Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Folley Gary Herker artist recreates sounds (in this case, jumping horses) on the Foley Sound stage at Todd-Ao Studios in Santa Monica, California, July 3, 2012.
Don Kelsen | Los -Angeles Times | Gets the image
In a small studio laid in Sony The drawings are a lot, Gary Herker creates art with sound.
His canvases – some of the biggest blockbusters in Hollywood – from the “Justice League” by Zak Snyder and Quentin Tarantino “once in Hollywood” to ” Dysne and Spider-Man Marvel and “Master and Commander”, who awarded the Academy. “
Herker foul-foul, maestro, which instructed to make the daily sound effects that arise in the stage: squeaky doors, rampant cloaks, skin tips and even “thwip” web.
“Foley is a key element of this magical trick that we make to convince the audience to believe in the movie they watch,” said Roger Prandy, Professor Loyola Merimant. “Foles are not for the explosions and reactive engines. These are the traces of anyone who goes through the forest or rock climbing or the walk of the superhero.
Because Hollywood fights with the growth of artificial intelligence – and how or whether they need to be used – the foil artists remain unwavering and deeply human in the process of making the movement.
The performance of the crafts makes it difficult to use AI to match the skill of artists. However there are few people who work full -time as artists and there Currently not a collegial program for foul. Those who want to break into the field should be obtained by students with already created industry veterans.
Art to make noise
A flooded collection of kitchen items used on Foley in Sony Pictures Studios.
Sarah Witten | Cnbc
Created by Jack Foley in the late 1920s, the sound technique that became its namesuled, appeared in Hollywood when the industry moved from silent films to “Takeies”. Early recording equipment can not capture the dialogue and surrounding noise, so after shooting the movie it was necessary to add sounds.
Fules found that the performance of sound effects live and sync with the finished product created a more authentic sound landscape and helped to keep viewers immersed in the film.
Artists today still use many the same methods that were occupied almost 100 years ago.
“We make a movie from top to bottom,” Herker said. “Everything that moves on this screen we give it a sound.”
More than 50 pairs of shoes are leveled on the shelves in HEker Studio. Some of them are durable and produce thick thunders, while others create sharp, clamping high heels. In the 1800s there was even a set of spurs created by a blacksmith, which Herker used Tarantino’s “Jang”.
“The true foul art is to master the sound,” Gecker said. “I am a 200-kilogram guy, so when I do Arnold Schwarzenegger, I have to dig deep, but when I make a little girl Geisha from” Geisha Memoirs “,” 90-kilogram girl in these little wooden shoes, I have to fit this performance. “
Its sound laboratory has an improvised kitchen area that throws glasses, bottles, bowls, clips and sprayers of different sizes and materials. Clear rakes, shovels and mops stand next to a bunch of stones, and in the corner-well-worn battleship.
It even has a storage of swords, rifles, shields, armor and chains, as well as a specially built metal tower to create unique, saturated metal sounds.
The floor has a collection of foul pits – areas made of wood, concrete, stone, gravel – the door presents the range of pens, locks and chains, cabinets filled with a collection of a jacket so that the hell can find the correct sound of the lightning, and of course there are several coconut shells.
The Hecker details collection is more than 45 years old. He began to study for “Star Wars: the empire goes back” and has more than 400 titles of the film under the belt, including “The Man working”, “Three Amigos”, “Great Adventure Bill and Ted”, “One” and “300”.
HodgePodge floor at Foley Gary Hecker Studio on The Sony Pictures Lot in Caller, California.
Sarah Witten
Herker’s partner in Sound – Jeff Gros, a mixer that transforms accidents, stitches and bursts, captured in the microphone into a resonant symphony.
The Herc and Grus Partnership began in the middle of the Covid Pandemic while they worked on the sound effects for the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. Since then, they have been working on “Rebel Moon”, “Venom: The Last Dance” and “Mufasa: The Lion King”. Complaint. “
“Whatever to get sound”
Herker and Gross, which are engaged in one film at a time and usually conduct from 18 to 20 days on the project, depending on the sound budget of the film. Movies with a large budget get longer, while smaller and independent features often become much less.
