Lo2: Know the techniques and processes used to create sound elements

Foley means creating sound effects for moving image products. The role of a foley artist is to create and record sounds such as wild tracks, atmospheric sound and sound effects. Some examples of these sounds are: moving water, shuffling, walking, plates stacking, cutlery being set down on the table, explosions, whips, weapons coming into contact with each other, bullets being shot etc. Some equipment foley artists use include microphones such as boom mics, cardioiod mics and hypercardioiod to record sound, large screen displays to view what they are creating sound for to keep in time, headphones to concentrate on the sound they are recording, and a mixer to control sound levels and quality while they are recording. Film scores and theme music are created by a film composer's in collaboration with directors and producers instead of foley artists. The foley artist's use techniques such as: padding there walls to create a sound proof space, walking on sand to replicate walking on snow, opening and closing an umbrella to replicate a bird flapping its wings, snapping celery to replicate bones breaking, frying bacon to replicate rain. A famous technique of hitting the top of a slinky with metal was created by Ben Burtt this sound was created produce the sound of a 'lightsaber' this sound was created for the star wars franchise. And they store the sound by uploading it the flash drives, hard drives and the cloud.

Famous Foley artists - Lara Dale

Lara Dale worked in projects such as Twilight 1-3

She said in an interview that she has to have 'every type of shoe' from 'awthepeedic shoes to stilettos to use in recording to create the sound of a specific footstep. She also has 30-40 surfaces to create these footsteps on. To replicate an urban crime setting she used the technique of scattering fine dirt and broken glass onto a wooden floor. Lara uses wireless headphones when recording sound to hear the 'nuances of the performance better'. She says her mic placement is generally '18 inches away'. When she replicates footsteps her mic is normally angled at a '45-degree angle'. She uses her experience as a dancer to help her with timing and to replicate the moments seen on screen. A technique she used for the thriller 'Rosemary's Baby', to replicate hacking sounds she used grilled chicken a copping board and a cleaver knife, she chopped the chicken using the cleaver and recorded it with a microphone. Another technique she used for the production 'Rosemary's Baby' is biting through a Pomegranate to replicate a goory scene of eating a human heart. She describes her normal workflow on a project as having to weighting for the final edit of the production to be approved and then start creating the Foley.

Theme music

Theme music is a jingle or a piece of music the associates with a specific product, this is often played at the credits and or opening of a television show. the purpose of this theme tune is to convey the theme and general mood of the product. For example the ben ten theme tune 'Ben 10 Main Theme' is fast rock tune that fits with the action packed genre of the show, it features instruments that connote the theme of aliens. The singers high pitch voice target their target audience. The lyrics relate to the story line of the show, this means this song will only be recognisable as the ben ten theme tune.

A theme song is normally made by composers, songwriters, and music production companies.

Common equipment used to record/create this is a computer, digital audio workstation software such as Cubase, Pro Tools, Ableton Live. An MIDI controller, orchestral & virtual instrument libraries, monitors, headphones, external hard drives and microphones.

film scores

A film score is an original piece of music that accompanies a movie, the purpose of a film score is to enhance the film's emotions and create a mood for each scene. For example the 'Spider-Verse' film score is used to help the audience identify character appearance, create tension, enhances comedy scenes and enhance action scenes. An example song from this score includes the song 'Spider-Woman (Gwen Stacy)' this song helps the audience to identify the character Gwen Stacy as the audience may have been confused as to who she was due to so many character being in the film, this song is similar to theme music as its specifically used for only the character Gwen Stacy. This music works as a reminder do to how recognisable it is.

Film scores are made by Film composers, They work closely with the film's director or producer and may collaborate on the score. 

Common equipment used to record/create this is a computer, digital audio workstation software such as Cubase, Pro Tools, Ableton Live. An MIDI controller, orchestral & virtual instrument libraries, monitors, headphones, external hard drives and microphones.