Earthquake.
As Foley Fridays enters its second earth-shattering year I thought we’d start things with a look at things to come. 2012. Was the smash hit blockbuster named after the year or the year named after the smash hit blockbuster? Almost definitely the blockbuster was named after the date as either way this is the year that has been long figured to bring the end of the world – and we all know that means earthquakes that split the very ground beneath our feet (amongst other things).
Any movie that features an earthquake but not a shot of the ground opening up to swallow some hapless soul is doing its creative team and its audience a great disservice. Sure, it’s usually accompanied by falling debris and screaming masses but there’s nothing better to encapsulate the image of impending doom than when the ground/street slowly begins to crack then continues to grow in both length and width, picking up speed as it opens into a wide chasm head directly for our main character! Will this happen later this year in real life – we can only hope it’ll be half a dramatic.
As mentioned earlier the sound of an earthquake is oft layered underneath the sound of falling debris and screaming, fleeing masses of people. At its base though is a low rumble that obviously fluctuates in intensity depending on what’s in the frame and just how bad the earthquake is getting. The cracking of the ground, which I’ve layered on here, starts slow and usually picks up speed and volume – just to end abruptly as the earthquake ends. Then your left with said falling debris and still screaming or at least heavy breathing out of fear people to complete the scene. If they haven’t all been swallowed by the anthropomorphic earth beneath their feet.
It’s going to be a good last year, more to come!