Major Project: Foley Sound Research

Throughout shooting, I began to realise that a lot of sounds would need to be added in in post production - even those that I thought wouldn't need it. Initially, I thought to look for sound effects online, however, it's not always so simple and a lot of the time they aren't exactly the same, or have to be paid for. Worst of all, it's very time consuming and if it's not right then it will push the level of professionalism down in our film as the sound is extremely important in creating a believable story. 

I decided to look into Foley sound - as this is the one thing that is used most in films.

A foley artist is someone who 'recreates' sound effects for film and television. Foley artists don't just record the specific objects they want to use, they use other objects to mimic the sound and make it clear. For example, a foley artist may use a different object to mimic someone being punched. 

A foley artist usually recreates the sound in front of a screen which is playing the film. (See image to the right)

I began reading some articles on Foley, and Philip Rodrigues had an interesting point.

''On a film set nothing is real - the sword is made of plastic, the marble floor is painted plywood. Foley replaces or enhances that live sound; the result is a sword that rings like metal and floors that echo like marble!"

It would make much more sense to add in realistic sound effects, since a lot of the set is fake - as we don't want          something rubbery/plastic to be recorded and used as the sound. 

He also points out the fact that when you cut in-between takes, the sound can mess up - which proved the same with our ballerina music track.

''The process of filming also creates dips in the sound since each scene is filmed from different angles over several takes for the best look and performance. Once cut together, the picture flows from shot to shot in a fluid motion but the sound can become choppy and overlapped. Once again, Foley provides a foundation that bridges these gaps.''

Here is an example Philip uses when he describes how the foley artist, actor and sound editor can work together to create seamless pieces of sound.

Let's say in a scene the actor grabs his gun, walks to his motorcycle, starts it up and drives away...

Foley would recreate the sound of the leather jacket and jeans as the actor walks, footsteps (heavy cowboy boots!), the gun pickup and handling, handlebar grab and bike moves - and maybe some key sounds as he puts them in the lock.

The Sound FX Editor would create the roar of the motorcycle engine starting and driving away, a tire squeal and background ambiances (birds, wind etc.)

In an ADR studio the actor would rerecord his line, "I'll be back...", which was inaudible on location with the motorcycle engine running.

The Dialogue Editor would conform the production and ADR into one.

When played together, the tracks produce a seamless tapestry of sound.

Reference: http://www.marblehead.net/foley/whatisitman.html

Foley was created in 1927 by Jack Donovan Foley. Foley got the idea of projecting the moving image in a sound stage and recording sounds in sync with the actors' movements, using different surfaces and an array of props. It was said that Foley could make the sound of three men walking together using only his two feet and a cane.

Gary Hecker is a world known foley artist working on films such as Superman, Robin Hood, Django Unchained and A Knights Tale. 

I decided to look at a video which entails him showing us exactly what he does to create different sound effects. The video was really inspiring and I was amazed by the amount of different things he does; especially using his own voice for horse noises and for breathing sound effects was something I definitely didn't expect. Gary shows us the amount of layers of sound he creates for just one small scene, however, it really does paint a picture and build up the scene to make it so much more realistic and powerful.

It's amazing the amount of detail which goes into foley - and although we don't need foley to this level, and we definitely don't have all the props and skill it takes, it would be great to experiment with it to get a much more crisp and professional sound design in our film.

Reference: http://nofilmschool.com/2012/11/foley-artist-gary-hecker and https://samnealesoundandcamera.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/gary-hecker-foley-artist-sound-research/

I also looked at some more videos to see how other artists create the sound effects which was also really interesting. 

I think foley sound design is such an important part of films that often gets overlooked by small budget films. Researching into the amount of sounds that are actually added is shocking but really encouraging as at first I did wonder how we could get such crisp and fine tuned sound from our actors - but listening to Gary and the other foley artists has proven how much is added, even down to small things such as breathing.

Vic and I have booked out some sound equipment for a week and we are going to try our best to add in some of our own sounds. We've already got some ideas and this research has really helped to make me think much more creatively and out of the box to what we can use to record the sound effects.