Foley sound design research
A Foley artist is a person who recreates sounds and audio for films so that that they can enhance the audio quality for the film. They change and tweak sounds from the film and they replace sounds that cannot be recorded on the set of where they are filming. These sounds they replace can be anything from rain to explosions. Foley artists play a major role in films as they enhance the viewer’s listening experience and viewers are more likely to pay attention to audio rather than a video that’s why we have foley artists who specialise in creating specific sounds for films. They use a variety of props to recreate sounds like rain they may using frying bacon because of the sizzling and popping sounds similar to raindrops. The foley artists recreate the sounds in higher quality so that the sounds that can poorly be heard on set don’t have to be used. When watching films our focus is on the film however the sound makes them real and an immersive experience. The video in films can be shaky and grainy however the sound needs to be perfect as it is a big factor in making films feel real and immersive. Foley artist will capture sounds in a silent background and use high-quality mics to recreate sounds that you see in the film. They create the sounds live while looking at the footage on the screen so that they can get the sounds in time with the scene they are looking at. This is why many Films directors will hire Foley artists because of how much sound has an impact on films. There are 3 types of Foley Footsteps, movement and props. Sound is important because the video of the film or media can be grainy and poorly filmed however viewers pay more attention to the audio if the audio sounds odd or incorrect the viewer will point the audio out more than the video. This is why the audio is more important than the video.[Maio,2020]
Footsteps Foley is for people and animals walking in scenes and the foley artist will recreate sounds of footsteps for the film by using different shoes or objects on different surfaces to recreate the sounds for what you see on screen. The foley artist may get trainers and grass to recreate a scene when the character is walking through a grassy field.
Movement Foley is for small and intricate sounds like someone breathing clothes moving in the wind someone rubbing their hands sounds like these at the detail to the film. This type of foley is used to add detail to what the character is doing. These small sounds could help build suspense in the film as to what will happen next that’s why it may be important depending on the scene in the film.
Props Foley is used to create sounds like explosions, cars driving and more. Props are effective to recreate sounds to emphasize them more. Many props are used to create sounds and the sounds may be completely unrelated to what the actual sound that the artist trying to recreate. One example is how some foley artist recreates sounds of dog paws like gloves with paperclips and the end can replicate the sounds of dog paws walking however this is only one way of how to can recreate this sounds foley artists have made many different methods of recreating the same sound.
Transformer Foley sounds
In the Transformer movies, Foley sounds are created by using many types of old car parts and machinery to create mechanical sounds. An example is when Bumblebee sits down on a sofa in the scene, they press down an old lawnmower onto the ground to get a mechanical sound and pair the sound with the hit of a seat cushion to create the sound the sofa makes when he sits down. You can create robot sounds by using old mechanical parts to create sounds of the robot. Props such as drink cans lamps and other metal objects can be used to replicate the sounds of the robot. In the post, the sounds can be manipulated and altered to the scene. In the movie, they overlapped sounds to create fewer tracks so that it was easier to control and balance the sound so I may record to sounds at once in the same recording to make it easier to balance the sound and it gives depth to the sound. The surface I used for the sounds may be important as in the movie they stacked metal parts to create that metallic sound if it was done on the ground the metallic sound would sound to thin. [Lunsford,2020]
Real Steel Foley sounds
In the movie Real Steel, the sound design team think a lot about the robot as they think how heavy the robot is and what sounds would they would make. The robots also had a sense of personality as each robot would have their individual sounds reflecting the robot. once aspect to consider is the design of the robot how will that affect what sounds it makes. For the sounds of the main robot, they used springs hitting the ground. The Foley team edited this sound multiple times so that they can reuse it for different purposes in the movie and different actions the robot was doing. When creating the sounds for the robots they created totally new sounds to fit the robots and created certain sounds to show the robot’s emotion of being weak so I will need to consider what sounds I’m trying to create and how will it fit in the video.[Connell,2020]
A Quiet Place Foley sounds
