We caught up with our Twickenham Film Studios multi award-winning, creative Foley team to hear more about exactly what Foley is, delve into some of their highlight creative credits and favourite recent projects, and what it's like being the team behind invisible natural sounds that people didn't even know existed.

Tell us about the TFS Foley team and your roles

Adam Méndez – Senior Foley / ADR Mixer
Sophia Hardman – Foley Mixer & Editor
Oli Ferris – Foley Artist
With longtime freelance collaborators Sue Harding and Andrea King.

What is Foley and how does it work?

Foley can be thought of as the part of a soundtrack of a Film or TV show that was performed by an artist to match the action on screen.

The Foley artists are similar to musicians in that they can take an object (from the shoes they are wearing, to an oven, to a large piece of sheet metal) and 'play' it in time with the action on screen to produce a sound that augments the story.

Generally, we look at the picture and fill in the appropriate sounds with the artists performing them, the mixer recording them and the editor tidying them up and making them mix ready after the shoot. We'll either have a Foley Supervisor in with us or have notes from the Director via the Sound Team to guide us.

We have a large room covered with different surfaces and several storage areas full of props and shoes, which we rummage through to conjure up the sounds. Our TFS Foley Theatre is one of the largest in the UK, one which we have evolved over time to create a recording space that we are immensely proud of today.

What's it like working as part of the TFS Sound Team?

AM: We've been fortunate enough to work on some great projects for outstanding crews here. Twickenham Film Studios in its various guises has been an incredibly creative place and that's allowed us to build a studio environment that we are very proud of.

SH: The Sound Team at TFS is a tight circle of creatives who are highly skilled and motivated. Being a part of such a successful and youthful team is inspiring and exciting.

OF: It's amazing to be part of such a talented and hardworking team.

Best moments and greatest hits

AM: My first big film was Slumdog Millionaire. Sound Supervisor Glenn Freemantle's enthusiastic direction got me very hyped up. That project really opened my eyes to what you could create in a studio and opened a lot of doors for me.

OF: Black Mirror, USS Callister was a pivotal project for me that cemented my transition from working front of house as a Runner to full time Foley Artist for the studio.

SH: I cut my teeth editing many episodes of Poldark and learning loads as I went. From here I went on to apply my knowledge to feature films, such as The Kid Who Would Be King, which was my first jump into feature editing.

Award-winning projects

AM: I was still fairly inexperienced when Glenn Freemantle hired me for Slumdog Millionaire, and some years later Gravity came along which was such an exciting project. 1917 was a hugely exciting challenge – Oliver Tarney and his team had a very clear and specific brief which involved research into WWI trenches and kilos of clay being mixed up by Sophia and Oli. The single shot nature of the film meant performance was key.

SH: Being a part of the TFS Foley team has meant exposure to incredible projects like 1917, which I assisted on. Also Black Mirror S4, which I was part of the CAS award winning team for the episode USS Callister.

OF: 1917 was a Foley dream project for everyone, and being part of the sound team for USS Callister gave me the opportunity of a lifetime to go out to LA as it got nominated for an EMMY – and as luck would have it, we won.

Working on No Time To Die

No Time To Die for Oliver Tarney was a very exciting piece to work on as we were part of a huge franchise. The most fundamental part of the work we do involves the footsteps of the characters in a film. The goal is to make a sound that blends in seamlessly with all the other sound elements but also adds something to the story. In the studio we chose the shoes and surfaces that give us the right sound to enhance the soundtrack, working under close supervision from Oliver Tarney and the sound team. We actually finished our work on this project around Christmas 2019, so it was great to finally see it hit the screens.

Favourite props and tech

AM: Although we do have certain go-tos for some situations, we try not to get too stuck on favourites as we want to keep everything evolving. And our dust extractor is a hero – the amount of dust the studio generates is unbelievable.

OF: I guess my shoes – I've got a really big collection now that is forever growing, which helps me get the right amount of character for each walk. I also have to give a shout out to the flaming sword: a plastic door curtain that I try to get into everything we work on.

SH: We couldn't do without our pre-amps and microphones, ProTools or mixing console.