Research into Recording Foley Sound and Sound Effects

FOLEY ARTIST FILM NOTES:

• foley artist is - invented by jack foley
• shoot film = production and dialogue
• recreate sounds for drama intensity
• empire strikes back - first film
• footsteps main character
• background footsteps
• prop pass = moving objects need sound
• timing / creative mind
• use props to create sound
• shoes chains swords
• (and sound effects are added)
• foley is a performance = need energy

A foley artist is someone who recreates sounds for films and television by using props to create drama intensity as the sounds are often lost through dialogue and production.

The order in which Foley artists create the sound are: the footsteps of the main character, then the background footsteps, and then you go through the prop pass; which means anything that moves on the screen, sound is provided for.

Key skills a Foley artist should have is a creative mind and lots of energy, as you have to be able to make sound for anything and everything using random objects such as shoes, chains, swords and pieces of metal.

The advantage of using real objects to create sound FX rather than digital production and sound libraries is that the sounds created by a Foley artist have much more depth and can be manipulated and layered and the tone can be changed depending on the angle the object is being hit or beaten or scraped, whereas digital sounds are harder to manipulate and fit better with the scene.

A specific example of how key sounds are created is in Star Wars. For example, they made the sound of lasers by hitting the wires of a radio tower with a spanner and creating a 'twanging' sound.

http://filmsound.org/starwars/