Wilhelm scream
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The Wilhelm scream is a stock sound effect first used in 1951 for the movie Distant Drums. Actor-singer Sheb Wooley is considered to be the most likely voice actor for the scream, having appeared on a memo as a voice extra for the movie.
The Wilhelm scream has been featured in many movies and television programs since. Alongside a certain recording of the cry of the Red-tailed Hawk, the "Universal telephone ring"[1], the "Charlie Brown fall," the Goofy holler and "Castle thunder," it is probably one of the most well-known cinematic sound clichés.
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[edit] History
The Wilhelm's revival came from Star Wars series sound designer Ben Burtt, who tracked down the original recording (which he found as a studio reel labelled "Man being eaten by alligator"). The recording was actually from a film from 1951 titled Distant Drums.
[edit] Name
Although Distant Drums was the first known use of the sound, Burtt named it after "Pvt. Wilhelm", a minor character who emitted the same scream in the 1953 movie The Charge at Feather River.
[edit] Usage
Its use in the Star Wars films was the beginning of something of an in-joke amongst some sound designers of the film industry, especially at Skywalker Sound, and Weddington Productions (now a division of Technicolor Sound Services). They continued to try to incorporate it into movies wherever feasible; action movies are naturals, but film sound cognoscenti are particularly impressed when it is used naturally in films such as A Star Is Born (with Judy Garland), The Wild Bunch and A Goofy Movie.
In a tribute to its origins, the clip was used in the film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when the villain Mola Ram was eaten by crocodiles. It was also used in Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indy is driving the truck full of Nazis, and in Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven when the Muslims first attack the fortress of Kerak. It was also used in the lesser known comedy The Meaning of Life, and in several scenes of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
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[edit] List of media that use the Wilhelm scream
[edit] References
- Wilhelm Scream origin and history on HollywoodLostAndFound.net
- A Wilhelm Scream filmography (cached version)
- Times article in which Sheb Wooley's widow states her belief that her husband was the man behind the scream
- Films with the keyword "Wilhelm Scream" at the Internet Movie Database
- Radio report about the Wilhelm scream, with transcript and audio examples of uses of the scream
- Film Sound Clichés at FilmSound.org
- Article: The Silver Scream: Wilhelm and Immortality
