I know, I know… it’s supposed to be the Project Runway blog today. But since I ate a bad something yesterday and fell asleep early with the queasies, I haven’t watched it yet. Get off my back, I just finished the two I missed while in Cali!
They published an article on Yahoo! this morning about one of my favorite screams. You may be thinking “How strange, Sarah has a favorite scream”. But I watch a lot of movies, and a startling number of them include this:
If you have ever seen a Star Wars or Indiana Jones movie, you have heard it, even if it isn’t ringing any bells.
There is a very in depth article about the scream here: Hollywood Lost and Found. But the Reader’s Digest version is this:
It was first used in the movie Distant Drums, a western with Gary Cooper. The movie was produced by Warner Bros., and they used it in 8 movies between 1951 and 1968. But it was its use in Charge at Feather River that gave the clip its name. A character named WIlhelm is shot in the leg with an arrow, and belts out “the scream”.
Ben Burtt noticed the distinctive scream, and when he took on the job of creating the sound effects for none other than Star Wars he used it as a Storm Trooper falls into the bowels of the Death Star. He continued to put it into the Star Wars sequels as well as the Indiana Jones trilogy. When you look through complete list, it is astounding how many movies this one second sound clip has been in. Here is a video sampling for your enjoyment:
The Blahg 