Exclusive Interview with Alex Joseph, Foley Supervisor for "Green Zone"

A chaotic and visceral roller coaster, “Green Zone” follows lock-step with director Paul Greengrass’s documentary style, making it a great film to discuss Foley editing. Supervisor Alex Joseph examines the balancing act of being creative with Foley’s ability to accentuate movement while maintaining the realism and grit that Greengrass is known for.

Designing Sound: How are foley supervisors included in the initial sound spot for a film?

AJ: The answer would depend on the nature, budget, and politics of the film. On some shows I will spot with the show alone with the director, or there’ll be a group of the various supervisors and designers that would have a spotting session which would also include myself. However, there are plenty of shows where I’m not at the spotting session and I either have to go by what the supervisor directly tells me or come up a plan on my own (which, more often is the case). Schedule-wise, “Green Zone” had me chronically on and off the film. I never had a spotting session with director or editor, but did with with Oliver Tarney (one of the supervisors) and we mapped out what foley was required. Also in the spotting session, we discussed session layout for the foley stage (as we were recording at two different studios), and what my template for predubs would be. We also discussed what hard effects to shoot (and where those fx would end up, i.e., in foley or fx predubs). The relationship of these fx to other sounds would depend on how we would approach mixing them. We wanted a fair degree of realism, so I spent a lot of time researching what kit the soldiers wore, what guns and weapons were used and what they all sounded like. Now, when we say realism a lot of us sound-types will know that film sound reality, and sonic reality are two very different things. A sonic reality is believable, helps tell the story, and allows the audience to focus in on the emotions and characters within the film. The spotting session also gave me a feel for the style of film, not unlike other Greengrass films, clever but frantic on detail at times.

Designing Sound: Does director Paul Greengrass’s documentary style of filmmaking alter the way you prep and cut foley?

AJ: The way I prep, cut, and mix the foley is a somewhat different approach than other shows. It’s a gift and a curse that Greengrass shoots so much of the film from multiple angles. He has infinite amount of coverage for every scene but this also allows him to change angles indefinitely through the edit. So, if a close up is swapped for a long shot of the same action, what and how I recorded things differed dramatically. For instance, if the picture changes and the angle’s totally different in a scene, the sound effects cut will still be in sync but their meaning will be completely different. If a wider shot is used, the focus may be on someone else in the shot. So, we would mic things differently depending on their proximity to camera.

We also approached the foley in a “gelling” way, bridging the gaps across quick edits to make the sound feel more continuous and “real-life”. For example, in a big action sequence (which has different sound effects for every shot), foley can often bridge the effects together with a good movement track or a sound that relates to the characters. I could easily pan a main character off-screen and have him run onscreen from the surrounds into the center speaker when he or she again became the main focus. If, say, Jason Isaach’s character Riggs was going to become the focus of an upcoming shot, having already established his identity earlier in the film, I could bring back his associated motifs and prime the viewer that he’s coming. You don’t necessarily need vocals calling out specific names to achieve this; If you set up sonic conventions early enough in a film, the viewer will take them in and associate them with the characters subliminally.

I was on the film in several stints, first to prep and shoot, then back to edit the version of the film, off until we had time for pick ups (additional foley to cover new shots or scenes do to picture changes), then off the film again for more picture changes, and finally back to finish. This was a Soundelux gig and they had staff member Kevin penney eho assist me in cutting. Since Kevin was staff he was able to remain on the film during some of the picture change periods, so he was in a good position to tell me which bits were altered. He was very useful to have around.

Designing Sound: In most films, what action(s) are generally covered by foley props and what could be thought of as foley that sound effects usually take care of?

AJ: Interesting question – you mean the age old blur between sound fx and foley? The first thing to point out is that foley describes a sound discipline within a film process. In different countries around the world foley varies in what it entails and how it’s approached. Most importantly, it is the process of recording bespoke sounds and textures for films in a controlled environment. Many see foley as only M&E coverage, some see it as footsteps, movement, unique character sounds, and plot related sounds, too. Foley can also be guerilla (location foley); however, if it’s recorded on location is it a sound effect or is it foley?

Anyways, for me, or certainly in my work, I see foley as having many different sides. I approach them with a mind to cover the M&E requirements, but also from an emotional angle (what emotions I want to evoke), as sounds can be made in a million different ways, and the art of foley is choosing the appropriate emotional aspects of a sound. I also decide what creative sounds and textures I may need to conjure up. In “Green Zone” there is a considerable blur between design fx and foley. Specifically, we recorded a lot of effects for chaotic scenes early in the film that enhance the pandemonium. (Plaster cracking, dust explosions, clatter from buildings shaking, personal fx, such as laptops, bags, gun movement, etc).

