History of foley art for Film
Almost every sound we hear at the movies that isn't dialogue or music is a sound effect. From footsteps to gunshots, from the faint rustle of clothing to the fiery roar of a jet, sound is either created by a Foley artist or deliberately placed there by a sound editor, who either went out to record it or selected it from a vast library, and possibly combined it with other sounds or altered its pitch. We're going to focus specifically on Foley Artists.
Jack Foley is credited with single-handedly pioneering the Idea of recording sounds in sync with the movement on screen.
Jack Foley worked on Stage 10 at Universal
Studios for 33 years. Yet, he never received an on-screen credit for his inventive, and sometimes
cost-saving contributions. But the art he single-handedly created in the early
days of the "talkies" was eventually named after him and serves an integral part for many types of media ranging from, film, radio dramas and videos games alike.
Many early sound pictures had dialogue and music but no feeling of the noise of movement. Soon editors started cutting together footstep sounds for actors, but would use the same tracks over and over. Foley got the idea of projecting the moving image in a sound stage and recording sounds in sync with the actors' movements, using different surfaces and an array of props. It was said that Foley could make the sound of three men walking together using only his two feet and a cane.
The Jazz Singer, released in 1927 by Warner Bros Studio was the first major movie production that featured synchronized sounds to the actors movements. Effectively, it dramatically changed the film industry almost overnight. However, experimentations in what would become Foley art was happening long before 1927. Even still, the modern movie industry has been using the same techniques developed by Foley and other pioneers to this day. movies have been trying to catch up with developments in sound
technology ever since.
Sound effects have a hidden power, affecting moviegoers in subtle ways. When something shocking happens on screen, such as a sudden shatter of glass; You later go on to describe the experience by recalling what you saw on the screen. As depressing as it may seem, the job of the Foley artist is often the most unappreciated one. If a sound seamlessly blends into the movie environment, than the Foley artist has done their job.
This is an integral part of the movie making process because if you are able to tell that a sound did not match what happened on screen, the viewer is instantly taken out of the fictional movie realm. As Academy Award-winning film and sound editor Walter Murch once put it, "Film sound is rarely appreciated for itself alone but functions largely as an enhancement of the visuals. By means of some mysterious perceptual alchemy, whatever virtues sound brings to film are largely perceived and appreciated by the audience in visual terms. The better the sound, the better the image."
Nowadays, many of the same techniques developed in the early day of film and radio dramas continue to be utilized to this day. However, equipment has become easier to access and far more affordable. Additionally, with modern technology anyone can become a Foley artist with some simple equipment. No longer does one have to be working at a major movie studio to gain hands on experience. With that said, professional sound recording studios are far more advanced and complex than they have ever been. Finally, more and more artists are beginning to be employed in the video game industry. Gaming has become the top grossing entertainment medium for the last few years. Therefore where ever the money goes, so does the talent. Furthermore, video game sound design is far more complex than film. There must be multiple variations for every sound depending on what the user does.