I was recently replaying Ori and the Blind Forest, an excellent Metroidvania game, and I used a stomp to cause an enemy to fall off the edge of a cliff. As it fell, a sound played that I was quite familiar with, the Wilhelm scream. I paused for a moment, processing what I had just heard and then burst out laughing. It was so unexpected that I couldn’t help but laugh. Being reminded of its existence, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the ultimate audio Easter egg, the Wilhelm scream.
The Wilhelm scream is a stock sound effect that was originally included in the 1951 film “Distant Drums” but was named after its use in the 1953 film “The Charge at Feather River” where a character, named Private Wilhelm, gets hit by an arrow and screams. While it is not definitive, it is generally accepted that American songwriter Sheb Wooley provided the audio for the scream. Afterwards, it was used in a few other Warner Bros. films such as A Star is Born, Sergeant Rutledge and The Green Berets but it wasn’t until the 1970s that the Wilhelm scream truly rose to prominence.
In the mid-70s, a new to the industry Ben Burtt, now legendary sound designer, was hired to work on Star Wars. He managed to locate the sound effect which he’d noticed while watching Western movies as a child. He incorporated the sound into Star Wars and, from that point onwards, he and his friend Richard L. Anderson would routinely include it in their movies. Eventually, other sound designers took note and began to use it as well, eventually resulting in the scream being used in hundreds upon hundreds of films, TV series, video games etc.
Another interesting fact is that the person who recorded the screams, assumed to be Sheb Wooley, performed six different takes and, while some are more popular than others, all have been used in a variety of works. As for why the scream has become so popular, there are several theories from how adaptable it is to that it sparks an emotional response in our brain via the amygdala but there’s no doubt that, somehow, it speaks to us.
As a kid, I do remember noting the sound on occasion, thinking to myself “It’s that sound again” but I confess that I didn’t take too much notice of it until I watched the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies in my teens. By that point, I was able to look into it online and learn the name and, from then on, I always took note of it whenever I came across it, explaining it to the people I was with. Admittedly, the lustre wore off as I came to expect it more and more. That’s why I found it so funny in Ori and the Blind Forest, because it was completely unexpected. This shows that the Wilhelm scream has life in it yet but that those familiar with it will find it harder and harder to be amused unless it’s used in a clever, unforeseen way.
Let me know your thoughts on the ultimate audio Easter egg, the Wilhelm scream, when you first noticed it, when you first learned what it was called, funny instances that you’ve come across using it and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!