How footstep sounds are designed for movies & TV
Transcript
00:00 [footsteps]
00:02 Those high heel clicks you hear in the TV series Fargo,
00:06 those are actually men's dress shoes.
00:09 These are actually probably my favorite pair of heels.
00:12 I use these all the time.
00:13 And in another scene, you actually hear men's sneakers instead.
00:17 [footsteps]
00:19 The smallest changes can make the difference
00:22 between a believable but pleasant sound
00:24 [footsteps]
00:26 and a harsh, abrasive one.
00:28 [footsteps]
00:30 And it's up to foley artists to find just the right combo
00:33 of footwear, surfaces, and rhythm
00:36 to match the movements perfectly,
00:39 making footsteps foley the hardest sounds to master.
00:42 Being in sync with the action on screen
00:45 is crucial for foley artists,
00:47 and footsteps can be especially tricky to match.
00:51 When you start to get into more complicated scenes,
00:54 like running and scuffing and stopping,
00:56 or fight scenes, going up and down stairs,
00:59 that kind of thing,
01:00 it takes a while to really be able
01:02 to anticipate the actor's movements.
01:04 So to follow any small changes in movement,
01:06 Stefan actually starts on one foot
01:09 because it gives him more control.
01:11 That allows me to sort of anticipate
01:15 and be very light with subtle movements to start a walk,
01:19 and then I'll go into two feet.
01:21 And then when I feel like they're beginning to slow down,
01:24 I can switch back to one foot,
01:26 and that helps anticipate the stopping moments.
01:29 This skill is especially helpful
01:31 for scenes involving stairs.
01:33 There's a subtle difference between going upstairs
01:35 and going downstairs.
01:37 Up is more slidey.
01:39 And then down is much more impact-y, kind of flatter.
01:51 [footsteps]
01:53 And not all footsteps are the same.
01:59 Pacing can vary based on the size of the character.
02:02 Take children, for example.
02:04 Adults will generally have, like, a heel-toe.
02:08 Meaning this pattern feels more natural.
02:13 Whereas kids are usually more flat-footed.
02:15 And occasionally, if they're excited...
02:19 [thumping]
02:21 Very stompy.
02:22 Part of mastering the sync
02:23 is distributing his body weight correctly,
02:26 like he had to do for the doll
02:28 in the 2016 horror film "The Boy."
02:30 His footsteps needed to be extra light.
02:33 Trying to do it with my actual body weight
02:39 was just not working.
02:40 It was sounding too heavy.
02:42 So instead of standing up, he sat on the edge of a chair.
02:45 That way, he could stomp away
02:47 while removing the weight from the rest of his body.
02:51 Sometimes keeping up with the action
02:52 doesn't even involve your feet,
02:55 like when he does footsteps for animals.
02:58 I only have two hands, not for, like, a dog.
03:01 By using beanbags for the paws
03:03 with buttons glued to them to stand in for nails,
03:06 he can get the right pattern with just his two hands.
03:09 [tapping]
03:12 When it comes to even smaller animals,
03:14 he'll switch to just one hand.
03:16 [tapping]
03:18 Dance scenes like this one from "2004's Being Julia"
03:21 [tapping]
03:24 can be more straightforward.
03:26 But that wasn't the case when doing Foley
03:28 for this tap dance routine from "The Porter."
03:30 [upbeat music]
03:33 I am not a tap dancer,
03:36 so I tried doing it with my feet, and it was too hard.
03:40 So he followed along and recreated the tap dancing sounds
03:43 with real tap shoes with his hands.
03:46 Normally, I would never use my hands for doing footsteps
03:50 'cause you don't have the same weight.
03:51 Tap shoes are so hard and tappy
03:54 that no matter what you do with them,
03:56 the sound is just kind of always pretty similar.
04:02 The decision about whether to use his hands or his feet
04:04 comes out of experimenting long before recording.
04:08 For example, for this mascot in "Jane the Virgin,"
04:10 boxing gloves replicated its big, squishy feet.
04:14 I tried doing the footsteps with my hands,
04:16 and it just didn't have the right weight.
04:18 So 99 times out of 100,
04:20 it's better to do footsteps with your feet if you can.
04:24 Just the movement feels more natural
04:26 than trying to do it with your hands.
04:28 Even if Stefan uses the right footwear,
04:33 the footsteps won't sound right
04:34 unless he's stepping on the correct-sounding surface.
04:38 This isn't always straightforward,
04:39 as not every type of dirt, grass, rocks, or snow
04:43 sounds the same.
