Sheb Wooley comes screaming out of the mists of pop culture into the commercial mainstream in FCB's new campaign for pay-TV channel Canal+ in Spain.
Wooley is the voice actor who performed the "Wilhelm scream," a ubiquitous sound effect that debuted in the 1951 adventure Distant Drum and has since been dubbed into more than 200 movies, including Toy Story and the Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Indiana Jones series. It takes its name from Private Wilhelm, a character in the 1953 western The Charge at Feather River. (Modern auteurs like George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino, Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg apparently use the scream in their productions whenever possible.)
The ad below, by FCB Spain and FCB Los Angeles, stars Wooley's widow, Linda Dotson Wooley, as "The Woman Who Can't Watch Movies"—because she's afraid she'll hear her husband's famous scream. The mockumentary points to a website that encourage folks to "donate" their screams and overdub Wooley so Linda can enjoy Hollywood films again. The site lets you record screams for up to three movie clips and share the results with friends. They'll really appreciate that.
Even though it's all a goof, I kept thinking that Linda could just watch something outside Wooley's filmography—like the Scream movies or Home Alone, in which, it seems, Macaulay Culkin handled the screamy honors himself.
CREDITS
Client: Canal+
Agency: FCB Spain; FCB Los Angeles
Campaign: "Leave Wilhelm Alone"
Client Contacts: Iñaki Martikorena, Bernardo Melero, Purification González
Executive Creative Directors: Pedro Soler, Eric Springer
Creative Team: Beatriz Pedrosa, Peio Azkoaga, Joao Freitas
Producers: Brendan Kiernan, Steve Devore, Thomas Anderson, Kate Borkowski, Kepa Vizcay
Production Company: Helo
Director: Alex Grossman
Lighting: Seamus Tierney
Sound: Sam Tornero Pulido
Web Developers: Carlos Lainez, Miguel Iglesias
App Developers: Joan Arbó, Jorge Cubillo
Social Media Strategy: Mauro Rodriguez, Jose Olivares
Poster: Beatriz Pedrosa, Marian de la Fuente
Planner: Manuel López