Ben Burtt

Ben Burtt
Ben Burtt
	Burtt at Star Wars Celebration Europe II in Essen, Germany in 2013
Born	Benjamin Burtt Jr.; July 12, 1948 (age 76); Jamesville, New York, U.S.
Education	Allegheny College
Alma mater	University of Southern California
Occupations	Sound designer; film director; film editor; screenwriter; voice actor;
Years active	1975–present
Children	Benjamin A. Burtt
Awards	Doctor of Arts; Charles S. Swartz Award; Academy Award;

Benjamin Burtt Jr. (born July 12, 1948) is an American sound designer, film director, film editor, screenwriter, and voice actor. As a sound designer, his credits include the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film series, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), WALL-E (2008), and Star Trek (2009).

Burtt is notable for popularizing the Wilhelm scream in-joke and creating many of the iconic sound effects heard in the Star Wars film franchise, including the 'voice' of R2-D2, the lightsaber hum, the sound of the blaster guns, the heavy-breathing sound of Darth Vader and creating the Ewoks’ language, Ewokese. Burtt was also the sound editor for WALL-E and performed the vocalizations of the titular character as well as other robots in the film.

Burtt has won four Academy Awards, two of which are Special Achievement Academy Awards. He has also directed numerous documentary films for IMAX and most notably the television series Young Indiana Jones on the episode "Attack of the Hawkmen." He also served as the editor on multiple episodes of the show and the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

Early life

Burtt was born in Jamesville, New York, on July 12, 1948.^[1] The son of a chemistry professor and a child psychologist, Burtt made films as a child, and later studied physics at Allegheny College, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1970.^[2]

Career

Early career

Burtt made films during his time in college, and in 1970 won a National Student Film Festival for his war film entitled Yankee Squadron,^[2] reputedly after following exposure to classic aviation drama.^{[citation needed]} He had previously made an amateur film at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, a living aviation museum in Red Hook, New York, under guidance from its founder, Cole Palen.^{[citation needed]}

For his work on the special-effects film Genesis, Burtt won a scholarship to the University of Southern California,^[2] where he earned a master's degree in film production.

Sound designer

Burtt pioneered many aspects of modern sound design, especially in the science-fiction and fantasy-film genres.^[3] Before his work in the first Star Wars (now known as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) in 1977, science-fiction films 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 hammer.^[4]

In the Star Wars series, part of R2-D2's beeps and whistles are Burtt's vocalizations, also made using an ARP 2600 synthesizer, as are some of the squawks made by the tiny holographic monsters on the Millennium Falcon spacecraft. In Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), Burtt's provided the voice for Lushros Dofine, captain of the Invisible Hand cruiser. The heavy breathing of Darth Vader was created by recording Burtt's own breathing in an old Dacor scuba regulator.^{[citation needed]}

Burtt used the voice of an elderly lady that he had met in a photography shop for the voice of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The woman's low pitch was the result of very heavy smoking, specifically Kool cigarettes. Burtt created the "voice" of the title character and many other robots in Pixar's film WALL-E (2008), about a lonely garbage-compacting robot. Additionally, Burtt is responsible for the sound effects in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).^[5]

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

One of Burtt's more subtle sound effects is the "audio black hole." In Attack of the Clones, Burtt's use of the audio black hole involved the insertion of a short interval of absolute silence in the audio track, just prior to the detonation of "seismic charges" fired at the escaping Jedi spaceship. The effect of this short (less than one second) of silence is to accentuate the resulting explosion in the mind of the listener. Burtt has recalled the source of this idea as follows: "I think back to where that idea might have come to me...I remember in film school a talk I had with an old retired sound editor who said they used to leave a few frames of silence in the track just before a big explosion. In those days they would 'paint' out the optical sound with ink. Then I thought of the airlock entry sequence in 2001. I guess the seeds were there for me to nourish when it came to the seismic charges."

Burtt was among the golden ears that critically reviewed the various audio compression systems that were proposed for the ATSC 1.0 digital television system.

