The term foley comes from a man named Jack Foley who was born in Yorkville, New York in 1891. His first job was as a double and stunt man, but he became the man responsible for the transition from 'silent film' to film with sound as we know it today. In the early fifties Jack was known to walk around with a huge set of keys in one pocket (which he used for the sound effects in the film Spartacus) and a cloth in the other for the recording of clothes rustling. And I don't mean to suggest that technology has taken over in this area of post-production either.
Jack Foley's techniques haven't changed, and in modern studios you will still find a big screen that foley artists watch to follow along in the film they are recording sounds for, and they are still surrounded by sound props ranging from walking pits, doors, steel chains, items of cloth, fully laid out kitchens, water tanks, cars, items of fruit and vegetables and to be honest the list goes on, depending on the creativity of the artists. Jack Foley died in 1967, but it is fair to say that his name lives on in just about every studio in the world. To give one an idea of what a foley stage is like, here is a small description of the foley stage at C5 Studios in New York, who were kind enough to send me a detailed brochure outlining the facilities there.
"The 20' x 25' sound stage at C5 looks like an explosion at a garage sale. The walls are lined with baskets, typewriters, old radios, hard plastic containers, sheets of tin, a full set of china, silverware, motorcycle helmets ("Grabbing a helmet makes a very distinctive sound"), car doors, car hoods, free standing doors on doorjambs, a collection of construction-site headwear and a full complement of prop weapons. Bins of denim, nylon, vinyl, and leather clothing, plus drawers and drawers of knick-knacks complete the detonated tag sale look." Perfecting a time-honoured technique, renowned C5 foley artists Marko Costanzo and foley engineer George Lara use the comprehensive array of surfaces, materials, acoustic angles, and unique spatial dimensions of the stage to create the vivid and complex sounds heard in films such as "The Ice Age," "Gangs of New York," and "The Man Who Wasn't There."
One of the advantages of recording foley is that no two recordings are ever the same, which helps to avoid musical clich�s, but the truth is with regards to the post-production stage there isn't a studio in the world that doesn't own at least one sound effects library. By this I mean a sound effects library that has been purchased from sound effects specialists as opposed to one that has been built up over years of recording. Foley affords the producer a very distinct or precise sound, there is more manipulation available through re-creating the scene and re-recording its related sound, but sometimes this isn't always necessary. It is the element of being unique that is lost by employing purchased FX libraries. During the seventies and eighties there was a particular recording of an eagle that has since been used extensively in everything from Clint Eastwood to Rambo to City Slickers, and as a result has become one of the most recognised sound effects in Hollywood.
But FX libraries have their place in post-production and one would be found in any worthwhile studio. It is an art form in it's own right and one that is taken just as seriously as any other forms of sound production and recording. Probably the most widely used and respected FX libraries come from "The Hollywood Edge Studios", although the libraries chosen for post-production are generally a matter of personal taste, and other high quality, professional FX libraries can be found at Lucas Film, Sound Ideas, Valentino Productions, and G & E Music to name but a few. |
