Foley performance and sonic implicit interactions
Sandra Pauletto · Focal Press eBooks · 2022
In this chapter, I argue that Foley artists’ ability to express a character’s behaviour through their body movements and sound – in other words, their expertise of “acting through sound” – is what sets them fundamentally apart from other sound professionals. Furthermore, many sounds created by Foley performers are designed to be felt , rather than explicitly heard. These sounds imply, rather than directly express, a behaviour or an intention. Implicit human–computer interaction is a growing area of research that aims to develop seamless interactions between technology and humans. In this chapter, I posit that the study of implicit interactions that use sound to convey information, which I term “sonic implicit interactions”, can strongly benefit from studying, analysing and bringing to the centre of the design process the expertise of Foley performers. Finally, I outline a few examples of how I address this in my research, utilizing methodologies from sound computing, ethnography and design thinking.