What does a spell sound like? A light sabre? What noise does an ant make when it eats? Sound effects are the job of the Foley engineer, one of the least known and most fun professional profiles in the audiovisual sector.

The Foley engineer creates sound effects that are added in the post-production of films: footsteps, talking robots, breaking glass, a spaceship’s hyperdrive and so on. Foley effects are essential to enrich the sound of a film. These studio-created effects are vital because, very often, the real sound recorded live is less than perfectly realistic. Imagine, for example, the flapping of a bird’s wings in slow motion. Foley effects are named after the artist Jack Foley, who became enormously famous in the 1920s for creating sound effects on live radio programmes.

In this workshop we will use a variety of everyday items to create our own Foley effects, integrating them into scenes chosen by the MenudaPeli team to see how they influence the narrative. First we will watch the sequence without audio and then we will select what we need to create our own sound effects from the available materials: twisting leeks, exploding watermelons or rubbing sandpaper can produce the most surprising effects! After choosing the sounds we consider most appropriate, we will add them to the scene and then watch the final result with our families. This time we will use our ears to ‘see’ a sequence!