Interview with Foley Artist Amy Kane (Red belt)

Excerpt from Film Sound Daily

FSD: Foley is such a performance art. What dramatic shooting techniques evolved along with your experience on the stage?

AK: There are still plenty of days (and I've been at Sony for a long, long time) when I still feel like it's my first day on the job, when I feel uncoordinated or unsure, but for the most part, the biggest change in any kind of "performance technique" would simply be the general ease with which I do my job now... I know how to walk differently for a 300 lb. man than for a small child, without having to think about it or looking too hard for the right pair of shoes...

The best thing I've ever learned is that it doesn't pay to cheat the sound, even if you are in a hurry. The sound of a fork on an empty plate just never sounds the same as a plate with a big mound of spaghetti (or whatever magic thing we use to sound like spaghetti) on it, that fork pushing through the food to hit the plate. An empty glass will always sound like an empty glass, so just fill it up for Pete's sake, even if it takes an extra five seconds. In playback, your ears will thank you.

FSD: What is one of your favorite props? How often does it appear in shows you do?

AK: I love leather... wait, that sounds wrong. We have a leather tool belt that Anita brought in that I love dearly. It sounds great for anything, whether it's a cop belt, to add to the sound of, say, branches swaying in the wind on a spooky night, or to add to a great saddle that we have. We also have a real pay-phone that we got when they finished the final show of "Party of Five." We don't use it often, but when we do, there’s nothing like it. From the sound of the disconnect, to the latch-thing, to the sound of coins dropping into its belly... Nice.

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