What is foley?

Foley is probably one of the most useful techniques for enhancing atmosphere. According to Urban Dictionary, foley defines as “one who can bong a beer faster than anyone and parties the hardest” (iMissYouFoley, Urban Dictionary, July 09, 2009). While this definition could be branded ‘inaccurate’, I thought it was a pretty funny interpretation of the word. But no, the actual definition of foley is the recreation of everyday sounds that are added to different types of media such as film and video games in post-production to enhance the audio quality.

As Rachel said in the lectorial, “you can usually tell when foley is bad. You can’t tell when it’s good, usually, because it just becomes so seamless, but you can tell when it’s bad”. In all my years of movie watching, I can confirm that this statement is one hundred percent true. When I heard this, I thought back to when I was a kid, watching those ridiculous old kung fu movies with my dad, where they had overly exaggerated and slightly delayed impact noises.

On a more serious note, when foley is done properly, it can significantly enhance the viewers experience. In 2010, indie developers Frictional Games released a horror adventure game, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which heavily relied on its audio for tension. They released a video on how they created many of the sounds which originally made us hold our breath for a whole hour straight. I thought it would be pretty interesting to share.