Foley (filmmaking)
In filmmaking, Foley[a] is the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to films, videos, and other media in post-production to enhance audio quality.
Foley can also be used to cover up unwanted sounds captured on the set of a movie during filming, such as overflying airplanes or passing traffic.
The props and sets of a film often do not react the same way acoustically as their real-life counterparts, requiring filmmakers to Foley the sounds.
Jack Donovan Foley[4] started working with Universal Studios in 1914 during the silent movie era.
When Warner Studios released The Jazz Singer, its first film to include sound, Universal knew it needed to stay competitive and called for any employees who had radio experience to come forward.
[4] Foley and his small crew projected the film on a screen while recording a single track of audio that captured their live sound effects.
[6] Foley studios employ hundreds of props and digital effects to recreate the ambient sounds of their films.
For example, fist-fighting scenes in an action movie are usually staged by the stunt actors and therefore do not have the actual sounds of blows landing.
[9] The need for Foley rose dramatically when studios began to distribute films internationally in countries that mandated dialogue to be dubbed in their respective language.
[11] The "moves" category makes up many of the more subtle sounds heard in films, such as the swishing of clothing when two actors walk past each other, for example.
[6] Cloth is not always used and tends to be recorded at the discretion of the dubbing mixer who ultimately controls the final outcome of the audio post-production process.
Blasters were based on the sound of taut radio tower guy-wires being struck with items such as small wrenches, Darth Vader's breathing on a diving regulator.
The TIE fighter swoosh is a mix of slowed-down elephant herd noises and cars driving through water, Chewbacca's voice includes the moaning of a walrus stranded in a dry pool along with other animal vocalization, and R2-D2's booping talk includes Burtt's own voice mixed in with the synthesized sounds to humanize its robotic affect.
[12] The Firesign Theatre, a comedic radio play troupe, occasionally broke the fourth wall to poke fun at these conventions ("It had been snowing in Santa Barbara ever since the top of the page and I had to shake the cornstarch off my mukluks"),[13] as did comedy players Monty Python in their film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which included a running joke of knights pretending to ride horses as squires followed behind, clapping coconut halves.
