2. •
‘Foley’ is a key word often used in the study of
film to describe the reproduction of everyday
sound effects to enhance audio quality during
the post-production stage.
•
Foley is used to describe a place, such as a
Foley-stage or Foley-studio where the Foley
process takes place and this word derives
from Jack Foley himself who in his time, was
the developer of many sound effect
techniques used in filmmaking.
•
Despite the modernisation of recording
equipment and techniques since his time in
the business many of the same time honoured
‘tricks of the trade’ are still used now.
3. Common Foley tricks:
• Corn starch in a leather pouch makes the sound of snow crunching
• A pair of gloves sounds like bird wings flapping
• An arrow or thin stick makes a whoosh
• An old chair makes a controllable creaking sound
• Burning plastic garbage bags cut into strips makes a cool sound when the bag melts
and drips to the ground
• ¼” audio tape balled up sounds like grass or brush when walked on
• Gelatin and hand soap make squishing noises
• Frozen romaine lettuce makes bone or head injury noises
• Cellophane creates crackling fire effects
• A selection of wooden and metal doors are needed to create all sorts of door noises
but also can be used for creaking boat sounds
• A heavy phone book makes body-punching sounds
• Acorns, small apples and walnuts on wooden parquet surface can be used for bones
breaking
• Canned dog food can be used for alien pod embryo expulsions and monster
vocalizations
4. • Although born in New York, Foley moved to
Los Angeles soon after he finished school
and secured his first job there as a
stuntman. Whilst there, one of his
colleagues on set introduced him to
California’s Sierra mountains which Foley
fell in love with. He later on moved to
Bishop (during WW1).
• He served his country as part of The
American Defense Society, a group
guarding the water supply of Los Angeles
to prevent sabotage-poison being put into
the water. He also raised his family in
Bishop
5. • When the farmers of the Owens Valley sold their
farms to the City of Los Angeles for water rights, the
people of Bishop faced a bleak future however Foley
soon convinced the town's storekeepers that Bishop
had much to gain by luring filmmakers to the area,
bound by snow capped mountains, beautiful valleys,
and a scarcity of people which made it ideal for
westerns.
• He mounted a publicity campaign to attract the
studios northward and was very successful. Foley
then became a location scout for numerous
productions.
6. •
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 pictures.
•
He got his break when the post-production work on the now
famous film ‘Showboat’ was re-done to add sound in because it
was a music.
•
Universal rented a brand new and exciting Fox-Case sound unit
called he vitaphone to record music, voices and sound effects for
the film.
•
Foley along with a few others took classes at the university of
Southern California in order to introduce to the new technology.
•
There was one sound stage where the orchestra, singers and
sound people including Foley put all sound in real time to the
film. This would be done in one take while today due to improved
recording methods, we can record in smaller segments as well
as edit them.
7. • Foley experimented by adding footsteps, hand clapping,
any props he could muster and background voices to the
film.
• This incident set Jack on his path as an expert in this new
field of film making which at the time had no name.
• Because of his multiple talents such as director, actor,
writer, stuntman, and cartoonist, he was deemed the
person who has the perspective to develop this job.