Also, there are scenes with looting going on, where everything you see are barrels rolling, goods being carried, run bys, weapon movement, car suspensions and tires. It would have been hard to record these sounds on location that would still five the re-recording mixers control, so the sync would be used for dialogue and as a general bg in the complex looting scenes. Other sounds that would be considered general foley would be footsteps, clothes movement, chairs, personal fx, and plot sweeteners.

Designing Sound: In loud chaotic sequences like the film’s opening where music and hard effects dominate the soundtrack, how do you decide what to cue and what to forgo?

AJ: I think the general rule was that if we knew a sound wouldn’t cut through, then don’t waste time recording it. In the opening sequence, apart from the hard effects, we recorded sweeteners to go with the general chaos. We also recorded sounds that we knew were plot related and because so much is going on in the scene, we needed to help point the audience in the right direction. So, important props like the “book of names” were featured in our sessions and given unique sonic identities. Don’t get me wrong, I hate not cueing stuff, but I often find its better to cue everything than trim back on the foley stage (On a smaller budget show, this may be a different story). The problem with a film like “Green Zone” though, is that since it changed so much before the edit finished, it was tough to really know what would make it through to the final cut.

Designing Sound: In contrast, do you cue quiet scenes differently where very small sounds have a chance to take center stage?

AJ:I tend to look for details to enhance and embellish characters and nuances. So, yes, I’d say that I probably look at a scene differently if there are less sound effects or dialog to contend with. For me, it’s about creating the right feel, mood, and meanings. It may be that in quieter scenes you are more likely to hear the foley but, if the audience hears it as foley then that’s definitely not good for the film either. The most flattering way of looking at it is that no one noticed the sounds at all and just thought the film was a good experience to watch and it hit all the right emotional spots for them.

In these scenes, you do have the chance to display a little more emotion for the characters in the film, so quieter scenes can be used more so, to set up character based sounds. If it’s a somber scene, the foley can come into its own by displaying beautiful details. In truth, though, when I cue a film, I look at all the important factors of what I need to achieve, whether the scene is quiet or busy. There are often busy scenes that require huge amounts of foley detail, too, so I don’t think there’s a general rule on that one really.

Designing Sound: What specific foley was cued for the soldiers’ gear movement? What foley was unique to other characters in the film?

AJ: Each set of soldiers needed to sound different, key characters especially. So we researched all the relevant army kit and gear and recorded it all on the foley stage to get specific soldiers moves, etc. The real things (webbing, bags, accoutrement) were rather disappointing, so we enhanced a lot of the movement in more dynamic places by adding much weightier, abrasive sounds (I have a heavy Carhart Gortex coat which was good for moves against surfaces) and we also used heavy canvas bags. These heavier sounds helped cut through the score, too. Another unique thing we recorded was gas mask breaths. This is something that may be done in ADR with the relevant actors, though, that is easier said than done. So, we got ahold of two different types of gas masks, we recorded the normal foley side of it (movement, off, and on etc), then we recorded lots of different vocalizations, trying hard to make them feel insular. Gun movement was also a foley requirement for the film. You can make people sound more or less aggressive with sounds like gun movement, (in real life guns are sleek and don’t rattle about nearly as much as they do in films), however we recorded gun movement to accentuate the people carrying them and bolster their character. I often find with gun movement the more broken the gun props in use, the better they sound. In busier scenes I often used a track called “power moves” which covered the main action in the sequence. It was recorded from a heavy bit of leather or wetsuit or cloth. This type of track exists to sweeten the punches and falls and is often composed of short, sharp, heavy movements with the material. It’s a very aggressive track but works wonders.

Designing Sound: What was your first gig like?

AJ: As foley supervisor, my first gig was “Cold Mountain” (Anthony Minghella). It was a great film to work on, lots of detail, lots of emotion. My father Eddy supervised the sound, Walter Murch edited picture so he also had clear ideas as to what was required. I made the transition from Akai to Protools around that time (I had worked on Protools before but this was when I stopped using the Akai dd1600 indefinitely). We recorded lots of location effects at Civil War re-enactments and also some guerilla foley at a mocked up wild west village. I supervised foley on the show because sadly the editor I worked with (Peter Holt) passed away around that time. Peter was a master of foley, his nickname in the UK was “Pete the Feet”. He was the British foley supervisor of choice for many years, because he just knew how to come up with good sounds and was able to provoke great performances out of artists. He was a very popular person due to his gift of gab. His funeral was quite something, with most of the main players in UK post in attendance. I learned a great deal from Pete and still miss him now. Inevitably, though, my style of work was to be different from his, as I had graduated with a degree in psychology and focused on how sound affects humans emotionally and physically. So, I have always been more geared towards the emotional content of sounds and sound design. The work always was and still is fun, tough, extremely time consuming, and challenging, but extremely satisfying.