The use of Foley

Foley is the reproduction of everyday sound effects which are added in post-production to enhance the quality of audio for films, television, video, video games and radio. These reproduced sounds can be anything from the swishing of clothing and footsteps to squeaky doors and breaking glass. The best Foley art is so well integrated into a film that it goes unnoticed by the audience. It helps to create a sense of reality within a scene. Without these crucial background noises, movies feel unnaturally quiet and uncomfortable.

Foley artists look to recreate the realistic ambient sounds that the film portrays. The props and sets of a film do not react the same way acoustically as their real life counterparts. Foley sounds are used to enhance the auditory experience of the movie. Foley can also be used to cover up unwanted sounds captured on the set of a movie during filming, such as overflying airplanes or passing traffic. In my school where most of my filming for my group will take place, there is an awful lot of unwanted noise generated from classrooms and students who are working around us, and so if we use Foley in our production it will give the film that crisp and slick edge that it needs and deserves matching the quality of the production on the screen.

I feel that Foley is an extremely exciting and enticing business and one which could really benefit both myself and my group if we can utilise it in our productions, Foley may be simple but its phenomenal how effective it can be, turning an average school production in to a very slick and professional opening title sequence in a matter of hours or minutes.

In our Preliminary task we did however use Foley when the two Policemen where conversing with the added voice played by me, using Foley helped create the impression that there was somebody in another location talking to the Cops, this adds a professional and realistic approach to our production which without Foley would not be possible.