Ben Burtt

Infobox Actor


name = Ben Burtt
birthdate = birth date and age|1948|7|12
birthplace = Jamesville, New York
academyawards = Special Achievement Award
1977 '
1981 "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark"
Best Sound Editing
1982 '
1989 "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"
baftaawards = Best Sound
1977 "Star Wars"

Benjamin Burtt, Jr. [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/92/Ben-Burtt.html Ben Burtt Biography (1948-) ] ] (born July 12, 1948) is a four time Academy Award-winning sound designer and sound editor for many famous and noteworthy films, as well as directing an Oscar-nominated documentary.

Burtt's most memorable work includes creating the "voice" of robot R2-D2 in the "Star Wars" films, as well as various sound effects like the lightsaber, the heavy breathing sound of Darth Vader (by recording his own breathing in an old Dacor scuba regulator), and the speederbike chase sounds from "". He also worked on the sound effects in the 1978 remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Recently, Ben Burtt created the sound effects and most of the robot "voices" (including that of the title character) in the 2008 Pixar film "WALL-E".

Awards

Academy Awards

* Sound Effects Editing in 1982 for "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial"
* Sound Effects Editing in 1989 for "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"
* Special Achievement for sound editing in "" (1977) and "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981)
* Nominated for::* Sound and Sound Effects Editing in 1983 for "":* Sound Effects Editing in 1988 for "Willow":* Sound in 1989 for "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade":* Documentary Short Subject in 1996 for directing "":* Sound Effects Editing in 1999 for ""

Career

Burtt earned a college degree in Physics from Allegheny College. In 1970, he won the National Student Film Festival with a war movie called Yankee Squadron. For his work on the special effects film Genesis he won a scholarship to the University of Southern California, where he earned a Master's Degree in Film Production.

Burtt pioneered modern sound design, especially in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Before his work in "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope", science fiction movies tended to use electronic-sounding effects for futuristic devices. Burtt sought a more natural sound, blending in "found sounds" to create the effects. The lightsaber hum, for instance, was derived from a film projector idling combined with feedback from a broken television set, and the blaster effect started with the sound acquired from hitting a guy wire on a radio tower with a wrench. Burtt has also used a recording of his wife, who at the time was suffering from a minor cold and was sleeping in bed, for the film "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial".

Burtt has a reputation for including a sound effect dubbed "The Wilhelm scream" in many of the movies he's worked on. Taken from a character named "Wilhelm" in the film "The Charge at Feather River", the sound can be heard in countless films: for instance, in "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" when a stormtrooper falls into a chasm and in "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark" when a Nazi soldier falls off the back of a moving car.

Burtt makes appearances in two of the "Star Wars" films as an extra. He appeared as in ' (the Imperial officer who yells "Freeze" before Han Solo knocks him off a balcony) and in ' as (appears in the background near the end when Padmé Amidala congratulates Palpatine).

Due to his influence, John Williams musical score was often put in the background to the movie's sound effects as opposed to the original trilogy.

He is also personally responsible for some of the sounds heard in the movies: part of R2-D2's beeps and whistles are Burtt's vocalizations, as are some of the squawks made by the tiny holographic monsters on the Millennium Falcon, and in he provides the voice for Invisible Hand captain Lushros Dofine. In 2008, Burtt created the "voice" of the title character in Pixar's film "WALL-E", about a lonely garbage pickup robot. He is also responsible for the sound effects in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".

Burtt was awarded the Doctor of Arts, honoris causa, by Allegheny College on May 9, 2004.

=Ho

A tongue-in-cheek homage to Ben Burtt appears in the 1997 Activision PC game "" - the spell 'Beburtt', which 'creates the illusion of inclement weather', plays dramatic thunderclap and rainfall sounds when cast.

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0123785|name=Ben Burtt
*amg name|2:83647
* [http://www.starwars.com/bio/benburtt.html Ben Burtt profile at Star Wars.com]
* [http://www.hollywoodlostandfound.net/wilhelm/ Site detailing the history of The Wilhelm Scream]
* [http://www.transmitmedia.com/svr/vault/burtt/index.html Interview with Ben Burtt on Silicon Valley Radio]
* [http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2008/06/27 Interview with Ben Burtt on Studio 360 about his career]