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

Director, editor, and writer

Burtt has directed several IMAX documentary films, including Blue Planet, Destiny in Space, and the Oscar-nominated Special Effects: Anything Can Happen.^[6] He edited the entire Star Wars prequel trilogy, and several episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Burtt also wrote several episodes of the 1980s Star Wars cartoon Droids.^[7]

Cameo appearances

Burtt makes a cameo appearance in two of the Star Wars films as an extra. In Return of the Jedi, he appeared as Colonel Dyer, the Imperial officer who yells "Freeze!" before Han Solo knocks him off a balcony. The scream as Burtt falls is his own imitation of the Wilhelm scream that he popularized. In Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Burtt appears in the background of the scene where Palpatine arrives on Naboo;^[8] his character is named Ebenn Q3 Baobab, a reference to a Droids character.

Filmography

Film

Title	Year	Credited as					Notes
Title	Year	Director	Writer	Editor	Sound designer	Other	Notes
Death Race 2000	1975				Yes		Uncredited
The Milpitas Monster	1976					Yes	Special effects artist
Star Wars	1977				Yes	Yes	1997 & 2004 versions Special dialogue and sound effects
Invasion of the Body Snatchers	1978					Yes	Special sound effects creator
More American Graffiti	1979				Yes	Yes	Supervising sound editor
The Empire Strikes Back	1980				Yes	Yes	1997 & 2004 versions Supervising sound editor
Raiders of the Lost Ark	1981				Yes
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	1982					Yes	E.T. voice designer
The Dark Crystal	1982					Yes	Special sound effects creator
Return of the Jedi	1983				Yes		Appeared as Commander Dyer and voice of Tortured Power Droid
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom	1984				Yes	Yes
The Adventures of André and Wally B.	1984				Yes		Short film
The Dream Is Alive	1985					Yes	Short film Supervising sound designer
Howard the Duck	1986					Yes	Sound effects editor
Nutcracker: The Motion Picture					Yes
Niagara: Miracles, Myths and Magic			Yes	Yes	Yes		Short film
Willow	1988				Yes
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade	1989				Yes
Always	1989				Yes
Blue Planet	1990	Yes			Yes
The True Story of Glory Continues	1990	Yes		Yes	Yes
The American Gangster	1992	Yes
Destiny in Space	1994	Yes					Co-director
Special Effects: Anything Can Happen	1996	Yes	Yes	Yes
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace	1999			Yes	Yes	Yes	Supervising sound editor Appeared as Naboo Courier
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones	2002			Yes	Yes	Yes	Supervising sound editor
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith	2005			Yes	Yes	Yes	Supervising sound editor Provided voice for Lushros Dofine
Munich	2005				Yes	Yes	Supervising sound editor
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	2008				Yes	Yes	Supervising sound editor
WALL-E	2008				Yes	Yes	Provided voice for WALL-E / M-O / Robots Supervising sound editor
BURN-E	2008				Yes	Yes	Short film Provided voice for WALL-E
Up	2009					Yes	Uncredited Special sound effects recordist
Star Trek	2009				Yes	Yes	Sound editor
Super 8	2011				Yes	Yes	Supervising sound editor
Red Tails	2012			Yes	Yes	Yes	Supervising sound editor
John Carter						Yes	Sound consultation
Lincoln					Yes
Star Trek Into Darkness	2013				Yes	Yes	Supervising sound editor
Escape from Planet Earth	2013					Yes	Additional sound design
The Signal	2014				Yes
Star Wars: The Force Awakens	2015				Yes
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound	2019					Yes	As himself

Television

Title	Year	Credited as					Notes
Title	Year	Director	Writer	Editor	Sound designer	Other	Notes
Star Wars Holiday Special	1978				Yes		Television film
Star Wars: Droids	1985–1986		Yes		Yes	Yes	Associate producer Story editor Stories for 4 episodes Teleplay for episode "The Great Heep"
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers	1988–1990					Yes	Uncredited Sound effects editor (65 episodes)
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles	1992–1996	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Second unit director (2 episodes) Directed and teleplay episode "Attack of the Hawkmen"
Star Wars: Forces of Destiny	2017–2018				Yes

Video games

WALL-E (2008) - WALL•E / M-O / Robots
Lego The Incredibles (2018) - WALL•E
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (2019) - BD-1
Disney Dreamlight Valley (2023) - WALL•E
Disney Speedstorm (2023) - WALL•E