04:45 He starts by choosing from a wide variety
04:47 of mixtures in bags
04:48 and laying them out on a hard and solid surface.
04:51 Surfaces like sand wouldn't produce
04:53 a noticeable enough sound on their own.
04:56 This is when he'll mix in other elements,
04:57 like cat litter or bits of limestone.
05:00 I found that it just gives it a little more volume,
05:02 a little more level, but it's the same consistency.
05:05 When it comes to rockier surfaces,
05:08 the size of the rocks makes all the difference.
05:11 This gravel's not very big.
05:13 It's kind of small to mid-sized.
05:16 So if that's not what's happening in the scene,
05:18 it's not gonna work.
05:19 But there is some leeway
05:24 for how his surface matches up with the scene,
05:27 like when it comes to walking on grass.
05:29 We always order in fresh sod,
05:32 but sometimes, honestly, fresh grass
05:34 doesn't have that much level to it.
05:37 There's like a happy spot
05:39 between when it's completely fresh
05:40 and completely dried out.
05:42 Wood is one of the most common surfaces for footsteps,
05:47 but two floors in the same house can also sound different.
05:51 This is just like a traditional house wood floor
05:55 that we use on a regular basis.
05:57 When moving up a level, a more weighted piece is ideal.
06:05 For less weighty wooden surfaces,
06:07 like a dock or this patio,
06:10 Stefan uses a thinner piece of wood.
06:12 By placing it on top of thicker wood,
06:15 the appropriate sound comes through.
06:17 Still has a nice weight,
06:22 but there's a hollowness to it as well,
06:24 like you would see on a dock or on a porch,
06:26 'cause there's really not a lot of weight underneath it.
06:29 Getting some of the best stepping sounds on surfaces
06:32 also means using footwear you wouldn't expect.
06:35 For instance, Stefan can use heels on a hard surface,
06:39 but he'll often manipulate them with duct tape.
06:41 This trick helps even out any of the heels'
06:44 higher-end sounds.
06:45 You can also get a more convincing heel sound
06:50 with men's dress shoes.
06:52 And on grass or dirt, heels won't come across the right way,
07:00 as the heels will sink into the surface,
07:02 leaving a lot of thud and little definition.
07:05 And on gravel or rocks,
07:08 the end result can be downright unpleasant.
07:11 So in these cases, he will switch to a pair
07:13 that are lighter and easier to control.
07:16 Wearing the right footwear gets even trickier
07:22 when a character steps from surface to surface
07:24 in the same track.
07:26 - The boots sound a little bit too heavy on this surface.
07:32 It can get a bit too thuddy.
07:33 So as the character moves from the sidewalk to the grass,
07:38 I might actually switch to lighter shoes,
07:39 even though they're obviously wearing the same footwear.
07:42 Just 'cause it sounds more natural.
07:47 - And then there are other surface interactions
07:49 that sound better with no shoes at all.
07:51 - When I do creaks, I do them in socks,
07:54 so there's actually no impact sound,
07:57 but all you're getting is the creak itself.
08:00 - Stefan also recorded a separate track of this
08:02 while wearing shoes.
08:04 This is a part of a process known as sound layering,
08:09 which can improve any set of footsteps.
08:11 By recording the footsteps
08:17 and then the snow and ice separately here,
08:20 the sound mixer can adjust and boost each sound.
08:23 For the first layer,
08:28 Stefan steps on a mixture of salt and kitty litter.
08:31 Another layer can serve as what he calls a sweetener.
08:35 In this case, some extra crunch is provided
08:38 by manipulating a bag of cornstarch.
08:40 Extra layers don't just help capture the proper surface,
08:48 but can also make an ordinary movement funny or scary.
08:53 - Oh my God, that's it.
08:54 - Like squeaks on a wooden floor.
08:56 If you get a bit of water on the floor,
09:00 and it takes a second to prep
09:04 'cause it's gotta dry a little, like this.
09:07 - Knowing the genre, tone, and context of a clip
09:11 can take Foley footsteps from good to great.
09:15 This could mean adding in the nervousness
09:18 of a character in a horror film,
09:20 or the joy from this character in being Julia.
09:26 [footsteps thudding]
09:28 It's not enough to have proper sync
09:32 that matches the actor in the scene.
09:33 It's not enough to have the actual sound that works.
09:36 You also have to be aware of their motivation,
09:38 what they're feeling in the scene,
09:40 and make sure that your footsteps sound natural.
09:43 [footsteps thudding]
09:47 [upbeat music]
09:50 [music]