Wilhelm Scream

El 'grito de Wilhelm' es un efecto de sonido usado por primera vez (se supone) en 1951, en la película 'Tambores lejanos'. Se cree que Sheb Wooley es la voz del grito, ya que aparece en un memo como extra de voz para la película.

Pero fue a raiz de Star Wars cuando este efecto se volvió realmente famoso. El diseñador de sonido Ben Burtt, quien encontró la grabación original bajo el rótulo "hombre comido por un cocodrilo", y lo renombro haciendo honor a un personaje secundario, el soldado Wilhwlm, que emitía el mismo grito en la película 'La carga de los jinetes indios'.

El grito de Wilhelm se usa normalmente cuando un personaje cae desde una gran altura. Su uso en Star Wars dio paso a una especie de 'broma interna' entre los diseñadores de sonido, introduciendo el efecto cada vez que les era posible. Es sorprendente en la cantidad de películas que lo podeis encontrar... y para muestra, un botón.



Wilhelm Scream - The most popular videos are a click away

The Wilhelm scream is a stock sound effect first used in 1951 for the film Distant Drums. Actor-singer Sheb Wooley is considered to be the most likely voice actor for the scream, having appeared on a memo as a voice extra for the film.

The Wilhelm's revival came from Star Wars series sound designer Ben Burtt, who tracked down the original recording (which he found as a studio reel labelled "Man being eaten by alligator"). Although Distant Drums was the first known use of the sound, Burtt named it after "Pvt. Wilhelm", a minor character who emitted the same scream in the 1953 film The Charge at Feather River.

The Wilhelm scream is often used for when a character is plummeting to a great distance, usually falling off a ledge. Its use in the Star Wars films was the beginning of something of an in-joke among some sound designers of the film industry, especially at Skywalker Sound, and Weddington Productions (now a division of Technicolor Sound Services). They continued to try to incorporate it into films wherever feasible; action films are naturals, but film sound cognoscenti are particularly impressed when it is used naturally in films such as A Star Is Born (with Judy Garland), The Wild Bunch, Dante's peak, Kill Bill volume 1, A Goofy Movie, Gremlins 2 The New Batch, Lethal Weapon 4, Reservoir Dogs, AeonFlux and in 2007 was heard in Transformers, The Invisible and 30 Days of Night. All three Lord of the Rings films also use the Wilhelm Scream. It also appears at the end titles of PIXAR's short film "Lifted". It was also used on the TV show CSI:NY in Season 1 Episode 4, as a victim falls from a building. Its use has even been used in video games: a digitized version was used in Army Men, Streets of Rage, Shadows of the Empire, God of War, and God of War 2, as well as in Command and Conquer 3, Lego Star Wars The Video Game .