in the movie A Quiet Place to create the Foley, They needed to carefully think about the Foley as the movie a Quiet Place as the movie has no music as the movie only uses Foley and the characters speak through side language. The Foley artists needed to think about how to create sounds for a very silent film. The Movie has a lack of sound so they had to take a minimalist approach to the movie as the movie did not require many sounds. In the movie, they used many types of foods and vegetable to get the cracking sounds that the monsters make in the film so they need to get creative and they used celery stick for the cracking sounds. What I can do with my work is look at the video footage and imagine what type of mechanical sounds I can imagine from the Wall-E clip that may sound right for the video. I may take objects as what I see on screen and recreate that sounds and tweak them to fit the sound I am trying to create for the scene.[Jones, B., Aadahl, E. and Van Der Ryn, E., 2020]
Designing sound for Robots
In this article, it says that Robots sounds can be made from lawnmowers and vacuum cleaners to interactive toys because of the unique sounds they make. Many household items like these can make a wide range of robot-like sounds because of their metal parts or the robot digital sounds that they make so this article demonstrates that many things around you can help create robot sounds. I have many household items that can make many robot-like sounds like my computer with the beeping it makes when it boots up. I now know that I can use many things around me to create these sounds. Also, I need to consider when the Wall-E character is interacting with its surrounding what type of beeping or robot sounds it will be making. The article informs you things you need to consider when designing how the robot will sound like. I will need to change the pitch of the sounds I use to show when Wall-E is shocked or happy. changing the pitch of the sound he makes will make it easier for the viewer to see what emotions he’s showing through the sound. When creating the sounds for Wall-E I will need to consider that the more metallic sounding the sound it the sounds indicates how strong the robot is so when hearing the sound the tone and depth of the sound matters I will consider this when making my sounds.[Andersen, A., 2020]
Inside the Pinewood Foley Studio | BAFTA Guru
In Pinewood Foley Studio When they get a script for a movie they will initially plan out all the sounds and intricate audio you can hear for the film. Everything is firstly planned so it becomes a ‘map of sound’. The sounds won’t all be recorded but the team knows and has identified all the sounds so they have an understanding of how to approach this brief and what sounds may be used. Planning is a key part of creating Foley for anything. When recording the sounds they record many sounds in bulk and only 10% or 20% may be actually used in the film however this is done to create a very detailed soundtrack and it helps ‘drive the story’. When the team record foley they break it up into feet, movement and spots. Feet is for sounds the characters make when walking and they will wear a certain shoe on a certain type of surface to create that type of sound. Movement Is sounds like cloth moving so the artist will wear a cloth or coat that matches the film and move in time with the characters actions. Spot effects are sounds of actors or anything interesting on-screen that needs a sound. [Burgin, P., Freed, Z., Gathard, G. and Riley, J.,2020.]
How The Sounds From Your Favorite Movies Are Made
When creating sounds from what you see on screen you need to create an honest representation of how that sound will actually sound like. When the team looks at a scene they hear the sound in their head and imagine how it will sound. This helps the artist to create a sound they want and to plan it out. They show how many different props can be used for the sounds of things that are completely unrelated.[Roesch, J., 2020].
References: Foley: The Art Of Sound Design. [online] StudioBinder. Available at: <https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-foley-artist/> [Accessed 8 December 2020].[Maio,2020]
YouTube. 2020. How The Sounds In ‘Transformers’ Movies Are Made. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRM–iEWGGo> [Accessed 29 September 2020]. [Lunsford,2020]
YouTube. 2020. Soundworks Collection – The Sound Of Real Steel. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmAT-osTeC0> [Accessed 29 September 2020]. [Connell,2020]
[Jones, B., Aadahl, E. and Van der ryn, E., 2020]. How The Sound Effects In ‘A Quiet Place’ Were Made | Movies Insider. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnozP8OWeik> [Accessed 9 December 2020].
[Andersen, A., 2020]. Designing Sound For Robots: An In-Depth Guide To Great Robot Sound Design | A Sound Effect. [online] A Sound Effect. Available at: <https://www.asoundeffect.com/robot-sound-design/> [Accessed 12 December 2020].
[Burgin, P., Freed, Z., Gathard, G. and Riley, J., 2020.] Inside The Pinewood Foley Studio | BAFTA Guru. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQl_-MghIjo> [Accessed 15 December 2020].
[Roesch, J., 2020]. How The Sounds From Your Favorite Movies Are Made | WIRED. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GPGfDCZ1EE> [Accessed 15 December 2020].