Where do movie sounds come from?

 Knock, knock.  Click, click.  Slam.  Sounds of someone entering the house.  How do these types of sounds get made to be used in a movie?  What sounds are made naturally and what sounds are made from a human outside of the action?  There are sounds that are every day sounds, like a doorbell, a baby crying, a dog barking, screaming, that are easy to record, but there are other sounds, like the wind, footsteps, click of a remote control, that are not sounds you can hear easily and have to be replicated.  I will need to research how to create these sounds so that I can make the sounds needed for our movie.

Some natural sounds can be recorded with the actual sound. If you want a dog barking, you can record a dog barking to get the sound. However, some sounds cannot be recorded in this way. This is when a foley artist is needed. Foley artists’ jobs are to create sounds that cannot be recorded easily and clearly.  This website gives some great examples of how to make sounds through everyday items. An example is creating a horse’s footsteps by using coconuts cut in half. Foley artists create sound through trial and error by watching the scene and see what works to make the sound realistic.  I found this YouTube video helpful in learning the process of making sound effects (The Magic of Making Sound).  Foley artists, not only have to create the sound, but they have to make sure it sounds realistic and that it represents the scene.  Sometimes that is all done through trial and error.

For my group’s movie, there is a scene where the characters are going to play a board game. I could try to make the sound of the pieces moving naturally around the board, or I could try to replicate the sound through foley. I will probably try to make the sound naturally, but for footsteps walking up to the door, I will most likely try to use shoes tapping on a table for an easier way to make the footstep sound effect.  Either way the sound effects I create need to be realistic for the movie or the movie scenes will not make sense.