91
votes
Accepted
Why does the roadrunner say "beep beep"?
As explained on Wikipedia:
Chuck Jones, the creator of the Road Runner, has stated that this sound, the only way the Road Runner can harm the Coyote, was inspired by hearing a Doppler-like effect as ...
- 48.6k
78
votes
What actually happens when a telephone rings in a movie or TV show?
It could be any of the three methods, but the simplest method is to actually ring the phone, live on set, at the appropriate moment.
A telephone ringer is a device that any props department would ...
- 52.7k
78
votes
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Why do old gun fight scenes sound so weird and cartoonish?
To answer this, let's take a quick look at Merriam-Webster's definition of "art", specifically the section on synonyms:
ART, SKILL, CUNNING, ARTIFICE, CRAFT mean the faculty of executing well what ...
- 2,498
66
votes
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Why do movies think the speed of sound is as fast as the speed of light?
Because they fail test screenings. The general movie audience does not respond well to realistic depictions of explosions or cannons at a distance.
From the other SE, a partial excerpt of a great ...
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65
votes
Origin of the whistling sound when things fall
Because in WW2, the Germans attached actual whistles to bombs as a psychological tactic.
When you are watching a Hollywood reenactment of a famous World War 2 battle, the whistling cries of falling ...
- 132k
62
votes
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First example of "ringing in ears" sound design?
I have unashamedly copied a paragraph from this rather comprehensive article covering tinnitus as a movie trope -
The Cine-Files - The Tinnitus Trope: Acoustic Trauma In Narrative Film
They are ...
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54
votes
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What actually happens when a telephone rings in a movie or TV show?
It depends on the director and the crew's capability, as well as the actor's ability to act with or without an audible cue.
You can have a regular phone hooked up to a regular phone line or PBX and ...
- 1,369
53
votes
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Adult talking in Peanuts
Television producer Lee Mendelson was already a few years into his
collaboration with Peanuts creator Charles Schulz when he was faced
with an unusual problem: How do you depict adults in an animated
...
- 4,479
43
votes
Why does the roadrunner say "beep beep"?
Real roadrunners do not go 'beep beep', or anything much like it.
Male Greater Roadrunners make a distinct co-coo-coo-coo-coooooo in a series of 3–8 downward slurring notes.
Both male and female also ...
- 481
33
votes
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Do they still use tiger roars in the 2019 "Lion King" movie?
It's not a lion's roar for sure and the F-35 was involved. For detail take the word of God from the Hollywood Reporter:
Did you use other archival elements from the animated movie?
There's a ...
- 118k
28
votes
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Laughter in Comedic TV Shows
It's called a "laugh track". They've been around since radio shows and they're often used to prompt the audience into finding the jokes funny.
Before radio and television, audiences experienced ...
- 26.4k
24
votes
Why do old gun fight scenes sound so weird and cartoonish?
As far as the high-pitched noise goes, you might want to think about what's being shown. The sound you're hearing is (supposed to be) not the sound of the gun itself, but the sound of the bullet ...
- 2,868
17
votes
Why do punches sound like a "slap" in older movies?
Past media required less detail.
Movies were simpler in the past. I'm not talking about the plot, but rather the visual and audio cues. Since the technology (TV and cinema) wasn't as good as it is ...
- 26.1k
16
votes
Accepted
Was the famous “Wilhelm Scream” used in “The Force Awakens?”
It did occur in the movie, very near the beginning, when Poe and Finn escape in a TIE fighter and fend off some stormtroopers with the TIE fighter's weapons. It is, of course, one of the stormtroopers ...
- 58.7k
16
votes
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Was Rami Malek singing or lipsyncing?
It's a combination of Rami Malek's voice, that of Freddie Mercury, and of Marc Martel:
Even though Malek was singing, he still needed to lip-sync to Mercury's ...
- 5,475
16
votes
Origin of the whistling sound when things fall
Although I personally find @Paulie_D 's answer to be satisfactory regarding the historical origins of the noise, I wanted to add another response specifically relating to the noise's introduction to ...
- 261
15
votes
Accepted
What was used to create the hyperspace jump sounds in the original Star Wars trilogy?
Found on this page, the author states the origin of the hyperspace sounds (travel while in hyperspace) were created by:
Initially the sound of a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, jet, Burtt tinkered slightly ...
- 10.9k
12
votes
Why do movies think the speed of sound is as fast as the speed of light?
The position of the microphone is often independent from the position of the camera, both physically (the location of the apparatus used for shooting) and subjectively (the perceived location of sound)...
- 805
12
votes
Accepted
Do sound effects, specially in horror movies, use emotion initiating frequencies?
Rather than specific frequencies it is more about musical intervals. It is pretty well accepted that specific chords and scales have associations with particular emotions for example music in a minor ...
- 3,090
12
votes
Was the famous “Wilhelm Scream” used in “The Last Jedi?”
I was able to attend a screening of the movie today at Skywalker ranch. After the movie I spoke with the sound designer (Ren Klyce) and the sound supervisor (Matthew Wood) and asked them specifically ...
- 137
10
votes
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In Bollywood, do they play the song while shooting?
Normally film crew use the song in the background. It will be a raw sound from the music Director used specifically for the shooting purpose. What we hear later is a modified version sung either by ...
- 204
10
votes
Accepted
Why motorbike sounds are never real?
Almost NONE of what you hear in the finished soundtrack of a movie was recorded while the picture was recorded. It is difficult enough to get professional-quality pictures on film or video without ...
- 421
10
votes
Accepted
Is Archer's ringtone a real song outside the Archer universe?
No
Mulatto Butts appears to be an original song made for the show, being characteristically offensive enough for Sterling Archer to use it as his ringtone. It appears to be somewhat based on the ...
- 52k
10
votes
Origin of the whistling sound when things fall
The knowledge predates WW2 - in 1934 the book Biggles of the Camel Squadron was written by WE Johns, and describes a scene in WW1, thus:
“I wish you wouldn’t interrupt!” snarled Henry. “When I was at ...
- 1,157
9
votes
Accepted
Dustin's Grrrr - Fake or real?
I don't really understand why you say that people can't make a similar sound, it's just a regular growl/purr. He does it here:
Anyway, the actor is an ex-musical ...
- 27.7k
8
votes
Why do movies think the speed of sound is as fast as the speed of light?
I would compare it to books, where you have two kinds of narrators: A character-based narrator, who is bound to the physical limitations of the character. And an omniscient narrator, who is free to ...
- 181
8
votes
Accepted
Why are sound effects done so different from reality?
Largely because, while those sounds may be picked up by microphones during the recording of the scene, the sound mixers and boom operators will likely focus the mics on the people speaking, not on ...
- 4,147
8
votes
Why do so many movies still use the Wilhelm scream?
It appears that the Wilhelm scream started as an inside joke, an easter egg maybe. However, over the years it has become a snowball, spawning more and more movies that incorporate the bit of audio.
...
- 5,767
7
votes
In Bollywood, do they play the song while shooting?
I've only ever worked on one musical scene on a Bollywood movie, so this is by no means a comprehensive answer, but agreeing with Jason in general...
For a large outdoor musical scene - this ...
- 52.7k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible