A Foley artist is in charge of the recreation of everyday sounds in real time, rather than pulling pre-recorded sounds from a sound bank. Foley artists work on Foley stages with viewing screens, recording equipment, and props for creating sounds. Two Foley artists and one mixer usually work together on one Foley stage. The well-recorded sounds that Foley artists produce replace most of the sounds captured during filming. Foley artists do not re-record dialogue, even though this is usually replaced.
Foley sound is a type of diegetic sound, which is sound that occurs within the world of a production, such as a TV program or film. Music and narration are types of non-diegetic sound, because the production’s characters would not hear them. There are three key elements of Foley sound:
The natural sound of footsteps captured on set is usually too quiet, so the Foley artist must exaggerate it. Foley artists wear different shoes and walk on different surfaces, such as gravel and wooden panels, to create the right sounds. They must pay attention to the following elements that impact sound:
The PBIFI Foley Artist course starts with the basics and grooms participants to where they are competent and capable of working hands on in a Foley sound stage for actual production projects.
The title “Foley artist” pays tribute to revolutionary sound man Jack Foley. A regular part of Stanley Kubrick’s crew, Jack Foley is thought to be the world’s first Foley artist. Despite his work, Jack Foley’s name did not appear in the credits of any film. However, this job title is a fitting tribute to his innovation.