The Foley Grail

The Art of Performing Sound for Film, Games, and Animation

Vanessa Theme Ament

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000461206
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

This book teaches you how to master classic and cutting edge Foley techniques in order to create rich and convincing sound for any medium, be it film, television, radio, podcasts, animation, or games.

Award-winning Foley artist Vanessa Theme Ament demonstrates how Foley is designed, crafted, and edited for any project, down to the nuts and bolts of spotting, cueing, and performing sounds. Various renowned sound artists provide a treasure trove of indispensable shortcuts, hot tips, and other valuable tricks of the trade.

This updated third edition features the following:

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• New chapters dedicated to Foley in games, television, broadcasting, and animation, as well as what is new in sound for media education

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• A multitude of sound "recipes" that include proven Foley methods you can immediately use on your own projects

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• A diverse range of case studies from well-known films, shows, games, and animation

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• Interviews with current sound artists from around the world

By exploring the entire audio post-production process, this book provides you with an excellent understanding of where Foley fits in the business of filmmaking and is a perfect guide for both newcomers and experienced sound designers wanting to learn more about this art.

Accompanying the book are online resources featuring video demonstrations of Foley artists at work, video tutorials of specific Foley techniques, lectures from the author and more.

PART | ONE

What Foley Artists Do and Why

The History, Theory, and Methods of Foley

Chapter | one

Holy Foley

The Evolution of a Craft

DOI: 10.4324/9781003008439-3

As I began my research into the beginnings and development of Foley, several things became apparent. First, there have been many myths and inaccuracies floating around that contribute to the mystery and misunderstanding of the origins and development of Foley. Second, the practitioners of the craft are very busy doing their jobs and have precious little time to document the history of how their craft came to be or how they approach the work itself. And, finally, those who study and report upon the craft and origins of Foley, or any aspect of film sound, and who are not from the culture view this world through a different lens and, thus, have different observations and conclusions from those who have “lived it.” As one who has worked in the film industry and now embraces the mission of academic reportage, my purpose is to bring to light the origins, development, and practices of Foley, as best we know, on the basis of documented sources and personal interviews with several key individuals who were a part of the development of the craft and the codification of the “system.” While I can only present the account of a “reflective researcher,” what I offer is a basic overview of the film industry when sound was new and later evolving, in addition to including a fair representation of the individuals who have contributed to the development of the craft of Foley, as well as those who add valuable insights into its historical development.

THE UNITED STATES

Many of us from the film industry assumed that Jack Foley—the man for whom the craft is named—was a sound editor who began to perform footstep cues for his own reels and, thus, began a career of doing those of other editors who had neither the talent nor the patience to do them. This, so it was understood, led to Jack then performing some props that were better left to him than the cutting room. Somewhere along the line, the rumors circulated that Jack was from England and that he was around in the 1950s and 1960s. It was said that he was from Universal Studios, and it was assumed that the editors and Foley artists who had worked at Universal must have known the venerable Mr. Foley. Almost everyone in postproduction sound had some kind of conception about Jack that we now know is inaccurate. I recall my appearance on Late Night with David Letterman in July 1989, where I continued this myth on national television. I now feel obligated to correct the record with every audience or class who sees the episode clip. So, let us begin with who Jack Foley was and why he is considered the pioneer of today’s craft of Foley.

Jack Be Nimble: Jack of All Trades

Jack Foley was a New Yorker of Irish descent, who grew up on Long Island. His family was Catholic, as was true of many Irish immigrants. Beatrice Rehm, a long-distance championship swimmer, worked at the phone company with Jack, who also played semi-professional baseball. They met through a mutual friend. She was Protestant, and this was a source of conflict in both families. They were secretly married and moved to the West Coast, where Jack hoped for a baseball career in a milder climate. Shortly after, they had a traditional wedding in New York, which united both families according to Catherine Clark, Jack’s granddaughter. Bea later converted to Catholicism.

Figure 1.2 Jack Foley displaying his notable whimsy, with granddaughter Catherine Clark, partially seen, sitting at his side.

Source: Photo courtesy of Catherine Clark

In 1914, Jack and Bea moved to California, first to Santa Monica and later to a small town called Bishop, located inland in Inyo County. During WWI, Jack served with the American Defense Society and was charged with secretly guarding the local water supply from sabotage. Jack also worked at the local hardware store and raised his four children in Bishop. He was a regular part of the local community theatre as an actor, writer, and director, and he also wrote articles in the local newspaper. He was a cartoonist, so he found himself creating cartoon strips for the local paper as well. Jack, by all accounts, was quite the charming extrovert. His granddaughter would continually describe him as “a people person.” It appears that Jack was a man of many talents, so it should come as no surprise that when the farmers of the area sold their farms to Los Angeles for water rights and the town of Bishop needed revenue, Jack would be one of the people looking for some inventive way of sustaining his adopted hometown.

Jack Foley saw the potential for Bishop as a location for westerns in this new “moving picture business” from nearby Los Angeles. It was an exciting time for a person who was entrepreneurial. The film industry was new and being reinvented on a daily basis. Once Jack convinced the local storekeepers what an economic boon location shooting could be for Bishop, he set out to convince the small film studios in the Los Angeles area to come to his lovely town. It is important to note that the “picture business” was not developed in any sort of organized process. Much as the internet—with its social networking, its access to information, and its convergence of blogs, chat rooms, and online gaming—began in a chaotic and exciting way, so too was the environment for movies in the early part of the twentieth century. It was open season for anyone with “gumption” and ingenuity. Many film pioneers captured in biographies have these qualities. This is important because one must see that Jack Foley was not just a guy who wanted a steady job and income for his family. He was willing to take risks on a new and exciting business that was unpredictable and required flexibility and inventiveness from its participants.

