The Foley Artist

In the annals of weird jobs, this one popped up like an Irishman in Philadelphia on CNN yesterday.

A Foley Artist correctly uses whatever they can find to create and record the noises used to make the sound effects used in film, like heavy footsteps, rolling thunder or creaking doors.

I quote. CNN that is.

A little more research came up with a list of the greats:

Luke "Blaster Effect" George: Recorded a ball peen hammer on a high tension tower guy wire to convey the sound of lice issues Chewbacca was having in Star Wars. This effect was dropped for Empire Strikes Back.

Chuck Chapin sent 270 protogees out into United States movie houses in the early twentieth century with day-old Fred Harvey meatloaf specials. They were to consume the dish at the lower right hand side of the screen during the shoe eating scene of The Gold Rush.

Using only cigarette paper and a pocket comb, Louis Vanderville mimicked it being December 1941 and all America asleep for the production of Casablanca.

The famous Audible Murphy found that common drug store Vaseline sounded just like Vaseline in the production of Brokeback Mountain.

Trevis "Tenor" Fitzgerald sequestered himself for seven months in order to perfect the silence of the Lambs.

Collectively, Foley artists have collected gloves, shoes, shoeboxes, aluminum foil and every size imaginable bottle but cannot re-create the sound of one hand clapping.

Sven Staarsgaard mimicked regret in all the Bergman films by drawing a feather over women's nylons.

And D. Whatserface Ofthesamename, scratching a pen on paper made the sound of a certain magazine believeable.

Bunny on.