Foley is a technique used in radio and films to create audio and sound effects to reinforce actions.  I watched several of the videos on foley sounds and thought they were so cool!  I couldn’t stop watching them all and even showed my roommates.  It’s just something you never think of when watching a film, so the idea was very different and new (to me at least).  So, to say the least, I was really excited to do this assignment!

I had to create foley sounds for a 30 second segment from a clip of Charlie Chaplin’s film The Circus, where The Tramp gets trapped in the lion’s cage.  Based on my birth month, I was responsible for all sounds from 01:01 to 01:30.

I went ahead and followed cogdog’s advice of how to complete the assignment.  I first watched my clip and made a list of all the sounds I would have to create, such as barking, pants ripping, etc.  I didn’t have to find many objects to create sounds, but I did use a metal baking tray, shoe, and paper towels.  I used the metal tray to imitate the sound of The Tramp setting down his tray and to mimic the noise of the dog jumping up onto the cage by tapping it.  I used a shoe to make a footstep sound when The Tramp steps toward the dog and to represent the scuffle that occurs when the dog grabs his leg.  Finally, I used the paper towels to imitate the sound of pants ripping as the dog was hanging off his leg.

It took me five or six times to record the segment in Audacity in one go and have it align alright with the movie.  I didn’t have too many noises to go off of but they were difficult to time right, especially the dog barking (which I did so poorly!).  I’m not a very good dog imitator.  When I put the silent film and my foley sounds next to each other (which was the most difficult to time correctly), I was really happy with the result!  I still laugh at the noise I gave the lion and the dog barking isn’t always spot on, but overall, I like what I did.  I really want to hear what others did when recreating the same segment.