A couple years ago (actually, probably closer to 10) I was watching some movie, I think one of the Star Wars original trilogy or the Indiana Jones movies, and I noticed a scream sound effect used, and then noticed it again later in another movie. I thought it was weird to hear the same scream in more than one movie (this was before I was even aware that stock sound effects are used in most films), but it made me take note of this scream, and I remembered what it sounded like. I then began to notice it popping up in other movies as well. LOTS of other movies. Eventually I did learn about stock sound effects, but this particular scream always seemed so out of place to me, that I had to wonder if there was any kind of back story on it, but how do you investigate it (this was probably before I had ever used the internet, actually)? Well I remember when I came to my present job, one of the girls working there had worked at Lucasfilm doing sound editing (or something similar), and I asked her about it. Surprisingly to me she said she sort of knew what I was talking about, that it was some kind of sound-guy inside joke or something, but she wasn't too sure. Well the other day I heard it in a movie at work (can't say which one, of course) but a couple co-workers were standing there and I asked if any of them knew what the deal was with this sound. One of the girls said she knew a little about it, but wasn't too sure about the details. Well, about a half hour after that she emailed me with two links about it, and I was floored to find out about this thing. It's evidently known officially as the "Willhelm Scream", and has been used in dozens, if not hundreds, of movies. Its become sort of like the calling card of Ben Burtt, who did the sound design for the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies (amongst other things).
This website here has some of the history on it, and a rather long list of a bunch of the films its been used in. This website has even more about the scream. After doing some searching I found a clip of the sound (click here to listen to the scream). Finally, on top of all that, I even found that some guy had made something of a montage of a lot of the video footage from movies where this sound effect is heard. Its 48 megs to download, so it will probably take a while, but if you're curious at all, its pretty funny. Click here to download it. So at the end of all this, I was pretty pleased to find out that on my own I'd picked up on this little known thing as something of a sort of inside joke in the film industry. I know, its lame, but still kinda funny, huh?
Comments (11)
Ha ha ha, I suppose this is sad, but I immediately knew what you were talking about when you mentioned the scream in the Star Wars/Indiana Jones movies. Good research there, Mr. Yams. ^_^
Posted by Koganuts | May 9, 2003 12:02 AM
Posted on May 9, 2003 00:02
Thanks, Mr. Nuts. I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one who was aware of this thing :-)
Posted by Yams | May 9, 2003 4:47 PM
Posted on May 9, 2003 16:47
there are a couple more "famous screams" out there as well, and i've been trying to find clips of them on the internet with no luck. there's a particularly horrific male scream that appears in countless movies and tv shows (realTV plays it about twice per episode). i don't know if it has an official title as does the Wilhelm scream, but i know that it's in the movie Face/Off (during the prison riot, when Nicolas Cage shoots a cop in the foot) and in Broken Arrow (in the train when Christian Slater kicks a henchman out the door and off a bridge), and is instantly recognisable as "the famous scream" by my friends and myself. long story short... does anybody ese know of this scream, and if so, where i can find a clip of it somewhere on the internet?
Posted by telly | October 31, 2003 1:39 AM
Posted on October 31, 2003 01:39
I too am after this "famous scream" that Telly is talking about. It's certainly more memorable than the Wilhelm scream...
Posted by Cal | January 4, 2004 12:04 AM
Posted on January 4, 2004 00:04
One of the beauties of the Wilhelm Scream is that it's not so memorable, and as such is really kind of an inside joke-type thing. As for the other scream, I don't even know what realTV is, and I think John Woo movies are dogshit, so I never saw "Face/Off" and am desperately trying to forget "Broken Arrow". Anyway, provided it's not the Wilhelm Scream, I don't know what to tell you guys. I am most definitely not an expert on all kinds of screams and sound effects used in movies, I just happened to stumble across this one scream.
Posted by Yams | January 4, 2004 1:03 PM
Posted on January 4, 2004 13:03
Trust me, if you heard this one we're talking about, you'd know it instantly.
And I hate to sound like an ass, but you only think John Woo films are "dogshit" because you've only seen his American films. Eh.
