Is anyone else sick of the Willhelm scream?

[Fwee]

Takes me right out of the movie; almost made me walk out of the Hobbit. Well, that and the lazy story exposition...
It's a cheap gag that doesn't belong in anything that wants an Oscar. You want to put it in for humor? Fine, but realize that holding up a rubber chicken is going to get you laughs 0% of the time. You need proper setting and timing for a good joke, not just "Remember 'this'? Everybody laugh now!'
But then again I'm just tired of generic sound-effects in any media. Most foley work these days doesn't involve good work or effects. It seems like everyone decided instead of GOOD sounds they'll just use LOUD sounds and hope you're too deaf to notice the difference.

 

[TheNaut131]

Honestly, it doesn't really bother me too much but it still kinda irks me just a bit.

Look, yes, they use stock sounds all the time I get that, but those generally just fade into the background or you dismiss them. They're stock sounds because they're typically common sounds just slightly distorted. However, if you hear that fucking scream you will know exactly what the scream is. It's so distinctive, it's like hearing a scream or a voice on something and recognizing the voice actor or hell, thinking you heard a family member. For a moment your brain goes, "Oh holy crap, I recognize that," and sometimes that can temporarily distract you from the movie, especially if it's a chase scene or something intense, which I just realized is really annoying.

It wouldn't be as annoying if films didn't use it all the fucking time because for that split second of recognition, it's as if my brain calls forth every other time I've heard that scream and punches me with it. It's like one big inside joke with friends that's supposed to be funny, perhaps was funny, but after awhile all you feel either hatred or absolute apathy for it.

At the end of the day, it's just out of place in a lot of movies and on second thought, it does bother me a lot.

I kinda have a headache now...

 

[CityofTreez]

I honestly never noticed it.

I actually find it funny after watching the video. :3

 

[Erja_Perttu]

I like hearing it, it puts a wry smile on my face.

I can understand why some people would say it draws them out of a film, but it's a tiny noise that happens for about one second. If you can't overlook that, there's some serious chillaxing needs doing.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I think Jackson's decision to incorporate an over-used George Lucas in-joke moves him dangerously close to the man and his tendency to massacre the things he made for which we love him. When I heard it in The Hobbit I thought - "Of course! This is to LOTR what Phantom Menace was to Star Wars!". And I cringed.

Oh come on, The Hobbit is nowhere near as bad as The Phantom Menace. Give it a rest.

I'm not tired, thank you very much. If you are, you can go rest some yourself.

 

[scorptatious]

Yeah, I'm kinda tired of it too. It was kinda funny the first dozen times, but then it started to get stale to me.

 

[WildManBill]

I think it's still funny. I smile every time I hear it in a movie.

 

[IndomitableSam]

I never knew this was a thing.

Now I find it amusing and will listen for it all the time.

 

[thejackyl]

My friends and I have a game where we point out the Wilhelm Scream whenever we hear it. Yes, it pops up a lot, but I like it, especially if it's not particularly serious of a movie/game.

 

[The_Echo]

I hate stock noises in general.

They're always easy to point out and, to me, feel incredibly lazy. The Wilhelm scream in particular just sounds bad.

 

[Enverex]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf6_hok4-lo

I mostly prefer Youraagh. You find Wilhelm annoying? There's really a possibility for everything.

It's not the scream itself I find annoying, it's the over-saturation. Nothing can be repeated that many times and still remain charming.

EDIT: I think your overratcting..usually it only ever lasts for less than a second

I agree with this, I think its a really cool little Easter egg sort of thing put in by filmmakers, I really don't understand how you could find it annoying. Even if you are watching movies constantly 24/7 you are still only hearing it maybe once or twice every hour and a half or so, which is vastly less saturation than memes, which can be used by pretty much everyone and not just filmmakers. Memes tend to invade into your personal life even outside the internet, I've never ever seen anyone doing a Wilhelm scream in real life.

I've always noticed this one because it's actually in Starcraft (the sound when you click on the Teran Academy). Since I played that game ages ago I've noticed it whenever it's come up.

 

[PhunkyPhazon]

The key is that it's less than a second long.

You may say that length has nothing to do with it, but that's a damned lie.

Oh DARN you got me. Yes, obviously my opinion is a LIE because your amazing powers of telepathy and deduction have glimpsed into my heart. Obviously a stranger on the internet knows my own opinion better then I do. Silly me.

 

[afroebob]

You talk about something being an overused in-joke then compare it to My Little Pony... and you don't see that as hypocritical?

 

[lacktheknack]

The key is that it's less than a second long.

You may say that length has nothing to do with it, but that's a damned lie.

Oh DARN you got me. Yes, obviously my opinion is a LIE because your amazing powers of telepathy and deduction have glimpsed into my heart. Obviously a stranger on the internet knows my own opinion better then I do. Silly me.

That was for effect, not directly accusing you of intentionally lying. You DO know how to write with effect, right?

At any rate, the answer IS because it's a second long. And your assertion that the length is irrelevant is silly. Sure, it may be your opinion, but will you justify it? Burden of proof is on you, seeing how you're the one with the non-intuitive opinion.

 

[Olas]

Nah, it's always fun to be watching a movie and suddenly hear it and go 'oh, it's the Wilhelm scream'. Though I agree it doesn't really need to be in EVERY movie.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

Yeah. If I notice it in a film it immediately breaks my immersion. Momentarily annoying but eh, fuck it, if they want to keep using it they may as well.

 

[MPerce]

Eh, it still gives me a chuckle. Especially when it was in that recent My Little Pony episode.

While I get how it can break the immersion of the movie/TV show, I've never really experienced a full "immersion" before. I always know it's a film, so hearing a familiar stock sound doesn't bother me.

It would be annoying if it popped up in a serious film. Wilhelm as no place in Schindler's List, for example. But it is almost always used in action or comedy stuff, so I don't mind.

 

[PhunkyPhazon]

The key is that it's less than a second long.

You may say that length has nothing to do with it, but that's a damned lie.

Oh DARN you got me. Yes, obviously my opinion is a LIE because your amazing powers of telepathy and deduction have glimpsed into my heart. Obviously a stranger on the internet knows my own opinion better then I do. Silly me.

That was for effect, not directly accusing you of intentionally lying. You DO know how to write with effect, right?

At any rate, the answer IS because it's a second long. And your assertion that the length is irrelevant is silly. Sure, it may be your opinion, but will you justify it? Burden of proof is on you, seeing how you're the one with the non-intuitive opinion.

I already did in the OP, but I guess some elaboration wouldn't hurt. Simply put, the scream pulls me out of whatever I'm watching or playing. If I'm invested in the story and completely immersed in the experience, hearing the obviously fake, obviously imported scream that is in every movie ever, I am suddenly reminded that I am just sitting on the couch looking at a screen. The scream is so over the top and extreme that it doesn't feel natural, I can never buy that it's actually being yelled by the dying character. It feels forced in there just to get a chuckle from those in the know, like a character suddenly turning towards the camera and shouting "I used to think the cake was a lie, but then I took an arrow to the knee."

 

[JoesshittyOs]

It's a fun movie trope that has been kept alive for over fifty years. Who would hate that?