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Wilhelm Scream
The Wilhelm scream is an iconic stock sound effect that has been used in many films, TV series, and other media, first originating from the 1951 film '' Distant Drums''. The scream is often used in scenarios when someone is shot, falls from a great height, or is thrown from an explosion. The scream is named after Private Wilhelm, a character in '' The Charge at Feather River'', a 1953 Western in which the character gets shot in the thigh with an arrow. This was its first use following its inclusion in the Warner Bros. stock sound library, although ''The Charge at Feather River'' was the third film to use the effect. The scream is thought to be voiced by actor Sheb Wooley. It was featured in all of the original '' Star Wars'' films. History The Wilhelm scream originates from a series of sound effects recorded for the 1951 movie '' Distant Drums''. In a scene from the film, soldiers fleeing a Seminole group are wading through a swamp in the Everglades, and one of them is bit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stock Sound Effect
A stock sound effect is a prerecorded sound effect intended to be reused with an entertainment product, as opposed to Foley (filmmaking), creating a new and unique sound effect. It is intended to work within a sound effect library. History As far back as Ancient Greece, sound effects have been used in entertainment productions. Sound effects (also known as ''sound FX'', ''SFX'', or simply ''FX'') are used to enhance theatre, radio, film, television, video games, and online media. Sound effects were originally added to productions by creating the sounds needed in real-time. Various devices and props were utilized to approximate the actual sounds, including coconut shells for horse hooves, and a sheet of metal for thunder. With the advent of radio and specifically radio dramas, the role of sound effects became more important. When cinema went from silent to "talkies", sound effects became a large part of this new medium, too. Audio recording technology continued to evolve, making ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Them!
''Them!'' is a 1954 black-and-white science fiction giant monster film starring James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, and James Arness. Produced by David Weisbart, the film was directed by Gordon Douglas, based on an original story by George Worthing Yates that was developed into a screenplay by Ted Sherdeman, with adaptation by Russell Hughes. The film is one of the first of the 1950s "nuclear monster" movies, and the first with big bugs as the threat. A nest of gigantic irradiated ants is discovered in the New Mexico desert, and they quickly become a national threat when it is found that two young queens and their consorts have escaped to establish new colonies. The national search that follows culminates in a battle with the last surviving colony in the concrete spillways and storm drain system of Los Angeles. Plot In 1954, New Mexico State Police Sergeant Ben Peterson and his partner, Ed Blackburn, discover a little girl wandering the desert in a catatonic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gremlins
''Gremlins'' is a 1984 American black comedy horror film directed by Joe Dante, written by Chris Columbus and starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday and Frances Lee McCain, with Howie Mandel providing the voice of Gizmo the ''Mogwai''. It draws on legends of folkloric mischievous creatures that cause malfunctions—"gremlins"—in the British Royal Air Force going back to World War II. The story follows Billy Peltzer, who receives Gizmo as a pet, who then spawns more of his kind that evolve into the titular imp-like monsters that wreak havoc on Billy's hometown during Christmas Eve. The film was accompanied by a large merchandising campaign and juxtaposes black comedy with a Christmastime setting. Steven Spielberg was the executive producer, with the film being produced by Michael Finnell. ''Gremlins'' was theatrically released on June 8, 1984, by Warner Bros. to critical and commercial success. However, it was heavily criticized for some of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willow (1988 Film)
''Willow'' is a 1988 American high fantasy adventure film directed by Ron Howard and produced by Nigel Wooll. The film was executive produced by George Lucas and written by Bob Dolman from a story by Lucas. The film stars Warwick Davis as the title character, Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Billy Barty, and Jean Marsh. Davis portrays an aspiring magician who teams up with a disaffected warrior (Kilmer) to protect a young baby princess from an evil queen (Marsh). Lucas conceived the idea for the film in 1972, approaching Howard to direct during the post-production phase of ''Cocoon (film), Cocoon'' in 1985. Bob Dolman was brought in to write the screenplay, coming up with seven drafts that Lucas was actively involved in developing. It was finished in late 1986. It was then set up at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and principal photography began in April 1987, finishing the following October. The majority of filming took place in Dinorwic quarry in Wales with some at Elstree Studios (Shen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
More American Graffiti
''More American Graffiti'' is a 1979 American coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by Bill L. Norton, produced by Howard Kazanjian. The film, shot in multiple aspect ratios for comedic and dramatic emphasis, is the sequel to the 1973 film ''American Graffiti''. While the first film followed a group of friends during the evening before they depart for college, the sequel depicts where they end up on consecutive New Years Eves from 1964 to 1967. Most of the main cast members from the first film returned for the sequel, including Candy Clark, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips, Charles Martin Smith, Bo Hopkins, and Harrison Ford. (Richard Dreyfuss was the only principal cast member from the original film not to appear in the sequel). It was the final live-action theatrical film in which Ron Howard would play a credited, named character. Plot The film, set over the course of four consecutive New Year's Eves from 1964 to 1967, depicts scenes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stormtrooper (Star Wars)