While the tag team of Herker and Gros is acting with Lot Sony, they work with all major Hollywood studios. These companies provide six -hour drums that contain about 15 minutes of the movie. Herker and Gross, and then go on the drum, adding all steps, subscribing sounds and surrounding sounds.
Traces go first. Herker stomps, features and sides at the pace with a performance of each actor, which is often accompanied by a fragile coffee grounds to add cereals to the sound of the shoe, creating the illusion to go outside. Then he begins to lay in the props.
To create a metal scraping of the sewer cover on the paved street, Herker makes it difficult for a howitzer on a concrete slab. The Gross then adds resonance over the computer to give it more realistic quality.
Herker even developed the methods of recovery of the sound of the explosions, pushing the boundaries that sound artists can provide studio film projects.
Jeff Grus Mixing Studio in Sony Pictures Lot in Calver, California.
Gary Herker
Gross, sitting in a sound booth while Hecker works with a microphone, often does not see his partner use to mimic what’s on the screen.
“You just have to go into your head and go,” Yes, it sounds like that, “he said.
And Herker’s skills are not only in physical characteristics. For decades, he borrowed the voice of Gorilla, the aliens, the dragon, the monsters, the horses and even the lions.
He snorted, shaking, and grunted to revive the Dragon from “Shrek”, aliens from “Independence Day”, zombie in “Downs of the dead”, gigantic gorilla in “Mighty Joe Young”, and recently, proud of Lviv from “Mufas: Karol Leo”.
Folley Gary Herker artist performs vocalization for Mufas: King Disney.
Gary Herker
“It was really cool to do all breathing and breathing and effort,” Herker said, working on “Mufas: King Leo.” “The actors make the character’s voices and tell about the story, but these lions are moving throughout the movie, and there is nothing. So, everything had to be made and done. So I would do it, and then Jeff would help me sound like a giant piece.”
Human touch
Hollywood is at the crossroads. New AI technologies offer Studios the ability to reduce production budgets for balloons, but copyright law and desire to preserve human art in movies have led to tension.
The twin 2023 Writers and actors are amazed were partially expanded out of -for talks with studios for rights, payment and use of cases for AI in film production and television.
These conversations were honored after the “brucutist” earning earning The best actor’s victory For Adrian Brody, even if his performance was changed through the AI-I Generation Technology Against the Background of Fears that the president Donald TrumpThe White House may refuse to protect the AI copyright.
Adrian Brody in “Brutalist”
Source: A24
When it comes to Foley Sound, Herker and Gross are not too worried about AI programs that take away the work.
“The actors’ performances, between movement and detail, can not do it,” Gecker said. “And the artist expresses himself, acting and performing these things, you know, with a slight touch, heavy hand, emotion, those things I don’t think that II will be able to lose.”
Pardo Loyola Marymount noted that companies are already working on programs to try to create a Foley Sound, but “the results lack these very subtle, specific variations.”
Independent studios and productions may choose these programs in the future, but the pipe does not expect major studios to follow this example.
Where Heeker and Gros see that trouble in reducing the number of movies that come out of Hollywood.
“We are usually trying to work from 10 to 11, but the industry is definitely changing,” Gecker said. “Now they are making fewer movies.”
Part of the decline was due to production restrictions on the pandemic and labor strikes, as well as from the fusion of famous Hollywood studios. The executives also became more conscious budgets, reducing the number of features at the typical Blockbuster franchise tariff.
And the streaming transmission is not going to pick up a slack. Herker noted that streaming content does not have the same sound budget as feature films, and therefore the creators often turn to smaller foul homes.
Meanwhile, Herker, which was nicknamed “Penalty”, is known for putting his human body on the line for the foil.
“I would do everything to get the sound,” he said. “If the guy hits the door, on the car, you should physically put the same intensity as on the screen. If you don’t, it just won’t sound right.”
