How animal sounds are made for movies and TV shows

• Marko Costanzo is a Foley artist, which means he uses objects to create sounds for characters in movies and TV shows, and sometimes he has to make the sounds for animals.
• In "Men In Black," he had to manipulate a handheld fan so it sounded like a buzzing dragonfly, while in "Ice Age," he used a tree stump to create the sounds of a woolly mammoth stomping.
• We showed Costanzo an animal clip he'd never seen before and had him come up with the proper sounds for it on the spot.

Following is a transcript for the video.

Narrator: What you see and hear is a tree stump wrapped in leather.

Foley artist Marko Costanzo of c5 Sound thought of this innovative combination when he had to make the noises for Manny the Mammoth in "Ice Age." It helped capture the sound of a massive creature stomping on the ground. Marko needed to make sure he got an object that accurately captured not only this creature's weight, but also the pattern in which a creature of this size would walk, in this case, heel to toe.

Foley artists use objects to create sounds based on a character's movements and interactions.

Marko Costanzo: We have to make sounds that embellish their movements.

Narrator: Marko's done Foley sounds for movies like "Goodfellas," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," and "The Big Lebowski." But mimicking the sounds of animals isn't as easy as woofing or purring.

[Marko purring] Though he can do that, too.

Picking the right sounds involves carefully examining both objects and surfaces. Take horses galloping, for instance. A pair of plastic coconut shells could certainly do the trick. But when it came time to make the horse sounds for a movie like 2010's "True Grit" remake...

Marko: I used rocks, because you could hear the sound of the impact. When you're using coconuts, yeah, you might hear that little kuh-kuh-kuh, but when I use a rock, I hear boom, boom, boom, boom. If you ever hear him ride a horse, you're hearing that 2,000, 5,000-pound animal on every footstep, going, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Narrator: While the plastic shells might work on cobblestones, Marko realized you can barely hear them in dirt, the surface the horses in "True Grit" were most likely to tread upon.

Marko: I'm not gonna use the typical coconuts, because it's, there's no weight, and you don't even really hear the, that cavity sound. These will be the medium size. Immediately, you can hear a little bit more of the bottom end, right? And my favorite are the rocks. [rocks thumping] You're getting a low-end thud right along with your crunchy... [rocks thumping and rustling]

Narrator: An animal's size is a big factor, especially when that animal is tiny. Marko did the sounds for the dragonfly in the opening of 1997's "Men in Black."

Marko: We were really playing with different kinds of paper and cards. I remember one of the ideas was we'll put a card in a bicycle spoke and spin it, and you hear the duh-duh-duh-duh-duh. And everyone's like, yeah, great, but you hear the metal spoke. And then the question was, well, how do we do that and not get a sound like metal? How do you get it to sound organic like an animal?

Narrator: Marko found the right sound using handheld fans. With the fans, Marko could more easily adjust the dragonfly's variation in movement by putting his finger on the blade. [fan buzzing]

A different challenge arose when working on "Marley & Me," which chronicles a dog's life, from puppy to old age. Marko had to figure out how to make the dog sound different at different ages. So it wasn't just about size, but how an animal grows over time.

Marko: I have two different-size nails on them. These are the smaller ones, and, you can see, there's bigger ones on that side. And they sound distinctively different. Listen to this one. These are the smaller ones. [gloves clicking and thumping] Now, I would flip these around. I'm not gonna flip right now. [gloves clicking and thumping]

Narrator: Here's a younger, more excited dog. [gloves clicking and thumping] And the same dog at a much older age. [gloves clicking and thumping]

And for some scenes, Marko had to layer a track for the dog's collar. For a bigger dog, Marko used a heavy chain. And a smaller dog has a smaller collar, so you just hear the tags.

Marko: So, every time they're moving their head. [tags clinking and rattling] You think they're so cute, oh, yeah, but they're nonstop noise.

Narrator: It's not just a one-sound-fits-all type of deal. For gigantic animals, like that mammoth from "Ice Age," Marko had to create multiple sounds and then have them layered to truly capture the physical scope of the character. [wood thumping]

Marko: When we went to do a second track, we picked up a bunch of grass. And at the same time, we rolled this.

Narrator: Then he added some pebbles and twigs to capture things the mammoth might be stomping on. [thumping and rustling] There are plenty of other considerations that go through the mind of a Foley artist when making animal sounds, like how many animals there are.

Marko: If I was doing a single bird and it was flying, I'd be like: [feathers rustling] In rhythm. [feathers rustling] Fast. [feathers rustling] Taking off. [feathers rustling] A flock of birds, I wouldn't even use feathers. I would probably use gloves for that. [gloves rustling and thumping]

Narrator: When it comes to eating, Marko might need to think about whether the food is wet or dry. [crunching] Or whether the animal has a snout. For example, if it's a horse chewing celery...

Marko: I put my hands up to here because you get a little bit of a cavity there. And it's those cavities that sell the sound.

Narrator: On some occasions, if a digital library won't do, he'll also have to do the vocals himself. [squeaking] To see a Foley artist's thought process about animal sounds and action, we put Marko to the test by showing him a stock-video clip with no sound that he had never seen before.

Marko: Adorable. Oh, boy, claws. Ay-yay-yay, this thing's... [laughing] All right, that's definitely AstroTurf. We've got a few tracks to do. 'Cause you've got the claw on the ground, you've got the claw on the thing, you've got the teeth on the mat, you've got the body movement, the fur.

Narrator: For the mat, Marko found one in his studio with very similar material.

Marko: We're gonna do the paws first. And for paws, we just need a pair of leather gloves. [thumping gloves]

Narrator: For the lion's teeth, he used this small block of wood with nails drilled into it, which he created for the tiger in "Life of Pi."

Marko: Almost there. Gotta work on sync. [machine beeping] [wood scratching]

Narrator: He brought back the wood block for the cub's scratching.

Marko: The claws, which are very similar to the teeth, they have different action. They were pulling at it. Here, it's gripping.

I have a few different varieties of fur here. We've got the AstroTurf, the cat is moving along it, so we're gonna rub his body along the bottom as he pulls himself along. Bring the mic real close. It's a very small sound. [fur rustling] That'll be the most convincing sound. Because all of the sudden, you go from just an animal that's there moving around to, you have the feeling of it against the floor. You feel its presence.

Narrator: To top it all off, a few collar shakes. And a few chews.

Marko: With this little guy, I'm only opening my mouth and doing a, like, maybe 50% of the volume I could get. You know. [smacking lips] Right now, he's got a little tongue lick that we're gonna get a little bit of a slobbering sound. Remember, the cat also has a dry tongue. It might be a little sandpapery. But, you know, when it's on itself, it's just a... [smacking lips]

Narrator: Then, a Foley mixer watched the footage and layered it all together. [fabric rustling] [lips smacking] [fabric rustling]

So, what makes watching this without sound and then with sound different?

Marko: The sounds that we make brings you into the personality of the animal. You become closer to it. You wanna give it a personality, you wanna give the sounds a personality, and you can do it by its sound movements. That's what Foley artists do. We give detail. [thumping rocks]