Stormtroopers are fictional soldiers in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. Introduced in the original ''Star Wars'' film trilogy (1977–1983), the Stormtroopers are the shock troops/ space marines of the autocratic Galactic Empire. Their predecessors, the clone troopers of the Galactic Republic, were used by Emperor Palpatine to take over the government and exterminate the Jedi. After the fall of the Empire, as depicted in the original trilogy, Stormtroopers remained in service to Imperial remnants, such as the First Order. The order of battle of the Stormtrooper Corps is unspecified in the ''Star Wars'' universe. Accompanying the Imperial Navy, Stormtroopers are able to be deployed swiftly and respond to states of civil unrest or insurrection, act as a planetary garrison, and police areas within the Galactic Empire. They are shown in collective groups of varying organizational sizes ranging from squads to legions and for some, their armour and tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was introduced in the original film trilogy as the main protagonist and also appears in the sequel trilogy. Raised as a poor moisture farmer on the desert planet Tatooine, Luke joins the Rebel Alliance and becomes a major figure in its struggle against the Galactic Empire. Training as a Jedi Knight under Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, he eventually confronts his father, the Sith Lord Darth Vader, in two pivotal duels. Years later, Luke trains his nephew Ben Solo and mentors the scavenger Rey. Luke is the twin brother of Leia Organa. Mark Hamill portrays Luke in all the films of the original and sequel trilogies, as well as in the television series '' The Mandalorian'' and '' The Book of Boba Fett''. Hamill won the Saturn Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Luke in '' The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), '' Return of the Jedi'' (1983) and '' The Last Jedi'' (2017). He was also nomina ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Wars (film)
''Star Wars'' (later retitled ''Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope'') is a 1977 American Epic film, epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas, produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and released by Twentieth Century-Fox. It is the first film in the ''Star Wars'' franchise and the fourth chronological chapter of the "Skywalker Saga". Set in Universe of Star Wars, a fictional galaxy under the rule of the tyrannical Galactic Empire (Star Wars), Galactic Empire, the film follows a group of freedom fighters known as the Rebel Alliance, who aim to destroy the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star. When the rebel leader Princess Leia is captured by the Empire, Luke Skywalker acquires stolen architectural plans of the Death Star and sets out to rescue her while learning the ways of a metaphysical power known as "the Force" from the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. The cast includes Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Bak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Burtt
Benjamin Burtt Jr. (born July 12, 1948) is an American sound designer, film director, film editor, screenwriter, and voice actor. As a sound designer, his credits include the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' film series, '' Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' (1978), '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), ''WALL-E'' (2008), and ''Star Trek'' (2009). Burtt is notable for popularizing the Wilhelm scream in-joke and creating many of the iconic sound effects heard in the ''Star Wars'' film franchise, including the 'voice' of R2-D2, the lightsaber hum, the sound of the blaster guns, the heavy-breathing sound of Darth Vader, and creating the Ewoks’ language, Ewokese. Burtt was also the sound editor for ''WALL-E'' and performed the vocalizations of the titular character as well as other robots in the film. Burtt has won four Academy Awards, two of which are Special Achievement Academy Awards. He has also directed numerous documentary films for IMAX and most notably the tele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Green Berets (film)
''The Green Berets'' is a 1968 American war film directed by John Wayne and Ray Kellogg, and starring Wayne, David Janssen and Jim Hutton, based on the 1965 novel by Robin Moore. Much of the film was shot in the summer of 1967. Parts of the screenplay bear little relation to the novel, although the portion in which a woman seduces a North Vietnamese communist general and sets him up to be kidnapped by Americans is from the book. ''The Green Berets'' is strongly anti-communist and pro-South Vietnam. It was released at the height of American involvement in the Vietnam War, the same year as the Tet Offensive against the largest cities in South Vietnam. John Wayne was so concerned by the anti-war sentiment in the United States, he wanted to make this film to present the pro-military position. He requested and obtained full military cooperation and materiel from 36th President Lyndon B. Johnson and the United States Department of Defense. John Wayne bought the film rights to Rob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wild Bunch
''The Wild Bunch'' is a 1969 American epic revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates. The plot concerns an aging outlaw gang on the Mexico–United States border trying to adapt to the changing modern world of 1913. The film was controversial because of its graphic violence and its portrayal of crude men attempting to survive by any available means. The screenplay was co-written by Peckinpah, Walon Green, and Roy N. Sickner. ''The Wild Bunch'' was filmed in Technicolor and Panavision, in Mexico, notably at the Hacienda Ciénaga del Carmen, deep in the desert between Torreón and Saltillo, Coahuila, and on the Nazas River. ''The Wild Bunch'' is noted for intricate, multi-angle, quick-cut editing using normal and slow motion images, a revolutionary cinema technique in 1969. The writing of Green, Peckinpah, and Sickner was nominated for a best screenplay Oscar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PT 109 (film)
''PT 109'' is a 1963 American Technicolor Panavision biographical war film depicting the actions of John F. Kennedy as an officer of the United States Navy in command of Motor Torpedo Boat ''PT-109'' in the Pacific theater of World War II. The film was adapted by Vincent Flaherty and Howard Sheehan from the book ''PT 109: John F. Kennedy in World War II'' by Robert J. Donovan, and the screenplay was written by Richard L. Breen. Cliff Robertson stars as Kennedy, and the film features performances by Ty Hardin, James Gregory, Robert Culp and Grant Williams. ''PT 109'' was the first commercial theatrical film about a sitting U.S. president released while he was still in office (although FDR was often depicted in small roles during his administration, most notably in '' Yankee Doodle Dandy''). It was released domestically on June 19, 1963, five months before Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.Axmaster, Sean"PT 109"on TCM.com Plot In August 1942 the American forces a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
