For Hopes And Fears, Aaron Reese traces a brief history of sound effects in sci-fi films, starting with the early roots of Foley art and continuing on through 2013’s Gravity. Reese manages to find interesting anecdotes behind just about every sound effect—like the infamous “Wilhelm Scream” becoming a staple of modern cinema thanks to an undergrad in-joke, the musical origins of Godzilla’s roar, and this bit on the sound of a knife slicing through flesh in Psycho:
“In a recording studio, prop man [Bob] Bone auditioned the melons for Hitchcock, who sat listening with his eyes closed,” writes Stephen Rebello in his book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho. “When the table was littered with shredded fruit, Hitchcock opened his eyes, and intoned simply: ‘Casaba.’”
[via kottke.org]