Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/637797
53 Q1 2016 / CINEMONTAGE way to generalize about the personality traits of Foley artists, the consensus is that being a good listener and paying attention to details are essential elements. As is being in good shape. "You have to coordinate your body, your mind and your ears," explains Sabella, who began in features making sounds for such films such as The Little Mermaid, Back to the Future II and III and Hoffa. Nowadays, he works primarily in television. He worked on classic TV shows like CSI and The Sopranos, and is currently working on Scorpion, the TV drama loosely based on the life of computer expert Walter O'Brien. For Sabella, one of the main differences between TV and film is the work schedule and the amount of time allowed to finesse sounds. "Since features afford more time to make the sounds more detailed, we tend to break everything down to its simplest form," he offers. "Say it's people getting in and out of a car; I would do a leather set sound to the seat and then maybe an impact of their bodies hitting the seat and then touching the steering wheel." But in TV, he would combine sounds, following the same rules of detail, finesse and accuracy. Sabella maintains that the process and approach is the same; it is just the schedule that is accelerated. "I take the same mindset with features and apply that to my TV sounds. CREATIVE YET TECHNICAL TEAMWORK Therein lies the ingenuity of Foley artists. Both a technical and creative process, it requires them to use their heads and hearts — not just to duplicate sounds but to describe the world in which the characters dwell. "What we do is choice-driven," explains Foley artist Robin Harlan, MPSE. "What prop we choose for each effect and what shoe we choose for each character makes a huge difference, not just in telling the story but in how it's going to be mixed." The Foley team of Harlan and Sarah Monat, MPSE, have been making sounds big and small together for nearly 30 years in LA. Working at Sony Pictures, their credits include Titanic, the Star Trek reboot, The Interview and Hotel Transylvania 2, and they were recently working on Miracles from Heaven, due in March. Their partnership began in the mid-1980s when Harlan invited Monat to work on the night shift of a TV series called Traveling Man. "When Sarah and I started working together, we realized there was a really excellent synergy," recalls Harlan. "My strengths and her strengths are different, but they work very well together." Harlan likes big action and adventure films while Monat has a penchant for panache and timing. "Working in partnership is huge," adds Monat. This is especially important on Hollywood blockbusters where you're moving big props. One person may be holding a prop while the other person is making sure it is correctly mic'd. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. In recent years, LA-based Foley artists have begun working by themselves, a work style that has always been the norm in New York, primarily for budgetary reasons. For Harlan and Monat, however, working in partnership has enabled them to create some kind of work-life balance. They jokingly say they've been working together longer than most people have been married and in that time have seen fads and Robin Harlan. Sarah Monat.