Foley artists 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, such as overflying airplanes or passing traffic.
The man behind the Foley effect was Jack Donovan Foley. Jack was born on 12th April 1891 and died on 9th November 1967. The art of sound began in 1927, when Jack Foley helped turn the film studio's "silent" Show Boat into a full-on musical extravaganza. Because microphones could only pick up on dialogue, Foley had to add in the other sounds later. He projected the film onto a screen and recorded the footsteps, the movement, the props - all in one track. He walked with a cane to create the footsteps of three people.
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| Jack Donovan Foley |
A few years ago, Alex Joseph, one of the country's premier Foley supervisors, stated:
"A Foley artist can be playing a big brute one minute and a cute little girl the next. A footstep is not just a footstep - it can be angry, happy, sad, confused, clumsy, slick, swaggering, light, heavy, wet, dry, young, old, male, female, slutty, sophisticated... The list goes on. It's the performance that gets across the meaning to the viewers. And that performance could only ever come from the human mind."
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Foley has been used in a number of different film genres, but one that stood out for me is Pixar. I came across an interview with Jana Vance and Dennie Thorpe, who were Foley Artists on Pixar's Up.
There were many questions within the interview that interested me but one in particular stood out, and this was: "There are a lot of dogs in 'UP'; How did you create their footsteps? Did you shoot feet for the dog stampede?" I've always had an interest in how animal noises for animated films are created as they obviously have a very particular sound. The sound of a dogs paw is completely different to a normal footstep, but as this film was a stampede as opposed to an individual dog, it was probably a lot easier to blend.
The answer given by Dennie Thorpe was:
"I did Dug, Rotty and the bulldog. The information was that Dug should have NO nails and be friendly and have a soft, padded sound. Rotty and the bulldog could have nails. They weren't supposed to be as friendly - they were supposed to be more menacing. Their body language also creates their emotional qualities and we support that sonically. We did shoot feet for the dog stampede. We shoot those kind of scenes working together in a format where we concentrate on the left side of the screen, then the center, then the right. Depending on the shot, we will also definitely also concentrate on close, medium and far."
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From a personal experience, I have been lucky enough to have a tour of Media City UK in Salford, Manchester. During this, I was taken to a radio studio in which the staff participate in making realistic noises with everyday objects to create a radio piece. I understand that this isn't pure Foley, but I thought it was really interesting to see all the different lay outs, rooms and objects that create artificial sounds, yet sound like the action being described.
The radio station is more for people that have challenges with sight, so this makes their hearing ability a lot clearer and more sensitive. They can notice a difference in a hose pipe drip of water, and a tap drip. Male footsteps and female footsteps sound a lot different to them, as do things like a metal spoon tapping on a glass rather than a mug. The little everyday things we don't notice, are noticed by so many people, which is a real talent to have I think.
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Rounding up the research of Foley, it's a really unique and simple way of creating layers of sound for a production which may need a helping hand with its soundtrack. Creating sounds with different everyday objects gives a film that naturalistic sound and can be used all around the world.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
The answer given by Dennie Thorpe was:
"I did Dug, Rotty and the bulldog. The information was that Dug should have NO nails and be friendly and have a soft, padded sound. Rotty and the bulldog could have nails. They weren't supposed to be as friendly - they were supposed to be more menacing. Their body language also creates their emotional qualities and we support that sonically. We did shoot feet for the dog stampede. We shoot those kind of scenes working together in a format where we concentrate on the left side of the screen, then the center, then the right. Depending on the shot, we will also definitely also concentrate on close, medium and far."
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| The dogs from "UP" |
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From a personal experience, I have been lucky enough to have a tour of Media City UK in Salford, Manchester. During this, I was taken to a radio studio in which the staff participate in making realistic noises with everyday objects to create a radio piece. I understand that this isn't pure Foley, but I thought it was really interesting to see all the different lay outs, rooms and objects that create artificial sounds, yet sound like the action being described.
The radio station is more for people that have challenges with sight, so this makes their hearing ability a lot clearer and more sensitive. They can notice a difference in a hose pipe drip of water, and a tap drip. Male footsteps and female footsteps sound a lot different to them, as do things like a metal spoon tapping on a glass rather than a mug. The little everyday things we don't notice, are noticed by so many people, which is a real talent to have I think.
- - - - - - - - - -
Rounding up the research of Foley, it's a really unique and simple way of creating layers of sound for a production which may need a helping hand with its soundtrack. Creating sounds with different everyday objects gives a film that naturalistic sound and can be used all around the world.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmmakersonfilm/8853473/Foley-artists-heard-any-good-films-lately.html - accessed on 19th-May-2014
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