CBS News just did a story about the Wilhelm Scream which I think everyone will enjoy. You all know the stock sound effect, even if you may not know it by name.
An iconic Hollywood sound effect called the Wilhelm scream was uncovered in an archive - YouTube
The tradition, though at risk of becoming a bit exhausting, continues. I saw a new-release movie yesterday that had it quite early on into the story.
There’s an amusing one-off Netflix special called ‘Attack of the Hollywood Clichés!’ that has a bit about the Wilhelm Scream. It said that modern directors, like Tarantino, now use it in their movies as a Hollywood in-joke.
At this point is it really an in-joke?
When it comes to named screams, Wilhelm’s sits on top.
Great story, but I wish they delved into who the voice actor was.
It wasn’t “acting” that produced that scream. That’s why it’s so good.
Even my wife can pick out a Wilhelm scream, and that is saying something. Of course, I’ve been pointing them out ever since I learned of them.
I have read complaints from moviegoers about it, that it’s been overused and done too much as an in-joke, maybe not even an in-joke at this point, more of an obligation to prove you’re hip? But it functions to take people out of the movie. I guess something that’s supposed to mock cliches but has still become it’s own cliche even though the people using it think they’re above all that.
I never knew it was recognized and was named. Huh. I have heard it in a number of movies and thought, how it is possible to have that same sound in multiple movies? Ignorance fought!
Now I want it on occasion for my car’s horn!
One thing I wish they’d discussed in that video is how and when the inside joke got discovered. I saw Star Wars and Raiders in theaters, and never noticed the same scream in both movies. I can’t remember when I first heard of the Wilhelm Scream, but it probably wasn’t more than ten or fifteen years ago. Did the sound editors who were in on the secret let word get out, or did some very observant movie fan notice it?
It’s a good scream. It’s a good scream.
Some very helpful people have compiled scenes with the Wilhelm Scream for our convenience…
I heard the scream also in international productions, like the French Anime style Wakfu series.
Funny Background Event: During the scene in the plaza while the heroes are discussing, a guard walks up to the risen side of a two-wheeled chariot (with the owner sitting at the opposite end) and gives it the seal of approval… hitting the risen end so hard the owner is catapulted in the sky with a Wilhelm Scream.
Sound Editor Ben Burtt named it when he used it repeatedly, and I think it was in an article or Behind The Scenes Of Star Wars book in the 90s sometime. It’s a nerd fact that gets regularly unearthed every few years.
Television sitcoms used basically the same laugh track recordings for decades. Same snickers and chuckles over and over. I must have reached some sort of mental saturation point long ago, I cannot stand to listen to or watch anything that includes a laugh track.
I once thought it would be fun to set my text message alert on my phone to the Wilhelm Scream. I only lasted a couple of days before I had to change it to something else. A little goes a long way.
It’s interesting to me that I’ve heard so much about the Wilhelm Scream, but I can’t (off the top of my head) think of a single movie where I’ve ever heard it, nor can I even imagine it in my mind’s ear.
I listened to the recording just now but it only sounds vaguely familiar. Without knowing what I was listening to beforehand, I wouldn’t have any idea it was the Wilhelm scream.
Meanwhile there’s a particular car breakdown sound effect I hear all the time (sounds a bit like engine knocking, but slower) but I’ve never been able to unearth any information on it.
I can always hear the Wilhelm Scream when used in movies or TV, it’s impossible for me not to hear it. I hear it more and more often, I particularly like it when used in comedic situations.
Same same. Once you hear it and know what it is, it is hard to unhear. I like finding it in older films.