Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Familiar Scream

(Pvt. Wilhelm getting shot by an arrow)

Have you ever had the feeling like you've seen or heard something before and chalked it up to déjà vu?  A couple years ago, a friend of mine cued me into the Wilhelm Scream.

It's this quirky little scream that was first used in an obscure 1951 movie, "Distant Drums."  The sound was used a few times until Ben Burtt, a sound effects guy, used it when doing the audio for the original "Star Wars" film.  He kind of adopted it as his personal signature sound and continued placing it films he worked on.  Eventually others picked up on it and used it in their films too.  It's now been used in over 200 movies.  This last week, I heard it in an animated film my kids were watching.  If you're aware of it, I'm sure you'll hear it in some films too.

Are you sure you haven't heard this cry before?  Examples HERE

5 comments:

BSherman said...

Some more information on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_scream

Astrocrabpuff said...

Reminds me of how movies and TV use the cry of a loon to denote a person being alone in the wilderness even in places where there are no loons. :D

Virgil Stubblefield said...

Reminds me of the Goofy Yell, aka the Goofy Holler...a quick search in Google Videos will find you some gems...Very interesting posts the last few days, thank you Nate!

Rebecca2 said...

I listened to the "Wilhelm Scream" video and it is fascinating! T'anks.

CorySteeves said...

There are some interesting points in time in this article but I don’t know if I see all of them center to heart. There is some validity but I will take hold opinion until I look into it further. Good article, thanks and we want more! Added to FeedBurner as well

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