By the time Jack was in his 30s, he had parlayed his budding connections to the film business into a career as a stuntman and double. He became an assistant to director William Kraft and eventually directed short subjects starring Benny Rubin. As was the convention in movies at the time, everyone pitched in where they could, depending on their talents and commitment. There were no established positions in the beginning. Job titles were not common practice, and people moved from job to job depending on the requisite skill set. Thus, when Universal needed to add sound to Showboat (1929), Jack was one of those who seized the opportunity to pitch in and help solve the latest problem brought on by this new technology—or opportunity, depending on one’s perspective.

When The Jazz Singer (1927) was released, Warner Brothers recorded small segments of sound for Al Jolson’s improvisational singing performance while leaving the rest of the film as a silent production. The method used was the Vitaphone sound on disc system, which was one of two technologies available. The second was the Fox-Case system, which utilized sound on film. Universal had just produced the silent film Showboat, which was based on the Edna Ferber book and not the Broadway musical. The film was not the famous Kern-Hammerstein musical, but with the use of this new sound technology music could be added, as well as some dialogue and synchronized sound effects. As David Yewdall relates in his book Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound, Universal rented the Fox-Case sound unit to record the music, voices, and sound effects for the film. Jack, among others from the various studios, took a class at the University of Southern California that introduced students to this new sound technology. When the studio was finally ready to put sound into the film, there was one sound stage, with the orchestra, singers, and sound people—including Jack—to put all the sound to the film in real time. Jack and some selected colleagues did hand clapping, footsteps, and any props they could muster, as well as background voices for the film. This was the beginning of a new path for Jack as a pioneer in this new field in filmmaking, which at the time had no name. Jack Foley had developed many skills in filmmaking, including director, actor, writer, cartoonist, baseball player, and stuntman, but it was his entry into the new sound technology that solidified Jack as the person to develop this new profession. It was invented at first out of necessity, expanded into an esteemed craft, and then later enhanced and per-fected by others to become a nuanced and respected field of sound effects with its own name, in honor of him.

“As the technology developed, he altered his performance techniques.”

As Jack Foley continued to perform sounds for films, focusing on props and footsteps with some cloth sounds, these sound practices developed into an integrated part of the filmmaking process. Jack worked on a regular sound stage with the same kind of sound support that would be afforded on the set with the cast in production. He had prop persons, recording experts, and sound assistants. As the technology developed, he altered his performance techniques. Sound was primitive during the formative years of Jack’s career as a soundman. There was only one track to record on, and this dictated the approach Jack would have to use. He had a piece of cloth he kept in his back pocket to be pulled out for clothing sounds, and he had a cane he used to create the illusion of more than one person walking at a time.

According to his granddaughter Catherine Clark, Jack would play with various gadgets in his kitchen to see how they sounded. Because no one had done this before, there were no debates regarding the art or the process. Jack developed his own techniques, which became standard for his assistants as well. Ms. Clark relates that what Jack did was a secret for quite a while, and even his family was not sure what he did at Universal in the beginning. When they visited him on the lot, he was typically in a suit and would sit on a bench working on his column for a showbiz trade paper or be in an office. His family never saw him work. It was not until closer to his retirement that his true profession became ubiquitously known in the industry.

As other studios acquired people who had worked with Jack, they developed their own systems for putting sounds to pictures. While Jack Foley was himself never an editor, other sound editors began to adopt his practices and developed training protocols for those who wished to be a “Foley walker.” His influence on the practice of performed sound effects solidified Jack as a legend in sound, and he was inducted into the Editors Guild as an honorary member and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Motion Picture Sound Editors.

The history of Foley as it is now practiced in film and television had its early beginnings with Jack Foley, but there were others who contributed to its development. They came from different backgrounds and had different experiences in sound. The live performance of sound effects was used not only in film but also in radio and television. From radio plays to television news, sound effects were beginning to be performed, recorded, edited, and mixed into every aspect of media, as technology would permit.

Chicken or the Egg?

Robert L. Mott, who was a generation behind Jack Foley, was a sound-man in radio and television. He had gone to New York University (NYU) to study screenwriting after serving in World War II. NYU had a radio show, and Mott, through connections at the school, apprenticed and trained to be a soundman for the programs out of the university on the radio station WGYN. Mott relates many of his experiences in his books Sound Effects, Radio TV and Film and Radio Live! Television Live! Mott is no longer with us, but when I spoke with him, I found him to be a delightful gentleman who had retired on the central California coast and, during his career, had plenty of experience working on radio and television shows. Mott had been a drummer, which contributed to his career as a television writer and fostered his interest in the drama of sound.

“Mott had been a drummer, which fostered his interest in the drama of sound.”

According to Mott, vaudeville, which was influenced by English music hall, was an important training ground for any person who was interested in creating sound for radio. In vaudeville, the drummer was responsible for highlighting gags and dramatic effects with the drum set. The drummer would typically take his cues from the actors. The audience became used to certain drum effects being used for particular gag sounds. When radio began to incorporate sounds into radio plays, the soundmen were sometimes these same dru...