PRPG:
How Movie Sounds are Made

Secrets of the Foley Artists: How Movie Sounds Are Made

November 9, 2016

After a movie is filmed, a Foley artist is tasked with making the sounds of the movie come across as realistically as possible. And they have a lot of weird and amazing tools at their disposal. Here are some real techniques used by real movie Foley artists.
How Movie Sounds are Made

When somebody in a horror movie gets stabbed:

They’ll stab a freshly roasted chicken or a grapefruit.

When somebody breaks a bone:

Dry pasta is wrapped up in a damp cloth and then smashed. Fresh celery also provides a good “snap.”

When the action hero punches the bad guy in the face:

The Foley artist punches a head of lettuce or a cabbage.

When the action hero punches the bad guy in the body:

The artist will punch a phone book that’s been curled up and wrapped in tape.

When a character walks through thick brush:

The sound of dense plant life brushing up against a person’s legs is obtained by the Foley artist running their hands through bunches of kale. Another material they use is the balled up tape out of an old audio or VHS cassette.

When large birds flap their wings:

The Foley artist might just flap a pair of gloves around.

For footsteps in the snow:

That’s probably a burlap bag full of corn flakes being gently crushed.

When skis move over snow:

A flat object moving over a pile of polenta and large-grain salt approximates that sound.

When horses are trotting:

Have you ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in which a character on-screen comically knocks too coconuts together so it sounds like a horse galloping? That’s not too far off from how Foley artists actually do it. They’ll take a coconut, cut it in half, scoop out the edible parts, dry it, and pack in some putty to make it sound less hollow.