Foley artist Gary Hecker will recreate the sound (in this case, a galloping horse) on July 3, 2012 at the Foley Soundstage at Todd AO Studios in Santa Monica, California.
Don Kelsen | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
In a small studio hidden inside Sony There are lots of photos, and Gary Hecker creates art with sound.
His canvas is some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, from Zack Snyder’s “Justice League” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Hollywood.” Disney Marvel’s Spider-Man Flick and Academy Award-winning Master and Commander.
Hecker is a Foley artist and is tasked with creating everyday sound effects that occur in the scene. A squealing door, swing cloak, slaps of leather reins, and even Spider-Man’s webbing “wip.”
“Foley is a key part of this magical trick of convincing audiences to believe the film they are watching,” said Professor Roger Purdy of Loyola Marymount University. “Foley is not for explosions or jet engines. It’s for the footprints of people in the forest or rock climbers, or for the swish of the superhero cape.
As Hollywood is working on the growth of the ramp extension of artificial intelligence capabilities and how or whether to use it, Foley artists continue to be the stubborn, deep human part of the working process.
The nature of the craft’s performance makes it difficult for studios to use AI to match the artist’s skills. However, few people work full-time as Foley artists. Currently there are no university programs at Foley. Those who want to break into the field should acquire apprenticeships along with veterans from already established industries.
The technology to create noise
A cluttered collection of kitchen items used at Sony Pictures Studio’s Foley Stage.
Sarah Witten | CNBC
His technique of the same name, created by Jack Foley in the late 1920s, came from Hollywood when the industry moved from silent film to “talkie.” Early recording devices were unable to capture dialogue or surrounding noise, so they had to add sound after the film was filmed.
Foley discovered that sound effects can be performed live and synchronized with the finished product to create a more authentic soundscape and help the audience immerse themselves in the film.
Today’s artists still use many of the same techniques adopted almost 100 years ago.
“We’re doing movies from top to bottom,” Hecker said. “Whatever is running on that screen, we provide sound for it.”
More than 50 pairs of shoes lined up on the shelves at Hecker’s Studio. Some produce a sturdy, thick sound, while others create sharp click cracks in high heels. In the 1800s there is even a series of Spurs made by the blacksmith that Hecker used in Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.”
“The true art of Foley is mastering sound,” Hecker said. “I’m a 200-pound guy, so if you’re doing Arnold Schwarzenegger, you have to dig deeper, but if you’re doing little geisha girls from “Geisha Memoirs,” and if you’re doing those little 90-pound girls in those little wooden shoes, I have to fit that performance. ”
His Sound Lab has a makeshift kitchen area packed with cups, bottles, bowls, cloches and spray bottles of various sizes and materials. A rich rock bin with rakes, shovels and mops stands next to a rocky mountain, with the commonly used battleship how shellguns at the corner.
He has a specially built metal tower, as well as a stash of swords, guns, shields, armor and chains.
The floor features a collection of Foley Pits in areas of wood, concrete, stone and gravel. The doors have an assortment of handles, locks and chains, and the closet is packed with a collection of jackets, so Heckers can find just the right zipper sound.
Hecker’s collection of props has been created for over 45 years. He gets what started with Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back and has over 400 film titles under his belt, including Running Man, Three Amigo, The Great Adventures of Bill & Ted, Home Alone, and 300.
Hodge Podge flooring at Gary Hecker’s Foley Studios in Sony Pictures Lot in Culver City, California.
Sarah Whitten
Sound’s Hecker’s partner is Jeff Gross, a mixer that transforms crashes, rattles and crops shot on the microphone into a resonant symphony.
The partnership between Hecker and Gross began in the middle of Covid Pandemic while working on sound effects for the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. Since then, they have worked on both projects for the “Rebel Moon” films, “Venom: The Last Dance” and “Mufasa: The Lion King.” Last year, the pair was nominated for Golden Reel, one of the most respected accolades in the world of sound editing for “Mufasa: The Lion King,” and won in their work in “Rebel Moon – Part 2: The Scargiver.”
