The Wilhelm Whinny: British horses get shot at Hollywood stardom: The ‘Wilhelm Scream’ has an iconic status in film: a single sound effect of a shriek that has become an in-joke amongst Hollywood sound editors, and can be heard in Star Wars, the Indiana Jones series, Disney films, and countless other blockbusters. Classic examples can be seen in this video.
Inspired by this, Equilab (www.equilab.horse), the app and social network for equestrians, has partnered with world-famous film music and sound library, De Wolfe Music (www.dewolfemusic.com) – suppliers of sound and music for such blockbusters as Brokeback Mountain, American Gangster, and Dawn of the Dead – to allow a hitherto-unknown horse the chance to achieve celluloid immortality by providing the ‘Wilhelm Whinny’: a short recording of a horse noise which will be added to De Wolfe’s archive and potentially used in movies for decades to come. The initiative is being undertaken with the support of the UK’s leading horse charity, Redwings (www.redwings.org.uk).
Equilab is asking its UK userbase of 50,000 equestrians to submit a high-quality recording of their horse – neighing, whinnying, snorting, or nickering – via a sound recording feature within the free-to-use Equilab app. A panel of judges consisting of Adam Torkelsson, CEO and co-founder of Equilab, Janine De Wolfe, Director of De Wolfe SFX, and Nic de Brauwere, Head of Welfare and Behaviour at Redwings, will select the winning noise from the submissions.
Equestrians wanting to submit their horse’s sound effect can download the Equilab app for iOS and Android or follow the instructions on the following page:
www.equilab.horse/hollywood_stardom
Adam Torkelsson, CEO and Co-Founder of Equilab, comments: “Horses are creatures of immense personality and intelligence. We are delighted to be both contributing to a greater depth and variety of horse noises in film, while also celebrating a brilliant gem of movie lore. Through De Wolfe’s legendary archive, we can now give a horse the chance at movie stardom, and add to the diversity of equine voice acting in Hollywood.”
Janine De Wolfe, Director of De Wolfe SFX, comments: “The De Wolfe sound effects library is delighted to be associated with Redwings Horse Sanctuary and Equilab. We look forward to listening to the high-quality sound recordings of horses that will be submitted, and in choosing a winner to add to our SFX library collection.”
Nic de Brauwere, Head of Welfare and Behaviour for Redwings, comments: “We love this project! Horses use a variety of noises, such as nickering, snorting and sighing, which – when combined with body language – communicate a wide range of emotions. However, when it comes to the big screen, an image of a horse is usually only accompanied by a classic neighing sound and often in situations where the horse would be unlikely to make that noise anyway. At the Sanctuary, we observe the many ways horses communicate between themselves and with humans on a daily basis, so we’re really pleased to join this project and to highlight, especially to Hollywood, that there’s a much richer selection of noises out there to help provide a more realistic portrayal of our four-legged friends.”
About De Wolfe Music
De Wolfe Music Publishers was established in 1909. De Wolfe has the longest-running and most important independent film and television music library resource in the world, with a catalogue of over 80,000 tracks, including a million-selling number-one record; an Ivor Novello Award-winner; and countless television theme tunes and movie soundtracks. It has a vast collection of instantly recognisable and iconic tracks, that have helped shape popular culture. If you’ve ever seen The Simpsons, Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, Dawn Of The Dead, Top Gear, Breaking Bad, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, or The Apprentice, then you’ve heard De Wolfe music.
About Redwings
Redwings Horse Sanctuary (www.redwings.org.uk) cares for over 1,500 rescued horses, ponies, donkeys, and mules every day at sites across the UK. The charity, which is 100% funded by donations, rescues equines from neglect or abuse and gives them a safe forever home at the Sanctuary. The charity’s own highly skilled veterinary and behaviour teams provide the expert rehabilitation and specialist care its rescued residents need, while those horses capable of living outside of the Sanctuary’s paddock fences are given training to help them find loving new Guardian homes as part of Redwings’ rehoming scheme.
About Equilab
Equilab (www.equilab.horse) is a Swedish-born training app and social network tailored for equestrians, supporting nearly 500,000 riders and more than 600,000 horses in the most prominent equestrian markets, including the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Brazil. Utilising artificial intelligence to monitor the horse’s movement whilst the smartphone rests in the rider’s pocket, the data collected on the app helps analyse training patterns, which makes it possible for both the rider and its horse to maximise their performance and manage their wellbeing. The app is free to download at the App Store and Google Play Store, and is available in 10 different languages.
