My Foley Stage :)

    Hi and Welcome to my Foley stage. Some classmates of mine and I created a sound story with no visuals to truly understand the effect that sound has on an audience watching a film. So let me tell you my journey going through this process and how I learned important lessons throughout this journey of filming and understanding the art of sound.

Universal Foley Stage

     First of all, we had two ideas for our overall project. My classmates had the idea of filming and hearing the sounds of someone who has woken up for school and is rushing to get ready. On the other hand, my idea was to create a film of someone who was taking a walk and listening to music, while they felt someone following them. They notice that someone is following them and start to go faster. The last thing I wanted to interpret to the film was that the final sound was  a loud scream/shriek. As a group, we finally decided to do the one of someone getting ready for school, since it would be an easier topic, we could focus on making the sounds sound well and make the audience understand the story easily. 

    

     The planning process was that we created a document and jotted down each sound we were going to record. We debated whether we should take some sounds out or add some sounds in and we finally made our list. 

     Initially, we thought we would meet up on a Saturday and film the whole video, however, I noticed that I would be out of town for that weekend. So, in order to make sure I did my part of the project, we split the sounds evenly among us three. I chose the sounds I was going to do and started to film at my house afterwards. I filmed a total of 5 sounds: a backpack being zipped up, a backpack being picked up, a toaster making the “ding” sound, spreading jam on toast (which was a struggle), and someone taking a bite of the toast. Throughout this process I learned the struggle of making some of these sounds. While the backpack sounds were only difficult due to me only using one hand to zip and grab the backpack and one to film, I did have a challenge with toast. The great discovery I made throughout this journey of the art of Foley was how spreading jam on toast does not sound how it should and instead sounds like someone walking on gravel. My group and I had a debate. Some of us heard the jam on the toast while others heard completely different things. This is where I learned the lesson of Foley. In films, people must do the art of Foley to create these “perfect” sounds that they want their audience to hear. 

     Unfortunately, I was not able to learn any new editing techniques since I was out of town and my lovely classmates took on the challenge of editing. Although I was out of town, I made sure to film my parts before they were going to edit the film and I was always checking on them. I would ask if they needed anything, any additional sounds, if everything was going well, etc. 

    So let me have the honor to present you with our wonderful film… Sound Story: Getting Ready! 

     Now time for our backstage/Foley Stage video :) 

     Overall, I had a fun time, but I also learned the important lesson of how not everything sounds how it is supposed to sound. The audience of a film usually doesn't realize how much effort is placed into a film and specifically into the sound aspect of it. This makes me realize how much hard work and effort are put into films. See you next time!  P.S. I love to being a Foley Artist. ;)

                                                                                                                                 -Love, Lucy <3

Quote of the Day: “Fear doesn’t shut you down, it wakes you up.”- Tobias Eaton