Muff's Modules & More

dkcg · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 4:12 pm Post subject: The Wilhelm scream

Sound designers seem to be getting way too blatant about this iconographic sound lately. I've even heard it used a couple times in a row in the latest Captain America flick.

The Wilhelm scream is turning into a distraction for me, even more so lately. Anyone else?

Sad thing is the guy who it was screaming gets $0 for his contribution to film sound history while it's used at least once in just about every movie made now. meh

RealDudes · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 4:17 pm Post subject:

I'd like to see all future willhelm screams replaced with Howard Dean screams

rico loverde · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 4:17 pm Post subject:

yea its really annoying to me. ever since i used Hollywood Edge sound effects in school i hear them EVERYWHERE. its really cheesy and lazy to me esp when its something with a decent size budget. the same for apple loops, i hear em used so much with out any changes made to them. Commercials and trailers are the worst prob. because they have small budgets.

dkcg · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 4:19 pm Post subject:

ignatius · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 4:21 pm Post subject:

they've been blatant about it forever. it's an inside joke to them.

dkcg · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 4:23 pm Post subject:

Johnisfaster · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 4:26 pm Post subject:

Totally agree, the moment I discovered that it was a "thing" and realized I'd heard it many times I am now immediately sucked out of a story when I hear it. Totally entertained by a movie and then BAM "hey it's that fucking scream again"

ignatius · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 4:28 pm Post subject:

they should replace the wilhelms with the "cry"

Johnisfaster · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 4:44 pm Post subject:

I have to say that I much prefer the Howie scream, even though I wish both were permanently banned from movies.

polyroy · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 5:08 pm Post subject:

They should replace it with Tom Arya's scream from 'Angel of Death'. It is overused, even as a homage, yet it still brings a smile to my face whenever I watch Star Wars.

hiawog · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 5:32 pm Post subject:

steampoweredsequencer · Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:46 am Post subject:

acidphakist · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 12:00 pm Post subject:

There is a sound from the original Doom video game. When you are fighting the last enemy, every time it shoots a new enemy out there is a sound effect. I SWEAR that sound effect is used every time a fire suddenly grows and spreads in movies and TV shows.

dude · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 12:03 pm Post subject:

i don't know shit about shit and i was thinking this thread was going to be about james blake.

syzygywell · Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 12:24 am Post subject:

So did I

ersatzplanet · Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 10:43 am Post subject:

Here is a compilation video of the scream in movies since the 50's. There are even more on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdbYsoEasio

The "Amen break" is getting almost as much overuse as the W Scream in popular music too. At least it gets hidden better.

-James

*edit* Here is the very FIRST recording of the scream in the 1951 movie Distant Drums. A very clear recording, no wonder it stayed around...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc5F2C0CYlA

talkboxert · Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:47 am Post subject:

Very interesting story about Amen-break

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SaFTm2bcac

The voice is so cool as well. Makes me want to sample it d'oh!

YashN · Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 6:29 am Post subject:

They should replace it with the chorus to Hot N Cold by Katy Perry.

nrdvrgr · Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 7:08 am Post subject:

Same thing with the "opening door sound" in Doom - it has been fesatured in sooo many sci-fi movies over the years. Lazy soundengineers? Yes.

jfloftin · Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 7:30 am Post subject:

hellohihowareyou · Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 10:36 pm Post subject:

I've been noticing the Wilhelm scream since I was a little kid. "Star Wars AND Indiana Jones baddies both make the same scream!" For most of my life since I've enjoyed hearing it snuck into other movies and I assume that many post sound guys put it in as an in-joke.

Now that it's more widely recognized I do think it should be added more subtly, but I have no problem with them using it, nor do I have a problem with the original voice actor getting money for it. Sessions musicians don't get paid for every copy of a song that sells and no one is upset about that.
All that aside, aren't we audio geeks? Shouldn't we be chuckling instead of getting distracted/annoyed? Hell, it was in a comic book movie you heard it, too. I can understand if it was in a Coen Brothers movie or something...

As for Doom sounds, they should use those in everything. I wish the doors in my house made that sound, and when I release my last breath, I hope I can muster the dying groan of the lead character. That game has the toughest sounds I've ever heard.

Tim Stinchcombe · Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:19 pm Post subject:

It seems the sound effects artists either don't realise that there are people who can recognize repeated use of these effects, or simply do not care.

Decades ago I remember watching a documentary about the making of the Eastwood movie 'Firefox', where they were saying how important it was to change the adverts on the Belgrade underground (or wherever it was) into Russian, to make it appear more authentic, as 'movie buffs notice these things'. When I saw the movie it was completely destroyed for me in the first few minutes: Eastwood's character is jogging by a river, and a helicopter swoops alongside and lands. Only problem is the chopper is something like a CH53, a twin-turbine monster, with about 6 blades on the main rotor, which makes a kind of whirring noise, whilst what we are listening to is a pathetic Bell 47 piston-engined twin-bladed affair, but which makes the more 'chop chop' sound that presumably the sound designers think people will want to hear for 'helicopter'. It was truly pathetic - so much for 'authenticity'!

It is quite interesting to realise just how limited some of the effects that these people draw on are. Recently I was watching 'Terminator 3', and recognised the sound of a truck passing blaring its horn as being in another movie I know well, from decades earlier.

And any movie that uses a Huey helicopter will almost certainly use the same tired effect that dates back to at least 'Apocalypse Now' - I've given up counting how many times I've heard that used.

M. Rishi · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 10:16 pm Post subject: