The Wilhelm
At last the secrets of The Wilhelm have been reveled! I found this on IGN.com. If you too have been long time fan of The Wilhelm please read on and be better informed on its origins. If you have no idea about what I am talking about, just know that you are not a movie geek. Even if you claim to be you are not if this is in fact the first time you are hearing about The Wilhelm.
enjoy....
"we're focusing on one of the greatest elements in film - namely, the infamous Wilhelm scream, which has since become one of the most recognizable cues in movie history
According to the web site Hollywood Lost and Found, the origins of the sound go as far back as the 1950s:
"In 1951, the Warner Bros. film Distant Drums directed by Raoul Walsh starred Gary Cooper as Captain Quincy Wyatt, who leads a group of soldiers to stop some Seminole Indians from threatening settlers in early 19th Century Florida. During a scene in which the soldiers are wading through a swamp in the everglades, one of them is bitten and dragged underwater by an alligator. As is usually the case with the making of a movie, the scream for that character was recorded later. Six short pained screams were recorded in a single take, which was slated "man getting bit by an alligator, and he screams." The fifth scream was used for the soldier - but the 4th, 5th, and 6th screams recorded in the session were also used earlier in the film when three Indians are shot, one after another, during a raid on a fort.
"After Distant Drums, the recording was archived into the studio's sound effects library, and was re-used in many Warner Bros. productions. One person who noticed the same distinctive scream reoccurring in so many movies was sound effects fan Ben Burtt. Ben and his friends in the cinema department at USC, Rick Mitchell and Richard Anderson, noticed that a scream was popping up in a lot of movies. One of the films they made together, a swashbuckler parody The Scarlet Blade (1974) included the scream - which they borrowed off another film's audio track.
"A few years later, when Ben Burtt was hired to create sound effects for Star Wars, he had an opportunity to do research at the sound departments of several movie studios. While at Warner Bros. looking for sound elements to use in the space adventure, he found the original "Distant Drums" scream - which he called "Wilhelm" after the character that let out the scream in Charge at Feather River."
You have heard it, you may not have known at the time but you have go watch Star Wars- when the storm trooper falls into the chasm after being blasted by Luke. (thats the Wilhelm)
OR watch, Return of the Jedi- the scream can be heard as Luke slashes an enemy with his lightsaber and he falls into the Sarlacc pit.(again Wilhelm)
ITs in tons of movies! Willow, Indy Jones, its even in Saving Private Ryan. Next time you hear it you can be the geek that leans over and says "thats the Wilhelm"
enjoy....
"we're focusing on one of the greatest elements in film - namely, the infamous Wilhelm scream, which has since become one of the most recognizable cues in movie history
According to the web site Hollywood Lost and Found, the origins of the sound go as far back as the 1950s:
"In 1951, the Warner Bros. film Distant Drums directed by Raoul Walsh starred Gary Cooper as Captain Quincy Wyatt, who leads a group of soldiers to stop some Seminole Indians from threatening settlers in early 19th Century Florida. During a scene in which the soldiers are wading through a swamp in the everglades, one of them is bitten and dragged underwater by an alligator. As is usually the case with the making of a movie, the scream for that character was recorded later. Six short pained screams were recorded in a single take, which was slated "man getting bit by an alligator, and he screams." The fifth scream was used for the soldier - but the 4th, 5th, and 6th screams recorded in the session were also used earlier in the film when three Indians are shot, one after another, during a raid on a fort.
"After Distant Drums, the recording was archived into the studio's sound effects library, and was re-used in many Warner Bros. productions. One person who noticed the same distinctive scream reoccurring in so many movies was sound effects fan Ben Burtt. Ben and his friends in the cinema department at USC, Rick Mitchell and Richard Anderson, noticed that a scream was popping up in a lot of movies. One of the films they made together, a swashbuckler parody The Scarlet Blade (1974) included the scream - which they borrowed off another film's audio track.
"A few years later, when Ben Burtt was hired to create sound effects for Star Wars, he had an opportunity to do research at the sound departments of several movie studios. While at Warner Bros. looking for sound elements to use in the space adventure, he found the original "Distant Drums" scream - which he called "Wilhelm" after the character that let out the scream in Charge at Feather River."
You have heard it, you may not have known at the time but you have go watch Star Wars- when the storm trooper falls into the chasm after being blasted by Luke. (thats the Wilhelm)
OR watch, Return of the Jedi- the scream can be heard as Luke slashes an enemy with his lightsaber and he falls into the Sarlacc pit.(again Wilhelm)
ITs in tons of movies! Willow, Indy Jones, its even in Saving Private Ryan. Next time you hear it you can be the geek that leans over and says "thats the Wilhelm"
posted by Matthew | 3:25 PM
3 Comments:
I can safely say that I am not a movie geek. (And yes, I can still live with myself.)
I told you I heard about the origins of it on NPR!
yep, nope... i'm clearly not either.
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