A special category of sound effects—Fol ey
sounds—was invented in the 1930s by Jack Foley,
a sound technician at Universal Studios. There
are two significant differences between Foleys and
the sound effects just described. The first is that
traditional sound effects are created and recorded
“wild” and then edited into the film, whereas Foleys
are created and recorded in sync with the picture.
To do this, the technicians known as Foley artists
have a studio equipped with recording equipment
and a screen on which to view the movie as they cre-
ate sounds in sync with it. The second difference is
that traditional sound effects can be taken directly
from a library of prerecorded effects (e.g., church
bells, traffic noises, jungle sounds) or created
specifically for the movie. By contrast, Foley sounds
are unique. As an example of the latter, the sound
technicians working on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of
the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring(2001; sound
designer: David Farmer) needed the sounds of
arrows shooting through the air, so they set up sta-
tionary microphones in a quiet graveyard and shot
arrows past the mikes to record those sounds.
Foley artists use a variety of props and other
equipment to simulate everyday sounds—such as
footsteps in the mud, jingling car keys, the rustling
of clothing, or cutlery hitting a plate—that must
exactly match the movement on the screen. Such
sounds not only fill in the soundscape of the movie
and enhance verisimilitude but also convey impor-
tant narrative and character information. Although
these sounds match the action we see on the screen,
they can also exaggerate reality—both loud and
soft sounds—and thus may call attention to their
own artificiality. Generally, however, we do not con-
sciously notice them, so when they are truly effec-
tive, we cannot distinguish Foley sounds from real
sounds.402 CHAPTER 9SOUND
Sound effects in Raging BullThe boxing film against
which all others are measured, Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull
(1980; sound: Frank Warner)——based on former middleweight
champion Jake La Motta’s memoir of the same title——fully
employs every aspect of filmmaking technology as it re-
creates the experience of being in the ring. Close-ups don’t
get much more vivid than this one, in which La Motta’s
(Robert De Niro) glove slams into and breaks fighter Tony
Janiro’s (Kevin Mahon) nose; blood spurts and sweat flies.
The image moves from powerful to unbearable, however,
when accompanied by the Foley sounds of impact, collapse,
and explosion.