"The Wilhelm Scream"

I recently showed "Dante's Peak" to my class. When the lead scientist character is crushed horribly by a collapsing bridge, every single class laughed because the film used the Wilhelm Scream.

I loathe the Wilhelm Scream, but I'm a film geek. I cringe whenever I hear it, but I recognize that I've been trained to recognize the sound.

But these kids aren't film scholars, but laughed every time... because it's a funny sound, and inappropriate to the scene in almost every film it's used in.

Sound editors who use it are more concerned with being clever than serving the film (with the exception of films like "Hot Shots").

I have no point, except I think it stinks. 

wow, I never knew about the Wilhelm screem, until I saw this post and then went on youtube and watched a compilation of it being used. 

Warbler said:

wow, I never knew about the Wilhelm screem, until I saw this post and then went on youtube and watched a compilation of it being used. 

Now you can never NOT notice it again.

A great write up on the Wilhelm is here.  It is voiced by Sheb Wooley of Purple People Eater fame.

TheBoost said:

Warbler said:

wow, I never knew about the Wilhelm screem, until I saw this post and then went on youtube and watched a compilation of it being used. 

Now you can never NOT notice it again.

Yeah, I'm in that same boat.  Even if it is buried in the very back of the sound mix, I always pick it up.

Ben Burtt at CV lamented at how pervasive the Wilhelm has become.  He said he used to collect all the appearances, but at some point probably the late 80s, early 90s, it just became something everyone did.

This totally makes me want to scream.

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Anyway, I wish I hadn't found out about this a few years back.  Just like Boost and Slugs, I can't NOT hear it. :-(

I think we have established in a different thread that it is Sluggo and the Boost.  I think it was Bingowings who formed the band. 

It is interesting to hear that Burtt had his own Wilhelm collection before it was "cool" to do so.

I'd like to see a movie made where everyone that screams uses the Wilhelm Scream =P

It was used 3 times in The Charge at Feather River.

I'm a fan of the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight game series.  Someone once made a mod, I think it was for Jedi Outcast, that made it so every single enemy character in the game used the Wilhelm scream.  It was pretty dang hilarious, but it would get old fast.  lol

btw, my edits are going to be wall-to-wall Wilhelm. :p

TV's Frink wrote:

btw, my edits are going to be wall-to-wall Wilhelm.

I think you should start with the ESB confrontation.  Give Vader's a tad mechanical tone and pitch Luke's up a bit.  The key though is to figure out what Luke says as he falls.  That's a big pay off.  Right now nothing's coming to mind.

^You must be confusing me with someone who knows what the hell he is doing. ;-)

http://priceonomics.com/the-wilhelm-scream-cinemas-most-overused-sound/