Foley Artists: How Movie Sound Effects Are Made

Foley artists make many of the movie sound effects you hear in your favorite films. Here’s a look at how they do it.

Gary Hecker (Django Unchained, Hancock, 300), Dawn Lunsford (Whiplash, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, Transformers: Age of Extinction) and Alicia Stevenson (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, X-Men, Transformers: Age of Extinction) take viewers through their post-production process.

Follow The Academy everywhere.

[soyitiel]

A job poorly done is the one noticeable, this is probably the most underrated job. Good work

[thedustinbuck]

This is such an impressive part of the creative process.

[arianagarcia]

What they do is amazing, and I think we don't appreciate it so much as we should.

[KainTheMoon]

I did foley for about a year. It is hard work. Whenever you sit back with your popcorn and soda, never forget just how many people put their time and skill into every film you see.

[Honduliocoolio]

that dudes arms are ripped from making sounds

[Rebikbok]

this is actually so cool to see! movies are often so much larger than life. i think often they are a bit removed from reality but that's what makes them so interesting to watch and tbh, if foley didn't exist, movies would not be as entrancing as they are

[irina]

Now I respect these people even more. They must think about every single detail. It's such a hard work

[janekim]

I first discovered sound effects when I watched a korean drama (Another Miss Oh). Tbh, I was really in awe. This people worked really hard and only a few knew their art. Hats off to these passionate workers. *clap clap*

[TorrellesEdit]

This is marvellous. Thanks for letting us get inside this practically unknown world!

[fedelxx]

seeing whiplash in there made me so happy and I don't know why

[stargirl]

I’ve always been fascinated by this - thanks for the glimpse into their lives! I’ve had a chance to do a bit of this in a community theater radio show and it was a lot of fun. :D

[udaui]

respect for the wonderful things done by these artists.Hats off..Love the ending.

[miguelpereira]

The Sound Designers / Foley Artists allways seem to me like the coolest guys

[ashjem]

Such an important and fun job, yet so underrated!

[Microfaun]

Question: Why do you have to time something like a single slap so perfectly if you can just line up the audio with the video in editing?
Thanks!

[witreks]

Thanks for the great job! I never thought event those small immersive sounds were made by you guys

[saibhargav]

Ok so these guys are the reason y horror films are so scary

[CaseyW]

This seems like the coolest job. Certainly fascinating, at the very least. The creative solutions to certain effects are very cool to see.

[lauraluna]

I always thought the sounds were actually from the making of the movie till I came across Foley, I find it amazing

[gabdongipark]

I really want to do this job, it's so interestimg