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Wilhelm scream

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For the band, see A Wilhelm Scream. For the song by James Blake, see The Wilhelm Scream.

Audio sample of the Wilhelm scream
Complete recording session of the Wilhelm scream

The Wilhelm scream is an iconic stock sound effect that has been used in countless films, TV series, and other media, first originating from the 1951 movie Distant Drums. The scream is usually used in many scenarios when someone is shot, falls from a great height, or is thrown from an explosion. The scream is named after Private Wilhelm, a character in The Charge at Feather River, a 1953 Western in which the character gets shot in the thigh with an arrow. This was its first use following its inclusion in the Warner Bros. stock sound library, although The Charge at Feather River was the third film to use the effect. The scream is thought to be voiced by actor Sheb Wooley. It was featured in all of the original Star Wars films.

History

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The voice of the scream, Sheb Wooley

The Wilhelm scream originates from a series of sound effects recorded for the 1951 movie Distant Drums.[1][2] In a scene from the film, soldiers fleeing a Seminole group are wading through a swamp in the Everglades, and one of them is bitten and dragged underwater by an alligator. The screams for that scene, and other scenes in the movie, were recorded later in a single take. The recording was titled "Man getting bit by an alligator, and he screams." The fourth take of the scream was used for the soldier in the alligator scene.[2][3][a] That take, which later became known as the "Wilhelm scream", is thought to have been voiced by actor Sheb Wooley (who also played the uncredited role of Pvt. Jessup in Distant Drums).[4]

Because the costs of creating sound effects were high at that time, the scream was reused in a number of other Warner Bros. films in that era.[5] In addition to The Charge at Feather River (1953),[6] other films using the scream include A Star Is Born (1954),[3] Them! (1954), Land of the Pharaohs (1955), The Sea Chase (1955), Sergeant Rutledge (1960), PT 109 (1963), The Wild Bunch (1969),[7] and The Green Berets (1968).[3]

The Wilhelm scream became iconic in popular culture when motion picture sound designer Ben Burtt, who had come across the original recording on a studio archive sound reel, incorporated it into the scene in Star Wars (1977) in which Luke Skywalker shoots a Stormtrooper off a ledge. The effect is heard as the Stormtrooper is falling.[1][8] Burtt named the scream after Pvt. Wilhelm, a minor character from The Charge at Feather River who appears to emit the scream, and adopted it as his personal sound signature.[3] Burtt also found use for the effect in More American Graffiti (1979); and over the next decades he incorporated it into other films that he worked on, such as Willow (1988),[3] Gremlins, Anchorman, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Howard the Duck, Lethal Weapon 4, The Fifth Element[5] and several George Lucas and Steven Spielberg films. Notably, the rest of the Star Wars films made under Lucas[1] and all the Indiana Jones movies included the effect.[9][1][b]

Following its use in Star Wars, other sound designers have picked up and used the sound effect in works. Inclusion of the sound in films became a tradition among a certain community of sound designers.[12]

As of mid-2023, the scream had not been made available in any commercial sound effects library.[9] The entire collection of original sources of the sound effects made by Sunset Editorial, which includes the Wilhelm scream, was donated to the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1990.[13] In 2023, Craig Smith released a copy of the complete recording from the original session on Freesound on behalf of the USC under the CC0 license, along with the rest of Sunset Editorial sound effects.[13] On May 20, 2023, the entire collection of Sunset Editorial SFX was mirrored in the Internet Archive (also under the CC0 license) for the purpose of enabling a wider distribution, especially thanks to its BitTorrent support.[14]

Also, the scream has been used in many YouTube videos as a joke among the internet. It has been used in many scenes where someone falls to their death, being struck by a weapon, being knocked out, being thrown by other person, or being hit.

Voice of the scream

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Research by Burtt suggests that Wooley, best known for his 1958 novelty song "The Purple People Eater" and his character of American Indian scout Pete Nolan on the television series Rawhide, is likely to have been the voice actor who originally performed the scream. This has been supported by an interview in 2005 with Linda Dotson, Wooley's widow.[4] Burtt discovered records at Warner Bros. from the editor of Distant Drums, including a short list of names of actors scheduled to record lines of dialogue for miscellaneous roles in the movie. Wooley was one of a few actors assembled for the recording of additional "pick-up" vocal elements for the film. Dotson confirmed Wooley's scream had been in many Westerns, adding that he "always used to joke about how he was so great about screaming and dying in films."[2][9]

Uses

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Since the late 20th century, the Wilhelm scream had been used in numerous films. The National Science and Media Museum says the yelp has been featured in more than 400 films.[15]

See also

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Explanatory notes

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  1. ^ The fourth and sixth screams recorded in the session were used earlier in the film, reportedly when several Native Americans are shot during a raid on a U.S. Army fort.
  2. ^ It was announced in February 2018 that the Star Wars franchise would no longer use the Wilhelm scream, with The Force Awakens (2015) being the last film in the series to use it.[10][11]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Lee, James (September 25, 2007). "Cue the Scream: Meet Hollywood's Go-To Shriek". Wired. Vol. 15, no. 10. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Malvern, Jack (May 21, 2005). "Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggghhh!! (Paywalled)". The Times. Archived from the original on December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 12, 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e Lee, Steve (May 17, 2005). Burtt, Ben; Anderson, Richard; Mitchell, Rick; Rydstrom, Gary; Schulkey, Curt; Boyes, Chris; Whittaker, David; Stone, David; Kovats, Phil; Fein, David; Linke, Chris; Malvern, Jack; Dotson-Wooley, Linda (eds.). "The Wilhelm Scream". Hollywood Lost and Found. Archived from the original on December 17, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Times article in which Sheb Wooley's widow states her belief that her husband was the man behind the scream". Archived from the original on October 17, 2019. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
  5. ^ a b An iconic Hollywood sound effect called the Wilhelm scream was uncovered in an archive. CBS News. June 28, 2023. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  6. ^ Valjak, Domagoj (April 23, 2018). "The origin of the Wilhelm scream, the most famous sound effect in the history of cinema". The Vintage News. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  7. ^ "Facts about "The Wild Bunch" (p3) : Classic Movie Hub (CMH)". Classic Movie Hub - CMH. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  8. ^ Rinzler, J. W. (2010). The Sounds of Star Wars. San Francisco: Simon & Schuster. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-8118-7546-2. Archived from the original on November 6, 2020. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  9. ^ a b c "Does That Scream Sound Familiar?". ABC News. October 14, 2007. Archived from the original on October 1, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  10. ^ Kurp, Josh (February 21, 2018). "A 'Star Wars' Tradition Dating Back To The Original Movie Has Been Retired". Uproxx. Archived from the original on August 24, 2018. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  11. ^ Dillon, Ananda (February 21, 2018). "Star Wars Has Abandoned the Iconic Wilhelm Scream". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on August 23, 2018. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  12. ^ "Wilhelm". On the Media (Podcast). WNYC Studios. December 30, 2005. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
  13. ^ a b Smith, Craig (March 10, 2023). "Preserving the Sunset Editorial Sound Effects Library from the USC Archive". Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  14. ^ Scott, Jason (May 20, 2023). "CRASH! BARK! BOOM! The USC Sound Effects Library". Internet Archive. Archived from the original on May 31, 2023.
  15. ^ Dudley, Joshua (June 22, 2023). "The Wilhelm Scream: The History of Film's Most Popular Sound Effect". Backstage.
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