The most interesting part of the latest Soundworks Collection featurette taking a look at the sound design of The Hunger Games is the focus on the Foley work, primarily the use of the iPad giving foley artist Catherine Harper (Drive) the ability to watch the film while they recorded sound for the arena environment.
The video features comments from Supervising Sound Editor Lon Bender (Drive), Re-recording Mixer Michael Keller (Green Lantern) and Re-recording Mixer Mike Prestwood Smith (Green Lantern) and I’d be curious to hear how outdoor foley effects were recorded before the iPad. Clearly they could have mimicked the outdoor environment indoors or set up a screen or television outside to record the effects, but just in watching the video it is clear Catherine Harper is able to move more freely with the film right there in her hands as she attempts to precisely mimic the footsteps of the actors on screen.
I would have also liked it if they had given us a bit more information on how the sounds they captured were used. Were they able to use long takes of Catherine’s work or did it need to be continuously edited together and trimmed to match the film? Essentially, just how much does having the film in her hands on the iPad help?
I imagine recording the sounds outside would help in getting more natural sounds whereas it’s likely harder to impersonate the effect of being outdoors while being inside. If anything I would suspect having the film on hand with an iPad largely helped in matching up the sounds they needed more than anything, but I found it interesting nonetheless.
Give it a watch, I certainly found it interesting and it’s only four minutes.
