Sound effect cliches

Ed, Ego and Superego · March 08, 2007, 04:07:42 PM

This has come up before but it has been on my mind. There are movie sounds that really are cliches...
The Cat noise.- I have owned many cats and not one has gone "weooooooowwwwwwww" like the do in films. And in some films the cat is just walking past making this noise.
The Hawk Screech- Every time you are outside and see a bird of prey.
There are more, I'm sure.

The article that set this otrain of thought rollin'
http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=787#more-787

(Thanks to Trek fror the site)
-Ed

EDIT BY ANDREW: Just taking out the wayward "i" in the thread title.

ulthar · March 08, 2007, 05:00:11 PM

Cat noise: yes, I've heard it, but only when two cats are about to fight.

Bullet ricochet noise is an overdone sound cliche.

The "sound" of lights coming on is overdone in just about every outdoor sport movie.

How about tires squealing when either (a) wheels are obviously not spinning or (b) on gravel?

The old punch to face sound is overused as well.

On a related note, how about the fact that someone is basically dead but their heart is being kept beating artificially? It kills me (hehe, see what I did there?) when the family does not fall apart until they hear that "BEEEEEEEEP" from the monitor, even though that is probably just because the doctor just unplugged the leads or something. It's that special little auditory clue that "hey, they're dead" that the filmmaker thought WE needed to understand what was going on.

Poogie · March 08, 2007, 05:09:21 PM

The only one I can think of off the bat is in Disney Cartoons.....It's Goofy's scream.."Yah-hiiiiiiiiii-Hoy-Hoy-Hoy". It's been in many Disney cartoons, not only used by Goofy. I looked it up and it was done by Hannes Shrolle.

Him · March 08, 2007, 05:19:15 PM

Whenever there is a group of kids playing I hear the same sound effect of kids laughing.

The sound of someone falling on the ground is always the same too.

Ed, Ego and Superego · March 08, 2007, 06:13:59 PM

The monkey sound for every jungle.
-Ed

wiredprotocol · March 08, 2007, 07:24:59 PM

Fire Igniting!!!

Whenever a source of ignition is seen (match, zippo, cigarette etc) that ignites petrol or whatever, there is that same noise.. And i always notice it because it sounds exactly like one of the noises in "magic carpet" for the pc (:

soylentgreen · March 08, 2007, 07:51:43 PM

What about the continued use of the 'theme' and sounds from the ATARI 2600 Pac-Man(duhn...duhn duhn...duhn...POK! oooEEPP!)for any and all video game representations in films?

zombie no.one · March 08, 2007, 08:11:35 PM

Quote from: ulthar on March 08, 2007, 05:00:11 PM

How about tires squealing when either (a) wheels are obviously not spinning or (b) on gravel?

no doubt...."I'm just gonna back the car up into the garage, honey... *eeeeerrrr-screeeech*" lol. so many films go for this effect, even credible 'serious' ones.

BoyScoutKevin · March 08, 2007, 09:28:01 PM

What I can only describe is the sound "Skkrrtt!!," which is made when a sword is pulled out of its scabbard. But that sound is only made, when a sword is pulled out of a metal scabbard. Films use it, when a sword is pulled out of a leather scabbard, metal scabbard, wood scabbard, etc.

Shadow · March 08, 2007, 09:37:30 PM

The same doctors seem to be paged no matter what city and hospital the movie may feature.

And of course there is the Wilhelm scream:
http://www.hollywoodlostandfound.net/wilhelm/

zombie no.one · March 08, 2007, 09:57:56 PM

Quote from: Shadowfyre on March 08, 2007, 09:37:30 PM

And of course there is the Wilhelm scream:
http://www.hollywoodlostandfound.net/wilhelm/

never heard of this. lol @ all those films using the same scream

Automan2000 · March 08, 2007, 10:03:49 PM

Its amazing where some of the stock sound effects will show up. I was just watching Terminator 3 and in the scene where the crane crashes you can hear a cougar roar sound effect that is used in a lot of movies.

Yaddo 42 · March 09, 2007, 08:48:11 AM

Cat noise: I've heard when they were about to do something other than fight also. Used to be a lot of strays around my old apartment building. Fighting or in heat and hooking up, they were noisy little cusses.

Along with the monkey noise in jungles, the peacock calls. Yes they sound exotic, but they pretty much only do it during mating times. There are peacocks on the horse ranch behind where I live. I only hear them in spring and fall, at dawn sometimes but especially in the afternoons toward dusk.

Jack · March 09, 2007, 09:00:41 AM

In every Kung Fu movie, when a hand moves through air it makes a sound like a fly-swatter moving through air. I've watched guys break cement blocks in half and their hands didn't make any noise going through the air. Yet every time a guy in a Kung Fu movie reaches down to scratch his butt you get the "whoosh" noise.

Another one is the whistling sound whenever something falls from a great height. In WWII, the Germans put some sort of whistle (or something) on their bombs to make that noise, yet Hollywood seems to have gotten the idea than anything that falls makes that noise.

Oldskool138 · March 09, 2007, 10:12:57 AM

You want cliched sounds...Just pop in your Indiana Jones DVD's. I'm sure this was done on purpose but I'm mean, every time Indy punches somebody it sounds like someone slamming two prime ribs together. And his revolver sounds like mortar shells going off.

The Whilhelm Scream is great! I found out about it a year ago, now I listen for it in every action, horror and sci-fi movie I watch. It's used more ofter than you think.