Posted by Cal | January 4, 2004 8:26 PM
Posted on January 4, 2004 20:26
Not true, I did see a couple of Woo's foreign films, although in fairness I only saw them after I'd seen "Broken Arrow" and "Hard Target" (which is a great accidental comedic gem, by the way). I just thought his foreign stuff was the same as his American stuff: all the slo-mo, the doves, the millions of squibs. All missing the same things his American films were lacking: story, good characters, good dialogue, a point.
Sure the guy's style has been ripped off repeatedly by tons of directors here in America, but if you look at who those directors are (Simon West, Dominic Sena, Michael Bay, Kaos, etc...), they're not exactly a "Who's Who" of good cinema. Just cause they guy said "what if we put a gun in both hands and film it in slow motion!?" doesn't mean he's a good director. The only reason to watch his films is if you wanna see a whole bunch of stuff get blown up, a bunch of people get riddled with machine-gun bullets, or if you want to laugh at how badly he directs the "dramatic" moments.
Since you seem to agree that Woo hasn't done a good movie in America, even by your own admition then he hasn't made a good movie in 12 years. Even directors I used to like who have been equally unsuccessful in such a span of time (like John Landis or John Hughes, for instance) do not have my confidence at this point. I would think that even the most ardent Woo fans would have thrown in the towel by now. If going 0-6 in his most recent 6 movies over the last dozen years doesn't make you wonder if his career is over, then nothing will.
At least you Woo fans can still go back and watch his foreign stuff I guess, but for me, just because it is low budget and in a different language doesn't suddenly make it any better. Just my opinion though.
Posted by Yams | January 5, 2004 4:59 AM
Posted on January 5, 2004 04:59
True, personally I think Woo hasn't done a good film plot-wise since "The Killer", which was written by him as well. But that single film has outshone practically any other action film I've ever seen in terms of story, characterisation, dialogue and so on.
In terms of actual action directing, his last great film would be "Hard Boiled", but that isn't exactly glorified for it's plot. That film is known simply for its action scenes, and I don't complain there; it contains some brilliant directing and it's the film that gave me the aspiration to write/direct. And I don't think any film has done action better, though "Die Hard" comes close.
Oh well. I just find that every time I watch "The Killer" or "Hard Boiled", I'm not disappointed. Sure, he gets ripped off a lot, but not once have I seen his "heroic bloodshed" subgenre get done well since those two films.
In other news, on the bulletin board I regularly post on, I mentioned this alternate "scream" to the Wilhelm Scream, that I'm after, and it seems a lot of people remember it. I was trying to figure out why I'd suddenly been trying to find out about it, when somebody mentioned that it had been heard during the final scene of "The Mothman Prophecies", which I watched a few nights ago. I guess I subconsciously remembered that scream and went online to find out about it.
Posted by Cal | January 6, 2004 5:35 PM
Posted on January 6, 2004 17:35
Hey, i'm workin on a website that is putting together a lot of the useless links, games, videos, sounds, animations, and junk that is commonly found when in college, whether by word of mouth, or whatever. Anyway, I heard that this scream you speak about had a name, but I wasn't sure what it was, and had trouble finding it. Anyway, i'm pretty sure i heard this scream in Commando and some new movie i just saw recently, i think it was Paycheck with ben afleck.
Anyway. Has anyone heard of a sound very similar to the Willhelm. Its a dragon sort of sound. The first time i heard it was in a He-Man cartoon when this dragon got loose and was lookin for his baby egg or something. Anyway, that same dragon noise (which i might add was played several times during that cartoon if memory serves me right) appears in other movies. I think i may have heard it in that movie Evolution. If anyone has any idea what i'm talking about, let me know. I'd like to find out more about this sound effect. Thanks.
Posted by Brian | January 20, 2004 11:46 AM
Posted on January 20, 2004 11:46
I'm pretty sure the famous "non-wilheml" scream is in its full length in the opening credits of long-since canceled nickelodeon animated show "aah!! real monsters."
Posted by ted | March 2, 2004 11:38 AM
Posted on March 2, 2004 11:38
The Willhelm scream is funny, but... it's too short ! :lol
Posted by MeÔlanh | March 4, 2004 10:41 AM
Posted on March 4, 2004 10:41