Difference between revisions of "Foley"

Revision as of 13:30, 21 May 2012

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Synopsis

Relationships

Many contexts, including:
Engagement , Character Soundprint , Footsteps , Grunts , Sound Decoys , [[..]] File:M385px-..-front-v20.png.
Close to:
Sound Effects .
Relates to:
Acoustic Ecology .
Calls for:
Variety .
May call for:
Subtitles and Captions .

Description

Foley constitutes one of the Sound Layers of an Acoustic Ecology, along with Ambiance, Sound Effects, Music, and Dialogue [Peck (pending)]. We are adopting one definition that allows to differentiate Foley from Sound Effects, which constitute a common discussion. Foley consists of the set sounds that characterize an entity or event (e.g., a door closing, Footsteps, gun fire, etc.), whilst Sound Effects are sounds that are "invented" so that they may be associated to entities or aspects whose own sonic expression does not exist or is not perceptible (e.g. the sound of a laser sword). Still, it is worth mentioning that many authors/designers use both terms interchangeably.

Examples

Heavy Rain:

Red Dead Redemption:

Penumbra: Overture:

Far Cry 2:

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory:

Half-Life 2: The interaction with objects is accompanied by the respective Foley.

Portal:

Angry Birds:

Crysis:

Additional Comments

The production of the sounds of Foley is frequently achieved by recording the interaction with objects that are unrelated to the envisaged sources. Sometimes this is justified by the difficulty in recording the actual source, other times it is a matter of achieving better results in perception, considering several aspects including the transformations inherent to the recording equipment itself. One emblematic case is the making of horse footfalls by banging to halves of a coconut.

External Resources

There are many great resources on Foley production, namely regarding tricks and techniques that may be used to produce specific foley sounds, including:

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