This isn't going to be as much of a technical post as it is just a way for me to feel inspired. Lately I haven't been feeling super motivated, so I want to use the creativity of others to inspire me, and who is more creative than foley artists? This will just be exploring the world of sound creation and finding some of the weirdest and most creative cases of creating strange noises.
As you hopefully inferred from the first paragraph, or knew from prior knowledge, foley artistry is creating sound effects for media such as film. This may seem like a boring job, but it isn't just recording sounds. Recording actual sounds from their natural sources in real life can lead to poor quality, or even just sounds that don't seem right when put with the video because of the way our brains connect sounds to what we look at. Thus, foley artists often have to create sound effects from scratch using objects that don't at all resemble what will be shown on film. This can lead to some interesting situations, and I want to see some of the creative ways people have created sounds for movies and games. This site gives some insight into the source of foley art, a man named Jack Foley who was really the first person to do this work for a film, thus it was named after him. But now to the cool sounds other people have made in his footsteps. The same source as above shows that the sound of the iconic boulder in Indiana Jones was actually a car without a motor inside. The noises of many Lord of the Rings monsters are various objects, Balrog being a cinder block being dragged across a floor (and then that noise being modified) and the Ringwraiths being plastic cups. However, it also mentions that some LotR creatures did get their sounds from actual animals, such as sea lions, seals, and big cats. Similarly, in Jurassic Park, the T-Rex's roar is a combination of animal noises. All of these sounds are fairly iconic and you wouldn't necessarily guess the source based on the end result. It really shows the importance of editing to get the perfect sound and that it really is all about just tricking your audience. However, these are big budget films with lots of resources - not everyone has access to baby sea lion noises - so how do games get their sounds? This video on Batman: Arkham City shows how big budget games do foley artistry in much the same way that films do. They create many sounds with random objects, but there also is some recording of the actual noises since they have the resources to do so (such as to record the noise of gunfire). This article gives tips for foley in games. It talks about sort of having an overarching theme or feel to your sound effects. They need to be cohesive and feel only as exaggerated as each other. It also talks about the fact that usually your sounds in games will have to be lower quality to keep the game running smoothly, so you have to record sounds that will still sound good despite this. It also points out the importance of editing once again. So it seems like despite a few differences, foley in film and games is fairly similar.
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AuthorHi, I'm Abi, a DSA student who likes games, drawing, writing, and acting. Archives
February 2020
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