The Art of Foley - Track Stars
Foley is the method by which additional audio is recorded in a film to make it sound more realistic. Foley artists perform as the film play, adding sound effects such as footsteps, cloth rustle, punches and kicks and almost any kind of object.
History
As with any art form, Foley has its historical beginning, and it was in the 1920s. Films back then were still silent. In 1927 Warner Bros released the first feature-length motion picture with synchronized sound The Jazz Singer, marking the dawn of the silent film era.
A this time Jack Donnovan Foley was working in Universal Studios as part of the sound crew, working on the upcoming “silent” musical Show Boat, making it into a musical. The crew projected the film on a screen while recording a single track of audio, capturing their live sound effects.
Moving forward, today, Foley is evolving as audio technology is progressing. Nowadays each individual sound can be captured, adjusted and synced on a separate track, instead of recording all at once in a single track. If you pay attention you will hear that Foley is used extensively not only in film production, but also radio, animation, TV, computer games and VR.
Track Stars - The Unseen Heroes of Movie Sound
A short film from 1979 featuring Foley artists T. Burke and Andy Malcolm as they chase and fight theirselves onscreen.
