Get Cynical

Hehe.

A series of short painful screams performed by an actor were recorded in 1951 for the Warner Brother’s film “Distant Drums.” They were used for a scene where a man is bitten and dragged underwater by an alligator. The recording was archived into the studio’s sound effects library — and it was used in many of their films since.

“Star Wars” Sound Designer Ben Burtt tracked down the scream recording – which he named “Wilhelm” after a character who let out the same scream in the film “Charge at Feather River.” Ben has adopted the scream as sort of a personal sound signature, and has included it in many of the films he has worked on. He and a small circle of sound effects people, including myself and Richard Anderson, continue the crusade to keep Wilhelm alive. The Wilhelm Scream continues to be heard in new films every year.

A complete list of the movies that the Wilhelm scream appears in is here.

The actual scream itself is here.

I will be back blogging on Friday. Seems like a very good day to avoid malls or anyplace where you have to park. Hopefully everybody has a very nice holiday.

Here is a very good short film. Yes, it is about Christmas. Kinda.
(via Bifurcated Rivets)