Foley is the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to films, videos, and other media in post-production to enhance audio quality. These reproduced sounds, named after sound-effects artist Jack Foley, can be anything from the swishing of clothing and footsteps to squeaky doors and breaking glass.
The 3 Types of Foley Sound
There are three main categories of foley sounds:
- Feet: The most common production sound a foley artist creates is the sound of footsteps, since those are more difficult to accurately capture while shooting a scene. Foley recording studios have a variety of different types of shoes and floor surfaces so artists can recreate steps from nearly any shoe on any surface.
- Movement: The sound of movement, like the sound of two people brushing past each other, is a subtle sound effect that enhances a scene.
- Specifics: Specifics are any sounds that are not movement or footsteps, like a phone ringing or a door creaking.
4 Ways Foley Effects Enhance A Film
Foley artists recreate incidental sounds for a number of reasons:
- Foley sound makes a scene more realistic. Every moment of your day—even the silent moments—have sound. The most effective foley sounds are those that sound so natural and real that the audience does not notice them.
- Foley sound makes a scene more immersive. Sound is a key element of storytelling. Sound effects create a sense of atmosphere and draw viewers more closely into the story.
- More believable ambient sounds. Background and ambient sounds in a field recording are not usually loud enough to enhance the action on their own, so foley artists recreate them in the studio to be louder and more believable.
- It’s too quiet without foley effects. Movies without background noise are too quiet—audiences think the sound in the theatre has gone out. Foley sound fills that aural void and makes scenes feel more natural.
( Information from https://www.masterclass.com/articles/film-101-understanding-foley-sound-and-why-foley-sound-is-important#4-ways-foley-effects-enhance-a-film)
As you have seen in the videos, you can use every day items to replicate certain sounds/sound effects (eg. shows, vegetables/fruit,…). Now you turn is to look at your edited project from Term 1 and choose three sounds/sound effects that you would like to improve through foley. Once you have decided, think creativly on how you could replicate these sounds, what will you need? Set up a corner in your room that is sheltered from other noises and record your foley sounds. Then upload them to your computer. If you are happy with how they sound, add them to your project. I you aren’t happy, maybe try to change the items you have used to replicate the sounds.