting objects that can make sound in a way to give the audience the illusion of what they should be hearing is what these people do and there is no limit to what they can use to achieve their goal. For example, it is common for Foley artists to use regular play sand to walk on to recreate the sound of someone walking on snow and to add that crunch we hear while stepping on a more in-depth snow-covered surface, they walk on cornstarch (“The Magic of Making Sound | That’s Amazing”, 2018). Your ear hears snow but in actuality it is sand. With their creativity and some trial and error, these artists will use any surface and object to do their work at its best. Moreover, looking at the technical aspect of their work, these Foley artists usually have a screen in front of them in the studio that plays the film for them and on that screen, there is a streamer that shows them when to start making sounds. Like any other studio, there is a control room in a foley artist’s studio and in that studio, there is a mixer. The mixer will listen to the artist performing without looking at them to hear what they create and decide if the sound is fit and realistic enough for the picture. By layering sound, foley artists make the right atmosphere while enhancing the quality of sound in a film.

Crabtree, C. (1999). Friends Behind The Scenes. Hollywood.

The Magic of Making Sound | That’s Amazing. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 10 January 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO3N_PRIgX0

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