Sound in Film: Someone Made That?
By Maria Staack
While watching a movie, one hardly ever thinks of the complex weaving of sounds which adorn the world on the screen. Perhaps for this reason, Foley is so important. If you’ve never heard of it, it is the creation of sound effects in the post production of a film. Foley is necessary because most of the time the sounds in a movie cannot be created during filming for various reasons. Sometimes, it is very straightforward; a Foley artist records themself splashing water if the film calls for a splashing water effect. Other time, Foley artists get a little more creative. In A Quiet Place—notable for its extensive and precise use of Foley—the sounds of monsters walking were created by cracking crab shells. Apologies if I’ve ruined the movie magic of A Quiet Place for you, but to me, that’s the craziest part of Foley. How do Foley artists come up with these sounds? How would someone know that a crab shell can sound like a convincing alien? It’s all so impressive that such strange sound effects allow us to sink into films so much so that we don’t even realize who or what is hard at work.
Ever since hearing about Foley, I have always found it interesting that it is considered an art as opposed to a science. It feels very scientific to me, with lots of hypothesizing and experimentation. Of course, it’s all very subjective, so I understand the designation, but the fact that I find it so impossible to figure out the mechanics of Foley engineering marks it with scientific possibilities. Recently, I made an animation and tried to add my own sounds to it. Needless to say it didn’t work very well. For the sound of an egg cracking, which is not dramatic enough in real life to record, I tried to record a number of different sounds from crumpling paper to breaking plastic. I’m sure I could have googled “how to make an egg cracking sound effect,” but I refused to give in. I was determined to be my own Foley artists. Eventually, I just ended up making weird, cartoonish sounds with my mouth. They worked well enough, but I was very disappointed in myself. That was a real lesson for me that Foley artists are very talented.
I just wanted to take this space to recognize the incredible work that foley artists put into films. Often hey go unnoticed, which is not a bad thing in their profession, but their contributions are substantial. Many parts of film work this way, yet our culture prioritizes the work of singular “genius” directors. I’m no expert, but I don’t think Quentin Tarantino or Steven Spielberg made their multi-million dollar budget movies all on their own. The same goes for pretty much every artform in Western culture. There are always people in the background doing essential work. I would not necessarily urge you to try and figure out what strange concoction makes up the sounds behind every film you watch—that would drive anyone insane. All you have to do is listen to the sounds, someone made them just for you.