The difference between Sound Effects and 'Foley'

Ever since films were referred to as the 'Talkies', movie producers have incorporated artificial sounds into their films in order to enhance the movie going experience. Often in a movie the sound of footsteps or a door closing will seem too weak or quiet. In order to alleviate this problem, sound effects teams will record the sound of a door closing, and sync it with the video. 

There are two types of sounds that are added to movies- Sound Effects and Foley.
The two are quite similar in how they're done, however they differ in what they are. Sound Effects typically consist of non-human made sounds. Foley consists of sounds created by humans.

Typical Sound Effects:

- Explosions
-Car Crashes
-Sci-fi Sounds (E.g. Lazers)
-Vehicle Engines

Typical Foley:

-Footsteps
-Picking up of objects
-Punching Sounds
-Bodily Impact with material (E.g. Smashing of wood, or the sound of hitting metal)

Sometimes, the addition of sound effects in a certain scene can add intensity and tension. For example in a horror scene, the opening of a door or the sound of footsteps whilst the victim is hiding can add a surprising amount of intensity to the scene, and can make the audience sit at the edge of their seat, and can really draw them into the movie. 

Adding sound effects and foley can really give the producer great control over the atmosphere of the scene, allowing them to adjust the volume of a sound to their liking. If done right, sound effects can sound very convincing, and can draw the audience further into a realistic sounding world. 

Often when foley sounds are being recorded, whoever is creating the sound will wear minimal amounts of clothing, this is due to reduce any annoying rustling, however this is mainly when trying to create footstep sounds, where clothes sounds are unnecessary. 

Sound effects within a scene are recorded with completely different items from what is actually being shown within a scene, so for example, the drawing of a sword in real life would sound dull, as swords are never kept in a metal sheath, however in a movie, a long metal sliding sound would be played. Adding sounds like these are necessary, mainly to add interest to the scene, and to emphasise certain sounds that would be hard to hear with normal studio microphones, or it could be due to excess noise in the studio disrupting the shoot.

What are the functions of music in films?

Ever since the dawn of cinema, films have had an incredible ability to delve an audience into a world that differs from theirs; containing interesting characters, locations or special effects. In this sense it can be used as a form of escapism from a monotonous lifestyle, this can be demonstrated more effectively in sci-fi or fantasy genres, as the audience is transported to a universe that transcends reality, in some cases. Some examples of this would be Star Wars, or The Lord of the Rings. However, movies need something else other than the actor's emotions to set the mood to a scene- an accompanying soundtrack.

Before the 'talkies', movie directors were unable to capture any sound within a scene, instead, cinema owners would employ the aid of a pianist who would play a set of written music created by the movie producers to set the mood of a scene, and in most cases, emulate the actions of a character.

Eventually, when sound recording was implemented into movies, a live pianist was no longer necessary, as full orchestra soundtracks could be edited into a movie through post-production, allowing directors to tell a story more effectively.

In many cases, the soundtrack of a movie can tell the story by itself; often the audience will base a conclusion on a character's personality or intentions by the mood of the music- often a darker sounding track can make out a character to have evil intentions:

 Or, the soundtrack can be used to portray a character as enigmatic, and ethereal:

The elves in The Lord of the Rings are described as wise, and mysterious. Their character would be extremely difficult to convey had they lacked the accompanying soundtrack.

Obviously, the composer of a soundtrack requires a track from another film as a basis of inspiration. Often the track will be used to see if it conveys the correct emotions, this is called a 'Temp Track'.

Visual Components

Logos, stills + titles
Live Footage
Recording of people within a scene

In many instances, there are scenes within a movie that are difficult to replicate in a live scene. Scenes such as a large army in a medieval movie, or a large explosion too large to create due to the risk that could be involved. However, animation doesn't have to be exclusive to special effects, but could also be for cartoons or animated films. There are multiple kinds of animations:

CGI

CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) is one type of animation used commonly in high budget films, in scenes where it can be too challenging to replicate through live means. CGI goes through many stages for it to look convincing to the audience, involving many animators to get the scene done quickly. First, the models of any character or objects within the scene are created, this is the foundation of the animation, as it shows what or who will be involved within a scene. Textures are then added to the model to give the model more 'Life' and realism, these are details such as a character's skin, or eyes etc.

After the animators are done creating the models within a scene, and animating the characters or objects, extra details are implemented into the scene to express the feel of the scene, such as the contrast, saturation and hue

A famous scene from Lord of the Rings Return of the King, a film that uses a large amount of CGI to replicate large battles.

However, CGI is often criticised as looking to 'Plasticy' 'Cartoony' or 'Fake'. An example of a movie which incorporates heavy CGI use is the Star Wars Prequels. Nearly every scene in the SW prequels were filmed on a blue screen, this is clearly visible through the CGI environments in every scene. The criticism is understandable, seeing as how the entire original Star Wars series was widely known for its realistic environments and props.

Cell Animation

Popular amongst cartoons, cell animation is another method of animation, traditionally done by hand. This style of animation is brought to life through thousands of pages of animations flipped through, each of these single pages are called 'Cells'. Now, of course, due to the advanced technology of today, the method of hand drawing cell animations is heavily outdated, and animation software such as Adobe CS6.
A popular example of cell animation is The Simpsons

Stop Motion


Certain filming styles can convey a different overall feel to a movie- they can create a darker atmosphere, or a more psychedelic theme (A good example of a stop motion video with a darker theme is the music video to Tool- Prisonsex), however this doesn't always have to be the case, as a popular example of stop motion is Wallace & Gromit: a series of stop motion cartoons, however, there still seemed to be a surreal theme within the animations.

There are, however, drawbacks to stop motion; an average 20 minute stop motion movie can take up to a year or more to create, the filming of the animation is a long, arduous effort.

Logos & Titles

Films, TV series, Video Games or any form of media require a logo or a title as a form of association for the audience. Often a movie will have a logo which will almost embody the film as a whole. This could even be applied for artists and bands with a particular logo.