Foley

Foley is the post-production technique of creating sound effects in performance — a foley artist watches the picture and acts out the physical sounds the characters or objects produce, recorded synchronously in a dedicated foley stage. Named after Jack Foley (sound effects pioneer at Universal in the 1930s-40s), the technique covers three sound categories: footsteps (different surfaces, different shoes, different walking styles for different characters), props (door handles, keys, fabric movement, drinking, eating, paper rustling), and cloth (clothing movement, sitting, shifting). Foley is essential because production sound recording focuses on dialogue clarity — the boom operator captures voices but typically not the smaller incidental sounds that bring scenes to life. Without foley, scenes feel sterile: an actor opening a door, taking a step, and sitting down with their original production sound alone often lacks the texture that makes the action believable. The foley stage is acoustically dry (to allow flexible processing in the mix), equipped with various floor surfaces (gravel, hardwood, concrete, leaves, carpet, tile), thousands of props for every conceivable sound, and condenser microphones positioned close to the artist's performance. Modern foley involves significant performance craft — a foley artist may spend hours getting one character's walk right across a sequence. Major foley stages: Skywalker Sound, Sound One in New York, Footsteps Post-Production. Reference: Yewdall and Sonnenschein cover foley extensively.