Foley artist
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The Foley artist on a film crew is the person who creates many of the natural, everyday sound effects in a film, which are recorded during a session with a recording engineer. Before the session, a project will be cued, with notes kept about what sounds need to be created during the foley session. Often, the project will have a sound supervisor who will dictate what sounds need to be covered in a foley session and what needs to be created by special (audio) effects, which is generally left to the sound designer. The roles of Foley artists, sound designers, editors, and supervisors are highly specialized and are essential to producing a professional-sounding soundtrack that is suitable for distribution and exhibition.
Sound effects and foley are added during post-production to dialog and real effects that were picked up by microphones on-set. Sometimes (especially in the case of cartoons, many Italian films, and almost all Bollywood films) there is no sound recorded on-location, and all the sounds need to be added by the foley artist and sound designer, and dubber. The Foley artist may also accent existing sounds to make them more effective—enhancing the sounds of a fistfight may require thumping watermelons or cracking bamboo. Many Foley artists take pride in devising their own sound effects apparatuses, often using simple, commonly found materials. Some making-of featurettes show Foley artists at work.
The term Foley artist is named after Jack Foley, one of the earliest and best-known Hollywood practitioners of the art. Foley began his career in the film industry as a stand-in and screenwriter during the silent era, and later helped Universal make the transition from silent movies to talkies.
The Universal Studios Hollywood theme park presented a demonstration of a Foley artist in its World of Cinemagic feature.
The film Monty Python and The Holy Grail included several onscreen instances of the use of coconut shell halves to create the sound of galloping horses.
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[edit] How some effects are made
| Effect | How It's Made |
|---|---|
| Galloping horses | Banging empty coconut shells together |
| Kissing | Kissing back of hand |
| Punching someone | Thumping watermelons |
| High heels | Artist walks in high heels on wooden platform |
| Bone-breaking blow | Breaking celery or bamboo or twisting a head of lettuce |
| Footsteps in snow | Squeezing a box of corn starch |
| Star Wars sliding doors | Pulling a piece of paper from an envelope |
| Star Trek sliding doors | Flare gun plus sneakers squeak |
| Bird flapping its wings | Flapping a pair of gloves |
| Grass or leaves crunching | Balling up audio tape |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Yewdall, David L (2007). The Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound. Focal Press (3 edition), pp. 205-226. ISBN 0240808657.
- Mott, Robert L (1990). Sound Effects: Radio, Tv, and Film. Focal Press, pp. 192-201. ISBN 024080029X.
- Hurbis-Cherrier, Mick (2007). Voice and Vision: A Creative Approach to Narrative Film and DV Production. Focal Press, pp. 421-422. ISBN 0240807731.
- Sternbach, Rick; Michael Okuda (1991). Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-70427-3.
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[edit] External links
- Foley Artistry (Interviews, writings by Foley artists, FAQ etc) at FilmSound.org
- How to make your own Foley sound effects
- Guide to Sound Effects - a large number of ideas on how to create Foley effects
- Information on Foley Artists from Skillset, UK Sector Skills Council for the Audio Visual Industry
- Brand Upon the Brain!, an unusual instance of live performance Foley accompanying a modern film.
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