Film Opening: Foley Sound

    As required by Cambridge, the audio for the two-minute film opening must include sound made using foley, or personally recorded sounds made by a person with regular objects. It requires a level of creativity, especially when trying to recreate sounds that you surely would not be able to replicate with the exact situation depicted in the film. Luckily for me, the opening of my film heavily features non-diegetic music in order to convey emotion, so hopefully that can mask some of the imperfections that might come when recording foley.

    There are quite a few audio effects that I believe could be made with objects in my home or elsewhere, the first one being the sound of the sword being drawn and pulled from the ground. I used the large kitchen knives that I had available to create these noises, by scraping them against each other quickly to produce a sort of ringing metal sound and clanging them against one another.

    Next, it presented a bit of challenge to find the right way to produce the sound of fire crackling, as I of course could not realistically record the sound of a massive destructive fire. I decided to do a bit of research, and found that crumpling up material such as cellophane or parchment paper would do just perfectly. I found some candy wrappers (which are usually made of cellophane) and moved them around in my hand to create a crinkling noise that sounded very similar to fire. However, I wanted to layer sound effects in order to create a more realistic soundscape, and include multiple effects. So, for a harsher crackling noise, I broke several pieces of uncooked spaghetti noodles to layer on top of the previous sound. Finally, taking a wash cloth, I vigorously waved it around to create a “woosh” sound. Real fire tends to billow around in the wind, and can make these kinds of noises in large amounts.

    I did also create one last sound effect, which I’m not fully satisfied with and likely won’t use in the final product, but it is always nicer to have excess audio effects stored away. I simply went outdoors in my backyard and, using a large shoe, slammed it down onto the dirt for a powerful, stomping sound. Though I feel that it is a bit clunky and doesn’t fit the visuals of the film too well because of the texture on the ground. 

    I feel that the sounds I made for the film are the most important ones that could be created with real-world objects, so it brings me a lot of pride in what I have accomplished so far in terms of progress.