2. What is Foley Art
Foley is a unique sound effect technique that involves creating and performing everyday
sounds for movies and TV shows. Foley artists create these sounds in a recording studio
post-production to make the audio sound better and more professional in synchrony with
the picture.
3. Who is Jack
Foley?
Jack Foley was born in Yorkville, N.Y. in 1891 and was raised in
the Seagate section of Coney Island. He went to Public School
number 158. His classmates were James Cagney, Arthur
Murray and Bert Lahr. His first job was as a general order
clerk on the New York docks. During this period, Jack met
Cary Grant, who was a stilt walker at Coney Island. Jack also
played a lot semi-pro baseball in the New York Area, which
sparked his lifelong interest in sports.
Jack Foley started in the motion picture business in the silent
picture era and lived through the exciting times when
overnight the industry converted to sound moving picture.
He became intrigued with the man and through the help oh
his former co-workers, friends, and his daughter, he pieced
together the career of a most remarkable man. Jack was truly
adaptable in a period of change, a jack-of-all-trades and
master of them all.
4. What is a Foley artist?
A Foley artist is a person who re-creates sounds for films, videos and other
media in post-production to enhance audio quality. They replace sounds that
cannot properly be recorded on set. Foley studios have viewing screens and
props as well as recording equipment to record sounds as they watch the film.
These sounds include anything from the swishing of clothing, the breaking of
glass, footsteps or squeaking doors.
They use a variety of props to create specific sounds. Footsteps are created by
the artist putting on a certain kind of shoe and walking on the appropriate
surface (e.g. wood floors, asphalt, grass). Foley artists also re-record poor
quality sounds from the initial set recording, which ends up being most of the
sounds you hear in a film.
The term ‘Foley’ comes from Jack Foley, a sound effect pioneer. He worked
with Stanley Kubrick but never received much credit besides the term itself.
5. Elements of
Foley sound
• Foley sound falls
entirely under the
spectrum of diegetic
sound, or the sound
within the world of a film.
Non-diegetic sound,
which is typically music
and narration, is
something entirely
different. Even with
proper sound recording
gear and tips, Foley sound
recording is a given.
• Three types of Foley:
• Footsteps- Reproducing the
sound of footsteps is done by
wearing different kinds of shoes
and walking on different kinds of
surfaces to get the perfect sound
for the character.
• Movement- The amount of detail
and meticulousness required is
excessive. Even the smallest
movement, like a person crossing
their legs with jeans on, needs to
make a sound.
• Props- Foley artist Marko
Costanzo used leaves to create
the swirling sound of the witch
from Into the Woods. He also
used the cracking of the celery to
create the sound of breaking
bones in The Big Lebowski.
