A Camera Trick where the camera is placed directly over the actor, pointing down, while the actor looks up into the camera and screams. For extra hamtacularity, the camera may even be spinning or panning upward.
This can be done to show intense anguish in the character, implying that they are screaming at the sky because there is nothing on the planet to hold responsible, possibly cursing some deity. This is especially likely if they are screaming phrases rather than pure noise.
If the cause for this is as simple as running out of Cheesy snacks, the trope immediately becomes comedic.
Showing something like this from the front results in a Volumetric Mouth. See also Big "NO!", The Scream, Say My Name, and Death Wail. Often accompanied by Milking the Giant Cow and Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter. Do not confuse with Skyward Sword.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.Batou when the Major is apparently killed. His friends mock him for it afterwards by threatening to bring up a satellite picture of him doing it.
One happens in the final arc of Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon is shouting No at the time so it doubles as a Big "NO!".
Gundam Seed Destiny: Shinn's entire family has just died, and the opening hasn't even played. Insert multi-angled scream of anguish. And again when Stellar dies. Poor guy.
Several anime (Ranma ½ springs to mind as an example) combine the Skyward Scream with some kind of reaction elsewhere, especially when the scream is either a curse (usually causing the subject to react, such as by sneezing) or a Battle Cry (in which case, someone may slip or accidentally break something).
Wolfram von Bielefeld in the Wham Episode of Kyou Kara Maou: his beloved king was last reported in this church which has since burnt down—but all anyone can find in the ruins is the lonely severed arm of the dedicated once-beloved brother he's been rejecting for years. Cue scream of frustration.
Also cue Character Development. Like anything. It's also after this that he reverts to referring to Conrad by name, which he apparently hasn't done since he was a little kid and found out niisan was half human.
Non angsty example in No6. Sion during the storm in episode 1.
Happens an awful lot in InuYasha, mostly from the title character.
A wordless variant happens in the second movie, complete with spinning camera.
At the end of Arashino Yoru Ni, Gabu the wolf actually does this after he and his sheep friend Mei are now together again and that the Moon is rising right in front of them for the first time.
"YOU'RE DEAAAAAAAAAD!!!! WHEN I FIND YOU, I'LL KILL YOU!!!!" (Vegeta, realizing he's been duped out of getting the rest of the Dragon Balls by Krillin and Gohan, when they were inches away from him)
Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch blows the pants off this trope in the last episodes of the first season. LUCHIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Aragorn, in The Two Towers. In a rare unscripted version, where Vigo Mortenson broke his foot on the helmet he kicked, eliciting a cry of real physical pain that fit the scene well enough that Peter Jackson kept it in.
For some reason, people think that Kirk screaming "KHAAAAAAN!" in Star Trek II was like this. It wasn't (it's a close-up of Kirk's face if you're wondering, cutting to a long shot of the moon he's on/in), but parodies of it do this. The misconception is prevalent enough that this trope was formerly namedThe Khan despite The "KHAAAAAAN!" not actually being an example.
The 2009 Star Trek movie has an actual example of this trope, though - Nero screaming "SPOOOOOOOOOOOCK!" during his Villainous Breakdown.
This also interrupts Nero beating the stuffing out of Alternate-Kirk, who sits up with a faint glimmer of recognition as Nero launches into it.
John Belushi's character screaming after the beer bar is taken away in Animal House.
Iconic movie example: In the film adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire, just after realizing the error of his ways, Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando) screams out in the rain. The "STELLA! STELL-LLAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" is done with this camera angle and has become one of the most famous one-word lines in movie history.
Pirates of the Caribbean does this in the second movie, Dead Man's Chest: "Damn you, Jack... SSSPARRROOOWWWWW!!!!" complete with the pullaway camera angle from above (and Davy Jones spraying seawater).
Performed by Cindy (Anna Faris' character) at the end of every one of the Scary Movie series, although usually punctuated by her being run over.
Bartleby does this near the end of Dogma while laughing maniacally.
In Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, the line "I am... FORTUNE'S FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!" gets this treatment.
"WILLIAAAAAMMM!" William Thatcher also does this, screaming his own name, at the end of A Knight's Tale. Not quite skyward, though.
Parodied in the movie Charlie's Angels with Matt Leblanc howling "DAMN YOU, SALAZAAAR!" at the soaring camera while his girlfriend lies dead in his arms. And then we find out they're shooting a movie within the movie.
