Movies, Stop using the Wilhelm Scream.

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

This trope in movies or in video games have got to stop, it is the most overdone thing in the history of filmdom.

And its entirely Star Wars' fault because ever since Star Wars did it, it created a generation of Sound Editors that was so amused by that Stormtroopers deathcry that they decided to put it in every movie:


At this point any use of it in this day and age only serves to ruin the immersion, its an uneeded foreign element to any movie.

I made this thread becasue I was watching The Two Towers at the Battle of the Hornburg/Helm's Deep and in the middle of it, there was a scene with an Elf Soldier falling off the wall and doing the Scream and at that point as was like "Ugh" I facepalmed, that killed the mood for me a bit. To me this was worse than Legolas skateboarding on a shield down the stairs.

So please Sound Editiors, stop using the Wilhelm Scream, it only serves to take me out of the experiance.

 

[Zontar]

No, the Wilhelm Scream is a staple of action scenes. Not using it is as much a conscious decision as not doing so, and it's an intregal part of the medium.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

No, the Wilhelm Scream is a staple of action scenes. Not using it is as much a conscious decision as not doing so, and it's an intregal part of the medium.

No its only used by lazy sound editors that can't make an original scream sound effect or have the actors Scream with thier own voice and just think its amusing to have it there because they loved Star Wars

All the Wilhelm Scream does it takes me out of the experiance, its the movie makers winking at my eye because "Ha Ha this scream is so funny"

 

[CaitSeith]

It's also public domain. So, unless you can distribute them with something as good, funny and malleable for free, they'll keep using it, forever...

 

[Saelune]

I like it, its funny.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I like it, its funny.

Than keep it in Comedies. Don't have it at moments like the Battle of Helm's Deep. Its such a mood killer.

 

[Saelune]

I like it, its funny.

Than keep it in Comedies. Don't have it at moments like the Battle of Helm's Deep. Its such a mood killer.

The Lord of the Rings is kinda a silly movie though.

"Still only counts as one" "Never toss a dwarf" then later gets tossed.

I just have a constant preference for humor, so it doesnt ever bother me personally. It would have to be like, a super serious film all the way through for it to bother me...but even then I would probably just burst out laughing cause of how unexpected it would be.

Im not saying you're wrong or bad for not liking it, just that it will likely never bother -me-.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I like it, its funny.

Than keep it in Comedies. Don't have it at moments like the Battle of Helm's Deep. Its such a mood killer.

The Lord of the Rings is kinda a silly movie though.

"Still only counts as one" "Never toss a dwarf" then later gets tossed.

I just have a constant preference for humor, so it doesnt ever bother me personally. It would have to be like, a super serious film all the way through for it to bother me...but even then I would probably just burst out laughing cause of how unexpected it would be.

Im not saying you're wrong or bad for not liking it, just that it will likely never bother -me-.

Its not so much a humor thing as it is a fourth wall breaking thing.

Any use of the Wilhelm Scream in any movie is breaking the 4th Wall, and sometimes it can be used innappropriately.

 

[Saelune]

I like it, its funny.

Than keep it in Comedies. Don't have it at moments like the Battle of Helm's Deep. Its such a mood killer.

The Lord of the Rings is kinda a silly movie though.

"Still only counts as one" "Never toss a dwarf" then later gets tossed.

I just have a constant preference for humor, so it doesnt ever bother me personally. It would have to be like, a super serious film all the way through for it to bother me...but even then I would probably just burst out laughing cause of how unexpected it would be.

Im not saying you're wrong or bad for not liking it, just that it will likely never bother -me-.

Its not so much a humor thing as it is a fourth wall breaking thing.

Any use of the Wilhelm Scream in any movie is breaking the 4th Wall, and sometimes it can be used innappropriately.

I love 4th wall breaks *shrugs*

 

[happyninja42]

No, the Wilhelm Scream is a staple of action scenes. Not using it is as much a conscious decision as not doing so, and it's an intregal part of the medium.

No its only used by lazy sound editors that can't make an original scream sound effect or have the actors Scream with thier own voice and just think its amusing to have it there because they loved Star Wars

All the Wilhelm Scream does it takes me out of the experiance, its the movie makers winking at my eye because "Ha Ha this scream is so funny"

If every scream in the movie was Wilhelm, then your statement here would have weight. But since it's clearly just used like ONE time in a movie, amidst dozens of other screams, you are wrong. They do it because it amuses them, as it amuses me whenever i see it in a movie. Yes it breaks the immersion a bit, but so what? The movies that do use it are usually the kind where immersion isn't that big a deal. I personally love it, and every time I hear it I yell out "Wilhelm! NOOOOO!" And my wife and I laugh at our own joke.

So continue to use it movies! Don't listen to Samtemdo!

 

[Asita]

Um... it looks like they did stop using it. Nobody uses it anymore. Your last example is from 1999. I don't remember the last time I heard it in anything. But I don't notice that sort of thing usually.

Oh, it's alive and well. You might have caught it in Avatar...or Rise of the Planet of the Apes...or Captain America...or the Hobbit (Unexpected Journey and the extended cut of Desolation of Smaug)...or Django Unchained...or the Force Awakens...or Dawn of Justice...

 

[Neverhoodian]

I don't mind the Wilhelm Scream; it's an amusing little Easter egg. That said, it's too bad that it tends to steal the spotlight from its under-appreciated cousin, the Howie Scream.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, obviously overused stock sound effects do ruin immersion.

Not just stuff like the Wilhelm Scream, but when someone opens and shuts a door and they have to make it noisy and use a sound that's in loads of stuff already. We can see the door move, it can be a quiet door.

 

[Lionsfan]

I'm with you, it's not really that big of a deal, but whenever I hear it, it does take me out of the movie for a little bit.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Yeah, obviously overused stock sound effects do ruin immersion.

Not just stuff like the Wilhelm Scream, but when someone opens and shuts a door and they have to make it noisy and use a sound that's in loads of stuff already. We can see the door move, it can be a quiet door.

Seconded. The Wilhelm scream everyone recognizes as a joke, and as others said, it's usually used in movies where it's appropriate, or at least in scenes where it may give a chuckle. You won't hear it when Ripley's running from the Alien, or when the Rohirrim charge Helm's Deep, or when Ellen Page's character falls into limbo in Inception. I've been playing Red Dead Redemption recently, and while a serious game, it's not too serious to not throw it into gunfights on occasion. I like it. It gives it an air of homage to the old style, John Wayne era westerns.

But yes, Hollywood needs to do better on sound effects. Punching and gunfire sounds are perhaps the worst offenders.

 

[BeeGeenie]

Poor Wilhelm. He has this ONE thing that he's known for, and you want to take it away from him.

Let him have his scream! He earned it!

#WilhelmScreamsMatter!

 

[Terminal Blue]

Most people don't actually notice the Wilhelm scream. It's only in the past few years that the internet has made it common knowledge. It's a cute little injoke for people who are "in" on it more than anything else.

And sometimes it's kind of cool to be reminded that when you're watching a movie you're watching a constructed medium which people worked to create, and that sometimes those people have a sense of humour.

 

[Scarim Coral]

While I got nothing against the Whlhelm scream but don't you think it's time we come out with a new good scream for the new generation?

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I like it too