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The Wilhelm Scream and other in-jokes
joshofalltrades
Class TraitorSmoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
Class TraitorSmoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
When I was a kid I watched the Star Wars movies at least 10 times a day. Lasers! Bad guys! Magic! Spaceships! Whoooosh!
Then I noticed that one of the screams uttered sounded very familiar.
Compilation
Skip to :38.
So okay, I caught on to this scream being used in two different movies. But it's actually used in a metric buttload of films, as an in-joke between sound editors. They'll play this game where they'll see if they can spot the Wilhelm Scream (as it's known) somewhere in the movie.
This kind of thing interests me way more than it probably should. From now on I'll be keeping an ear out for the Scream.
What are some in-jokes, either personal to you or out in the world that we can help raise awareness of (I guess making them in-jokes no longer)?
Then I noticed that one of the screams uttered sounded very familiar.
Compilation
Skip to :38.
So okay, I caught on to this scream being used in two different movies. But it's actually used in a metric buttload of films, as an in-joke between sound editors. They'll play this game where they'll see if they can spot the Wilhelm Scream (as it's known) somewhere in the movie.
The Wilhelm scream is a frequently-used film and television stock sound effect first used in 1951 for the film Distant Drums. The effect gained new popularity (its use often becoming an in-joke) after it was used in Star Wars and many other blockbuster films as well as television programs and video games. The scream is often used when someone is shot, falls from a great height, or is thrown from an explosion.
The Wilhelm scream has become a well-known cinematic sound cliché, and by 2008 had been used in over 216 films.
The sound is named for Private Wilhelm, a character in The Charge at Feather River, a 1953 western in which the character is shot with an arrow. This was believed to be the second movie to use the sound effect and its first use from the Warner Brothers stock sound library
This kind of thing interests me way more than it probably should. From now on I'll be keeping an ear out for the Scream.
What are some in-jokes, either personal to you or out in the world that we can help raise awareness of (I guess making them in-jokes no longer)?
joshofalltrades on
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But yeah there are several sounds that pop up all over. Like the static sound a ghost makes when he used lockdown in SC1.
The roar used by dragons in Warcraft 2 has popped up in a number of movies and TV shows, and I recognize it every time.
My youth has prepared me well for the challenges of my rigorous life.
Funny this thread came up right now. About one week ago, I was watching Lord of the Rings with my girlfriend and her husband, and during the battle of Helm's Deep we heard a Wilhelm scream. Hubby and I started cracking up hysterically and my girlfriend was all "whut?" so we showed her one of those YouTube compilations.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
You've heard this one many times too
Castle Thunder was originally used in 1931's frankenstein. t's been in many many is particularly common in old cartoons like Scooby Doo
They used the same sound effect several times in a row on some of these! I've only got minimal experience in sound editing for video but if you have, say, 2 or 3 thunder effects, it seems like it would make a lot more sense to vary it up a bit.
That high-pitched "bwwwaaaargh!' is so goofy.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
most cartoon production is as lazy as humanely possible
I'm convinced Hanna Barbara actually drew like 10 seconds of animation that they reused for like 20 years
I hear these types of things in games and movies all the time, I just figured that people were being cheap and rehashing sounds from various sources. That scream, for example, always sounded so fake and would annoy me any time I heard it. Now its at least a funny nuisance.
But I always get a sneaking suspicion while watching movies, especially by directors like them, that I'm missing some joke. Lots of times I'll be in a theater and everybody laughs at some mundane thing, and I'll kind of go "huh?".
It started out as a cheap reuse of a stock sound in the 50s. It didn't become a Hollywood in-joke until the 80s, IIRC.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
The first time I heard it was in one of the Army Men games by 3DO. Since then I notice it everywhere, it even manages to show its head in otherwise serious movies. Unfortunately I just can't recall where else I've heard it.
Does anybody have any clue what I'm blathering about? Its a short "ugh" death/injury sound from thuddy-thingies.
I don't think any of them have been elevated to the joke level of the Wilhelm Scream, though.
You know, I kept up with Homestar Runner for a long time, like over a year, and then I stopped. When I went back I didn't understand anything. I didn't realize how much of it was in-joke material until I wasn't watching it regularly anymore.
Yes! JUst what I came here to post. I'm sure I've heard it in a radio ad as well.
The X-Com door opening sound is a bit different, but extremely similar.
I remember 'discovering' this scream with friends when we were younger and then being able to find the history online (my friend actually once made a thread here called 'YYEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH' about another scream, not the wilhelm)
but I think the scream he was talking about there sometimes gets confused with the wilhelm. can't remember the name right now
One of my favorite is a sample/hold lfo modulation to pitch. Because apparently that's what a computer "sounds like" when it processes data. Or at least that's what we tell ourselves.
http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds/Processing%20(from%20Alesis%20airSynth).mp3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8N5XzKqRfQ
the sound of firing the rocket launcher is everywhere
If I'm remembering correctly from the NPR story I heard on it years ago, the actual name of the sound clip is "Man Being Eaten By Crocodile."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SaFTm2bcac
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGL5pfDAbQk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHn48b7iWF0
(1:22)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4D1HSL7P98
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dofXnlIjQwU
and like every hipster house song ever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOrX0kec7so
I remember watching my dad play Doom when I was a kid. Then at one point, for some reason I remember this above anything else, I watched an episode of Rugrats where they had the Doom Door sound effect. My tiny mind freaked out when I heard it. "OMG THAT'S THE SOUND THE DOORS MAKE IN DOOM!"
It's really kind of an obnoxious sound when you listen to it enough times.
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I'm trying to track down one of the HD shots of it, but it actually does have text rather then standard lorem ipsum filler.
maybe the headlines, but I'd be really surprised if the main text weren't greeked
It's funny to hear a knockback sound when the TARDIS is hit by lightning.
Ha! I know the nature of scientific paper authorship prevents this from ever happening, but it would really be funny to see Cobley, U.T. cited seriously in a paper with the author not knowing it's a fake.
moar like latin-ed.
You are note alone.
This one is really annoying. Very grating on the ears, stupid kids having fun.
I have noticed that The Walking Dead has used many of the same sound effects as those in the Half Life series. This is a board populated by nerds of all kinds, I am sure someone else has noticed!