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A few things I've learned from foley sessions 

by Peter Steinbach 

1. Always wear shorts 

2. Bring MANY different shoes. 

3. It's easier for women to emulate male footsteps than vise versa. To compensate, practice walking more "lightly". 

4. If you are a male, try going to stores that cater to transvestites for heels that fit. (Im in San Francisco...no problems with that here!) 

5. Practice walking in heels at home, with curtains drawn. Warn your significant other or roomates beforehand. 

6. An interesting tidbit...Foley walkers often watch actors shoulders to determine when footfalls should occur. Especially if the feet are off camera. 

7. Remove all rings, watches, etc. 

8. Do a "Cloth" pass. Essentially, a take of clothing rustle. 

9. Do a "Pats" pass. Essentailly, a take hand activity. 

10. If the scene is crowded with extras, you don't have to do everyone's feet. I only make cues on the foley cue sheet for the extras that I notice on my FIRST look at a scene. Chances are, an audience will only notice what you notice when viewing the scene for the first time. 

11. Foley cue sheets are time consuming and suck, but you have to do it. I use software called Tape made by Wildsync. It works alongside PT 4.x very nicely. You highlight the area in PT that you want to create a cue for, and Tape automaticly captures the TC and creates a new foley cue. 

12. Foley cue sheets must be formatted in a specific manner to make the session go faster for all involved. 
Try downloading this demo: http://www.wildsync.com/download.html 

13. Practice 
14. Practice 
15. Practice 

One last thing: Many foley artists I've worked with used to be dancers. Makes sense... 


I've worked with some of the best foley artists in the world (Jennifer Meyes, Marney Moore, etc) They know that what they do is a talent that is developed over many years of hard work and perseverence. No trick or secret will make you great at anything. The people at the very top of thier fields are usually the most forthcoming with knowlege they've acquired. Guess is has something to do with self-confidence or something..... 
discussion thread: Foley Artists Heeeeelp... March 2001
Original URL: http://duc.digidesign.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/004706.html 
Q & A  about Foley 
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