Foley Artist Teach - A Storytelling Convention

"Foley is the reproduction of everyday sounds for use in film-making.These reproduced sounds can be anything from the swishing of clothing and footsteps to squeaky doors and breaking glass. The best Foley art is so well integrated into a film that it goes unnoticed by the audience.It helps to create a sense of reality within a scene. Without these crucial background noises, movies feel unnaturally quiet and uncomfortable.^"

<sup>This storytelling convention takes a little more practice and preparation.

Write a script for your lesson that involves a telling of the story with as many action words in it as you can. Next, go through and create a way to make SFX for those words using foley items.

Once you have planned out your SFX, buy all of the materials you will need to make it happen and set up a foley area in your large group teaching area. Its not the focus, so not front and center, but to the side.

For the lesson, you pull kids from the audience to act out a scene. Its a good idea to read the script out of a book for this one because the foley sound effects are going to have to be well planned. As the kids are acting out the scene based on your script, have per-rehearsed volunteers creating the SOUNDS as they happen.

Try using small group leaders for the foley SFX. The kids will feel more connected and its always good to make the SG Leader look like a rock star.

Keep the foley SFX down to about five SFX total (eight if you have a couple leaders doing it), but use them more than once.

If you have a BIG room or a lot of kids, remember to mic the table!</sup> 

^{I think that's it - let me know if you have any questions!}