Awards

Academy Awards

Best Sound Effects Editing in 1989 for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Best Sound Effects Editing in 1982 for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Special Achievement for Sound Effects Editing in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Special Achievement for Sound Effects Editing in Star Wars (1977)
Nominated for:
- Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing in 2008 for WALL-E^[9]
- Best Sound Effects Editing in 1999 for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
- Best Documentary Short Subject in 1996 for directing Special Effects: Anything Can Happen
- Best Sound in 1989 for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade^[10]
- Best Sound Effects Editing in 1988 for Willow
- Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing in 1983 for Return of the Jedi^[11]

Annie Awards

Nominated: Voice Acting in a Feature Production in 2008 for WALL-E

Honorary awards

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

The Hollywood Post Alliance awarded him with The Charles S. Swartz Award for outstanding contributions to the field of post production.

In 2024, Burtt was recognized with the Vision Award Ticinomoda at the 77th Locarno Film Festival.^[12]

References

^ McGee, Marty (2001). Encyclopedia of Motion Picture Sound. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. pp. 52-53. ISBN 9780786410231.
^ ^a ^b ^c Cavin, Andrew I. (2003). "Burtt, Ben". In Thompson, Clifford (ed.). Current Biography Yearbook 2003. New York: H.W. Wilson. pp. 47-50. ISBN 0824210263.
^ Holman, Tomlinson. Sound for Film and Television. New York: Focal Press, 2010, p. 145.
^ "Sound Design of Star Wars". Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
^ Pascale, Anthony (January 6, 2009). "Star Trek Post Production Complete + Oscar-winner Ben Burtt Provided Sound Design". trekmovie.com. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
^ filmreference.com (2008). "Ben Burtt Biography". NetIndustries, LLC. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved October 25, 2008.
^ Greene, Jamie (January 18, 2018). "Everything you'd ever want to know about Star Wars: Droids". SyFy Wire. Archived from the original on January 20, 2019. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
^ Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace audio commentary (DVD). 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. 2001. Event occurs at 126.
^ "The 81st Academy Awards (2009) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved November 22, 2011.
^ "The 62nd Academy Awards (1990) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
^ "The 56th Academy Awards (1984) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on November 2, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
^ "Ben Burtt, Sound Designer and Editor for Star Wars & Indiana Jones and Voice of Wall-E, to Receive Vision Award Ticinomoda at Locarno77". Locarno Film Festival. Retrieved July 2, 2024.

External links

[1] McGee, Marty (2001). Encyclopedia of Motion Picture Sound. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. pp. 52-53. ISBN 9780786410231.

[CurrentBio-2] Cavin, Andrew I. (2003). "Burtt, Ben". In Thompson, Clifford (ed.). Current Biography Yearbook 2003. New York: H.W. Wilson. pp. 47-50. ISBN 0824210263.

[3] Holman, Tomlinson. Sound for Film and Television. New York: Focal Press, 2010, p. 145.

[4] "Sound Design of Star Wars". Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved March 9, 2014.

[5] Pascale, Anthony (January 6, 2009). "Star Trek Post Production Complete + Oscar-winner Ben Burtt Provided Sound Design". trekmovie.com. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved January 4, 2017.

[bio-6] reference.com (2008). "Ben Burtt Biography". NetIndustries, LLC. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved October 25, 2008.

[7] Greene, Jamie (January 18, 2018). "Everything you'd ever want to know about Star Wars: Droids". SyFy Wire. Archived from the original on January 20, 2019. Retrieved April 22, 2020.

[8] Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace audio commentary (DVD). 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. 2001. Event occurs at 126.

[Oscars2009-9] "The 81st Academy Awards (2009) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved November 22, 2011.

[Oscars1990-10] "The 62nd Academy Awards (1990) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2011.

[Oscars1984-11] "The 56th Academy Awards (1984) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on November 2, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2011.

[12] "Ben Burtt, Sound Designer and Editor for Star Wars & Indiana Jones and Voice of Wall-E, to Receive Vision Award Ticinomoda at Locarno77". Locarno Film Festival. Retrieved July 2, 2024.

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Ben Burtt

Early life

Career

Early career

Sound designer

Director, editor, and writer

Cameo appearances

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Awards

Academy Awards

Annie Awards

Honorary awards

References

External links

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