Don't forget that the scene takes place at the end of a montage showing the romantic B-plots of the other two angels, furthering the assumption that the girlfriend is Lucy Liu.
In addition to X-Men: The Last Stand, where Wolverine does this after reluctantly killing Jean Grey/Phoenix.
In X2: X-Men United Logan also does this in flashback following a shriek/roar of horror that is exactly how anyone would react to waking up in a tank of water with no memories and having metel claws shoot out of your hands.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Voldemort does this in his death scene. The effect of the rebounding death curse starts to disintegrate him, and he lets out a last, haunting scream as he turns to the sky and breaks up into nothing.
Seinfeld parodied this three times. The first time was George yelling "KHAAAAAAN!" after realizing his life must be dedicated to the Susan Ross foundation.note This is just after Jerry told how he had inspired Susan's parents to start the foundation with a line from The Wrath of Khan. The second time was Elaine yelling "SUUUUUUUUUUZIE!" after realizing her life must be dedicated to the Susie foundation, a fake character she initially made up to avoid troubles and later "killed" her to avoid exposure. The third time was George screaming "TWIIIIIIIIIX!!" after people ate up his candy lineup, which he set up to catch his candy's thief in a car dealership.
The Klingon death ritual first seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation invokes this, roaring into the sky to warn the afterlife that a Klingon warrior is on their way.
"How does a glissando make sense there? Am I introducing a toaster?"
A great recent example was Stewart switching bodies with Justin Bieber. When they switched back, Bieber told Stewart, "Hope you don't mind the new tattoo."
Stewart: Did he say something about a tattoo? And why is my ass sore? *cut to screencap of Stewart's tattoo* '#neversaynever'?! *cut back to Stewart* BIEBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!
Duncan does this once in Highlander: The Series, when he screams Darius's name after finding his dead body.
Like Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report also has engaged in this trope occasionally. ("MANILOWWWWWW!!!")
Along those same lines, who can forget Conan O'Brien's tortured scream... "BOOOLLTEEEENN!"
And again, when he realizes he cannot have Rebecca Romijn-Stamos. "STAAAAUGH-MOS!"
Wade in the first season finale of Sliders: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
30 Rock: "I GAVE MY WHOLE LIFE TO PORN! AND HE DOES IT IN ONE DAY!]] ONE!! DAY!!!"
In the TV movie finale of Prison Break, T-Bag does this. "SCOOFIEEELD! SCOOOOOOOOOFIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELD!"
Parodied in an episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway?? During a game of Weird Newswcasters (in which the comedians had to portray certain characters while being in a newscast), Ryan (the weatherman) was assigned a character of a self-centered actor about to give his "Oscar-worthy performance". Ryan finished off his bit with his character bellowing his last line as he looked up towards an overhead camera—while he spun instead of the camera. The audience burst out into applause at the end. View the whole game here (Ryan's performance starts at around 2:40)
Boy Meets World has Cory scream this way when he suffers from a very bad hairdo. Worse for him is the fact that he still has to go to school that day — without being permitted to wear a hat inside the school building.
In the classic "Dreams" episode of M* A* S* H, each main character's nap is disturbed by nightmares. Hawkeye's ends with him staring helplessly at a bleeding Korean girl, armless, as a patient-loaded helicopter flies low overhead, ending with a bloodcurdling No.
Done twice on Dexter, both involving the serial-killers-o'-the-season: in season three there's a "MIGUEEEEEELL!", complete with room-smashingalthough it was revealed he was just imagining how he'd like to react, and in season four, after the Trinity Killer evades his clutches once again, "ARRTHURRRR!"
Used in I Shouldn't Be Alive, to emphasize a stranded survivor's isolation as they yell for help and the camera zooms out to show they're alone in the midst of hostile terrain.
Smallville: Lex does one at the end of the episode "Persona" after his hired assassin informs him of successfully murdering Grant Gabriel, a clone that he created of his dead younger brother Julian, who turned his back on him for Lionel. This normally would have counted as his Moral Event Horizon, but because of the grief and regret that he showed by doing this, he was still considered at least a little sympathetic among most fans.
Merlin screams desperately for help from the Great Dragon when Arthur is dying in the Grand Finale.
Highlander, during Duncan's discovery of Darius's body in 'The Hunters'.
Video Games
Used by the Joker in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe's DC story mode after Captain Marvel tells Superman and the four DC villains the name of the Original GenerationBig Bad (Dark Kahn, a merger of DC's Darkseid and MK's Shao Kahn). Though the camera is above him, it cuts thrice, each one more distanced from him (and echoing his voice) rather than pulling away smoothly. Then Deathstroke tells him to shut up.
