Wilhelm scream
From Wacklepedia - The Free Encyclopedia
The
Wilhelm scream is a stock
sound effect first recorded in
1951 for the movie
Distant Drums. It has been featured in
dozens of movies since. Alongside a certain recording of the cry of the
red-tailed hawk, it is probably the most well-known cinematic sound
Star Wars-series Sound Designer Ben Burtt, who tracked down the original recording (which he found as a studio reel labeled "Man being eaten by alligator"), and named it for a character that emitted it in the 1953 movie
Charge at Feather River. Its use in
Star Wars was the beginning of something of an
in-joke amongst some sound designers of the film industry, (especially at
Skywalker Sound). They continue 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) and
A Goofy Movie.
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