What's That Sound?

Find out how each sound effect was created

The sound of the TIE Fighter was created by taking the noise of a screaming elephant, sampled from the 1958 Errol Flynn adventure movie, Roots Of Heaven, and stretching it to make the sound longer.

Ben Burtt was out hiking when his backpack got stuck on a guy wire (a tensioned cable designed to add stability to a free-standing structure). The sound of his backpack suddenly pulling away was the original recording he used for the laser blaster - although lots of effects were added in post-production to create the final sound.

Many animals were combined to create the sound of Chewbacca, including bears, lions, badgers, and a walrus. Lots of different recordings and vocalisations from the animals were spliced together to create the alien language we all recognise as Chewie.