The first major turning point in Star Ocean 3 ends with Fayt screaming "WHAT THE HELL AM I!?!?!"
In Warcraft 3 in the scene when Grom Hellscream kills Mannoroth there are some pretty dramatic screams, that however being wordless don't quite qualify as Big Nos, and at the end of the scene, following Grom's death, a very powerful Khan Scream.
When von Karma sees that his goose is cooked in the first Ace Attorney game, he can't help but cry "EEEEEEEDDDDDGGGGEWOOOOOOOOOORRRRRTTTTHHHHH!"
In Case 4 of Apollo Justice, when Kristoph Gavin realizes that he's been ultimately outdone, he screams: ** "WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT"
Quercus Alba takes this Up to Eleven when he starts screaming Edgeworth's name so forcefully, he can't even finish the name before continuing into high pitched shrieking.
In Over Blood Raz shouts Pipo's name like this when he "dies" (he is a robot).
Kingdom Hearts II, when Roxas, upon discovering that all of his memories are fake, that he has no right to exist, and that to restore Sora's memories and wake him up, Roxas must be sacrificed. He attempts to attack DiZ for putting him through all of it, only to find out that he isn't even in the room, just showing him a projection of himself. Roxas's anger, despair, and frustration reaches a boiling point there, and he just screams. Poor kid has gone through some serious sh*t.
Garlot of Blaze Union is prone enough to doing this (sans corny camerawork) that the game developers saw fit to give him an actual dialogue portrait devoted to passionate yelling.
The Tales Series RPG characters are known to do this when performing their signature Limit Break attacks.
In Time Splitters: Future Perfect, Sergeant Cortez lets out a furious 'Urgh... Gawd-DAAAAAAAMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!' after unwittingly giving the Big Bad the details of his plot. This takes place in the middle of the 21st century, but the skyward scream is so intense, it echoes through time, being heard by ally Harry Tipper in 1970, and a man implied to be Tipper's elderly son. Bonus points for the implication that Tipper is at the point of conceiving said son.
Golden Sun Dark Dawn wrings a Big "NO!" from Eoleo this way during the Grave Eclipse, when his father dies of monster-inflicted wounds.
Done multiple times in Nie R, most notably by Nier when the Shadowlord and Grimoire Noir kidnap Yonah, and by the Shadowlord himself with Gestalt Yonah commits suicide.
In Tales Of Innocence, when Luca finds out who caused the Fall of Devaloka, he summons this trope - camerawork and everything - to curse him for all the suffering it has caused.
Asura's Wrath: Asura gets in on this one a few times, though it's actually rather rare that we see him doing so. His Skyward Scream for his wife is a single howl of rage and grief, though he does scream his daughter Mithra's name out as he goes to rescue her. However, when a human girl who looks like Mithra dies in front of him, he has a long moment where he seems like he can't breathe OR scream, and then the overhead view of the trope comes into play and very bad things happen to very bad people.
From Penny and Aggie, when the normally unflappable Katy-Ann discovers Jack's beer stash after he's promised to stay sober: "HE HASME!"
Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi gives us one combined with a Big "NO!", from Professor Utonium, in response to the dreaded news of having to attend a Parent-Teacher Conference, for Buttercup.
This was also used in his review of Saved by the Bell while recapping the oil drilling episode. When he announces the evil culprit behind Becky the duck's death, he dramatically looks up and proclaims "OIL!" complete with a spinning camera pull away shot.
Also used on That Guy with the Glasses by Angry Joe, in the parking lot of a Chick-Fil-A when he realizes that it's Sunday and the place is closed.
Wouldn't you know, in another TGWTG example, Linkara does it in the "previously on..." segment at the start of Uncanny X-Men 424, "IIIIINSAAAAAAANOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"
Strong Bad'spoorly-done home movie series Dangeresque features the title character and his partner yelling the villain Perducci's name like this. In Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People: Dangeresque 3 it becomes a running gag, with Dangeresque almost unable to say Perducci's name without screaming it.
In Homestar Ruiner, Strong Bad's response to finding Homestar is hiding at his house because of all the damage Strong Bad did to Homestar's reputation is to direct one of these at IIIIIIIRRRROOOOOONYYYYYYY!
Used in The Dr. Steel Show, Episode 1. As Doctor Steel checks his email, he becomes frustrated that his inbox is full of spam, and cries to the heavens (with accompanying jarring chord), "Damn thee, spam! DAMN THEEEEEE!"