“Anything to get the sound”
Hecker and Gross work on one movie at a time, usually spending 18-20 days per project, depending on the healthy budget of the film. Large budget movies buy more time, but smaller or independent features are often much less.
The Hecker and Gross tag teams operate at Sony Lot, but work with all of Hollywood’s major studios. These companies offer 6-8 reels each, including about 15 minutes of movies. Hecker and Gross go to the reel with a reel, adding all the footprints, props sounds and ambient sounds.
Footprints come first. Hecker creates the illusion of walking outside, stomping on each actor’s performance at pace, stomping on fast speeds and side steps, often accompanied by coffee-filled shattering to add grit to the sound of his shoes. He then begins to layer the sounds of the props.
For example, to create metal scuffs in sewer covers covered by paved streets, the hecker grips a how-gun against a slab of concrete. Gloss adds resonance to sounds captured through the computer, giving them a more realistic quality.
Hecker even developed techniques to reproduce the sounds of explosions, pushing the limits of what sound artists can offer studio film projects.
Jeff Gross’ mixing studio located in Sony Pictures Lot in Culver City, California.
Gary Hecker
Gross, sitting in the sound booth while Hecker uses the microphone, often fails to see what his partner is using to see what he is using.
“I went into my mind and said, ‘Yes, that’s true,’ he said. “And then I stood up and looked down at the stage and said, “Are you using a shopping cart and a toothbrush?”
And Hecker’s skills aren’t just physical performance. For decades, he has lended his voice to Hollywood gorillas, aliens, dragons, monsters, horses, and even lions.
He snorted, choked and moaned to bring life to “Shrek,” aliens from “Independence Day,” zombies from “Dawn of the Dead,” giant gorillas from “Mighty Joe Young,” and more recently “Shrek,” aliens from “Independence Day,” and zombie dragons.
Foley artist Gary Hecker performs a vocalization for Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King.”
Gary Hecker
“It was really cool to breathe and pill and put in all the effort,” Hecker said he was working on “Mufasa: The Lion King.” “The actors are vocal about the characters and tell the story, but these lions are moving around throughout the film. There’s nothing there. So it all had to be custom crafted and played.
Human touch
Hollywood is at a crossroads. New AI technology offers studios the opportunity to cut their balloon production budget, but copyright law and a desire to maintain human art in film have led to tension.
The 2023 dual writer and actor strike was partially extended for negotiations with the studio over film production and television AI rights, payments and use cases.
These conversations were rekindled with the “brutal” that won the Best Actor’s victory for Adrien Brody, even if performance was changed using AI’s voice generation technology. He also fears that President Donald Trump’s White House can roll back copyright protections for AI companies.
Adrian Brody from “Brutal”
Source: A24
As for the Foley Sound, Hecker and Gross aren’t too worried about AI programs taking away their jobs.
“Actors’ performances can’t do that between movement and detail,” Hecker said. “And artists express themselves by acting and doing these things.
Loyola Marymount’s Pardee said that while companies are already working on software programs that are trying to create Foley sounds, “the results don’t have any very subtle and specific variations of these.”
Independent studios and production companies may choose these programs in the future, but Pardee doesn’t expect major studios to follow suit.
Hecker and Gross See The Trouble are shrinking the number of film releases coming out of Hollywood.
“We usually try to work on 10-11, but the industry is definitely changing,” Hecker said. “They’re making fewer movies now.”
Part of the decline came from production restrictions and labor attacks during the pandemic era, but also from a fusion of prominent Hollywood studios. Executives are becoming more budget-conscious and slimmed down the number of features other than the typical hit franchise fare.
And streaming is not going to pick up slack. Hecker noted that since streaming content doesn’t have the same sound budget as feature films, creators often rely on small Foley homes.
In the meantime, Hecker, who has earned the nickname “Wrecker,” is known for placing the human body on Foley’s line.
“I do anything to get the sound,” he said. “If a man hits the door and hits a car, he has to physically place the same strength that appears on the screen. Otherwise, it won’t sound right.”
