To meet my personal learning outcomes and the group learning outcomes, my primary role in the post-production of cognition was tackling a large proportion of the foley. I personal wanted to improve my skills as a foley artist, mixer and editor. I wanted to improve my decision making and creative look onto the screen. Knowing what non-diegetic and diegetic sounds works and what doesn’t. Instead of placing a microphone in front of an object and recording it, I wanted to explore new techniques in tracking foley and editing foley.
My three main roles were:
- Foley Artist
- Foley Mixer
- Foley Editor
Foley Artist
Throughout the process of this project, I did extensive research into the foley process so I could then utilise in post-production. As foley artist, you are the one creating the sounds. I split the foley into three sections:
- Footsteps
- Props
- Cloth
We started on the footsteps first. When recording footsteps, the ‘Foley Grail’ outlines three main aspects to a good footstep sound; The surface you are on, the shoes you are wearing and how you mimic the talents actions onscreen. So I took this on board and started experimenting with the sound. Footsteps are incredibly important as they can add different characteristics to characters. Baring this in mind, I evaluated the character’s movement and motive in each scene, creatively deciding if to walk light footed, or heavy footed. The shoes I used for the character Susan was a soft heeled boot on multiple surfaces. In the hallway scene, I recreated the surface by experimenting on walking on carpet to then having carpet on different surface. After a few tries with different surfaces, the end product was two pieces of carpet on a concrete slab. I believe this created a light sound whilst maintaining a heavy footed characteristic the Susan. The surface for the attic was a concrete slab as it gave both a subtle sound and a hard sound. Mimicking Susan was an interesting role to take on as there are a few ways to how she walks adding to the state of mind her character is in. An interesting scene to record her footsteps to was when she was walking up to the Character jack, just before she killed him with a hammer. For this I had to maintain light subtle sounding footsteps, to portray her sneaking up to the victim Jack.
Props were a fantastic way to show my creativity when it came to recording foley and recreating the sounds on screen. We were provided the props that were onset which was incredibly useful as I was able to bring the scene even more to life with the presence of the sound of the props seen. The ‘Foley Grail’ suggest having a variety of sounds to choose from, as you can capture different characteristics for each individual clips. ‘It’s not always the tool, its how you use it’ (117). An example is the type of paper used in the folder that Jack is turning over in the audio clip below. We used a mixture of different types of paper and a different quantity of paper, to come up with the perfect sound for the folder. Also in the clip is a the recording of chains and hand cuffs, following Jacks hand movements.
You can use fruit and vegetables to recreate body impacts and flesh sounds. I went to the supermarket and bought celery (for the bones breaking), a head of lettuce (for the body impact) and an orange (for the flesh sounds). For the hammer hit, I layered up the celery being snapped which have a bone/skull fracturing sound and then I hit the head of lettuce with both of my hand for the impact of the hit. Below is the final product.
For the scalpel sound effect I experimented with what could represent a skull would sound like being carved into. I started off carving a knife into a plane which gave a nice effect but felt to artificial. So I decided to see if carving into a piece of celery would do the trick; and it did. The fleshy blood sounds was recorded by me touching the inside of an orange, giving wet and squidgy samples. Listen to recording below.
Being a foley was a great way to explore my creativity within sound which is what a set out to do in my personal learning outcomes.
Foley Mixer
As a foley mixer, I needed to be critical and what sound fitted where and whether it fitted the visual. I was require to have creative input on the positioning of microphones and wether to use multiple microphones or just one. Some mixers like very little room reflection, to get a dry recording so they can manipulate in post production (P151). To record footsteps I decided to use two microphones, a condenser (AKG 414) set to cardioid to capture the space of the room and a shotgun microphone (Sennheiser MKH416) to grab a dry recording. To record props I only ever used one microphone but used different microphones to record with. I switched in between each microphone depending on the space of the scene we were recording for. If the props on screen were far away, I used a condenser to capture the space and the distance of the room, creating realism within the scene. If the props were very close, I used a shotgun to grab a dry and fuller recording of the prop. Using this technique would allow me to balance and mix these recordings together.
Foley Editor
To meet my personal aims and objectives, it was my role to edit the foley. I was situated in Sound Theatre B. I Switched between headphone mixing and monitor mixing so I could get a better idea of an isolated mix with headphones and an opened space mix in sound theatre B, allowing me to compare and contrast.
I started off by organising the session into three sections. A section for footsteps, a section for props and a section for cloth. The ‘Foley Grail’ criticises first time foley editors for going straight into cutting and changing the clip without listening to the full clip. It says that by listening to the full clip, you can outline wether it adds anything to the image or wether certain parts need to be trimmed or got rid of completely. So I kept this in mind throughout the session.
I started with the footsteps. I listened to each clip individually along with the picture and made executive decisions to either trim them or cut them out. From my research, you need to know when the footsteps might covert he dialogue, therefore needs to be low in the mix or cut out. When recording the foley, we realised that the room itself was rather noisy. This was due to the building that the foley studio is situated in. We were picking up electrical hums, bathroom noises and air conditioning. To get rid of this, I used the audio suite feature in pro tools and ran them through a plug in called De-Noise by Izoptope. This learns the clips that you want to process and evaluates the background noise. You can then just the reduction and thresh hold from the background noise and the recording you want. However you have to be careful not to disrupt the wanted signal. Listen to the examples below to see the difference that de-noise can make.
I would recommend using monitors or headphones to really notice the difference.
Original recording
Edited Clip
I applied the same process to the prop and cloth section. This allowed the clips to run smoothly together, eliminating pops from one track to another.
By taking on the role of the foley artist, foley mixer and foley editor, it has expanded my skills and knowledge of the area. By utilising my research well I have met my personal objectives in creating unique and interesting sounds as a foley artist, mixed competently as a foley mixer and edited foley to the picture making creative decisions in what works well for the film.