(During his review of Pulse 3) The Internet ghost of a record player? THE INTERNET GHOST OF A RECORD PLAYER?! (To the sky with the camera spinning above him) THE INTERNET GHOST OF A RECORD PLAYER! IT MADE ME DO THE SPINNING SCREEN THING AGAIN!!!!
William Shatner: Hello, I'm William Shatner and this is Celebrity 911. Tonight, we devote the entire hour to police calls involving James Caan...(makes face)CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!
In the season 3 finale of Jackie Chan Adventures, the last scene shows the demon Shendu, petrified again, yelling "CHAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!!" as the "camera" pans out.
Leela does one of these in the Futurama episode "Love's Labors Lost in Space" after waking up from a night of pity sex with Fake Ultimate Hero Zapp Brannigan, who is himself a parody of William Shatner.
Also Nibbler in the Futurama film Bender's Big Score: "Doooomed!"
Bender himself has one in an episode wherein he takes a big breath and says "DOOOOOOOOOME-" before he's cut off by a scene change. His was the third in a series of the characters having progressively longer skyward screams.
"Ghost in the Machines" had Bender screaming "DAMN YOU, OBAMACARE!!!"
In the season 2 opening of Legion Of Superheroes, Imperiex does one of these. WITH SPINNING of course.
Parodied in The Simpsons with Rainier Wolfcastle's "MEN-DO-ZAAAA!"
Also done in "Bart's Comet", three times by Principal Skinner. The first is when Skinner gets back to Bart, only to find he's called the observatory with his find of a comet and they're gonna name it after him. The second is when Skinner accidentally lets go of the "Hi! I'm big butt Skinner!" weather balloon. The third is when Skinner read a disparaging remark about the Elementary school from a newspaper landing in front of him. Each one is accompanied by a Big "NO!".
Also, Homer's reaction to Mr. Burns failing to recognize him again in "Who Shot Mr. Burns, Part 1":
Homer: Kids, would you step out side for a second? (kids run out, Homer stands up, looks skyward) F— (cut to church organ hitting a minor chord) Flanders: Dear Lord, that's the loudest profanity I've ever heard!
And from the Movie we have "DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMEE!"
And from season 5's "Bart Gets an Elephant", whereupon Homer mistakenly believes Blackheart, the ivory dealer, took Bart along with Stampy:
Homer:He took Bart, too? (runs to window) That wasn't part of the deal, Blackheart! THAT WASN'T PAAAARRRRRRRT!
"Stroker and Hoop" parodied this with the character Stroker screaming "KHAAAAAN-ja" after being swindled and taken to a mental asylum by a woman, pretending to be an alien, (though later revealed to be a real alien) named Khan'Ja.
Demona from Gargoyles mixes this with a Big "NO!" when she discovers her planning got her own clan brutally killed, complete with her falling to her knees and raising her hands to the sky.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Spike does this twice (accompanied by a Big "NO!") in "A Dog and Pony Show", first when Rarity gets kidnapped by the Diamond Dogs, then again when he and Rarity's other friends end up lost in the Diamond Dogs' tunnels.
Coop from Megas XLR gives one of these (Retracting his robot car's convertible hood to do so) when he realized his battles with the alien robot of the week have destroyed the last Mega Slush machine in the greater Jersey area.
Arcee provides an incoherent one after Soundwave teleports her to the Arctic before she could reach an amnesic Optimus on the Decepticon ship.
Suprisingly, Optimus does this in "Inside Job" when Starscream steals the Omega keys. Dreadwing does it again in the following episode when he learns of what Starscream did to his brother's corpse and hearing Megatron's advice on keeping that secret from him.
The beginning of Astérix and the Vikings, when Timandahaf realizes that village his crew are sacking is empty.
"Hello...? Anyone home...? By Thor...WHHHHYYYYY!?"
Music
The whole process is described in Razorblade Sigh by Gamma Ray.
Simple Plan's Untitled music video has the singer perform a skyward scream during, appropriately enough, the lyrics "I just wanna SCREEEEEEAAAAAAAAMMMM!"
Fan Work
In the Warhammer 40000 machinima A Day in the Life of a Commissar, Commissar Steeve does this when he's told there's no coffee left. Also parodied...
In Ace Combat The Equestrian War, Rainbow Dash unleashes a chilling scream by the end of chapter 11, reason being Gilda betraying her trust and breaking Medley's wings.
