Screamer: Difference between revisions

Screamers often rely on deception to work. They may use clever editing, false promises, or other tricks to convince viewers that they are watching something harmless or mundane. This is often done to make the eventual jump scare more effective, as the viewer is caught off guard and taken by surprise. Despite their popularity and notoriety, screamers remain a controversial and divisive form of internet content. These types of pranks are often spread through social media and messaging platforms, and typically rely on the viewer being unaware of the content they are about to see. In some cases, screamers are used as a form of advertising, although this practice has been criticized for being uncommercial and upsetting to viewers. Many websites and online communities have implemented policies against screamers and similar content, citing concerns over the psychological impact on viewers, particularly those who may be vulnerable or have anxiety or other mental health issues. The most famous example of screamers are [[What's Wrong With This Picture?]], [[The Maze]] by [[Jeremy Winterrowd]] and more.

The earliest examples of screamers were typically simple animated images or videos that appeared to be harmless, but then suddenly displayed a loud, frightening image or sound. These early screamers were often shared through email or posted on message boards, and quickly gained popularity due to their ability to startle and shock viewers.  The early screamer videos and websites were often crude and simplistic. Over time, screamers evolved to become more elaborate and sophisticated, incorporating more advanced graphics, sound effects, and even interactive elements, thanks to [[Adobe Flash]]. While screamer videos and websites were initially created as pranks or jokes, some horror video games and films have since adopted the technique as a way to scare their audiences. The jump scare, which is a common element of horror media today, is essentially a modern take on the screamer. The earliest screamer to date was the 1970s anti-heroin campaign titled ''[[Monkey on Their Backs]]'', which features a wind-up monkey toy playing its cymbals while a young girl's voice discusses addiction to heroin. Suddenly, the monkey stops playing and the camera zooms in on its face, which abruptly changes to a still image of a real-life monkey screaming at the viewer, accompanied by a short scream. The text "Why do you think they call it DOPE?" appears on screen. Another earliest example of a screamer was a scareware program created by Patrick Evans, titled "[[NightMare|Nightmare]]" that, when executed, features a digital image of a skull facing right with its jaws open, covered in blood, and bearing a bullet wound.

Screamers are a common technique used in horror video games to create sudden and intense moments of fright. This technique involves startling the player with an unexpected event such as the sudden appearance of a frightening creature or a loud noise accompanied by a quick visual or auditory cue. The main purpose of a screamer is to create a feeling of suspense and anticipation, leading the player to become increasingly anxious and fearful as they progress through the game. Screamer are often used in combination with other horror elements such as eerie music, ambient sounds, and disturbing imagery as a design to make their game scarier. While screamer can be very effective at scaring players, they can also be overused or used poorly, leading to frustration or boredom. When used sparingly and in the right context, screamer can be a powerful tool for creating an experience of horror games. One example of a horror game that utilizes screamers is [[Lomando.com]], which contains various puzzles that lead the player to screamers at almost any room they enter. The objective of the game is to use every element of the game they can find and reach an "archive". Web comics also often used animated screamers in moment of suspense. In other words, screamers plays a very crucial role as an element in almost every horror games.  

Prior to the emergence of screamer videos, a number of public service announcements were broadcasted with the intention of shocking viewers with disturbing imagery in order to raise awareness about various issues. One early example is the Faroe Islands (WDC) PSA which depicted the slaughter of dolphins by islanders. In addition to public service announcements, screamers were also utilized as a means of advertising. However, the use of screamers in advertising is not without controversy. While some argue that it is an effective means of capturing the viewer's attention. Perhaps the most well-known example of advertising screamers is the controversial "Wide Awake" campaign launched in April 2005 by German beverage company [[K-fee]]. The campaign consisted of nine 20-second television commercials that portrayed peaceful scenes which were abruptly interrupted by the appearance of a zombie or a gargoyle screaming at the camera, followed by the company's slogan and product. The advertisements were criticized for being uncommercial and upsetting, with many viewers complaining to K-fee, which subsequently took the commercials off air. Although it is rumored that a warning message was displayed before the advertisement played, this has not been proven. The K-Fee Car commercial was featured on several TV shows, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, K-Fee's official website, Tarrant on TV, and [[America's Funniest Home Videos]]. The "Auto" commercial was uploaded to [[YouTube]] with the name of "Ghost Car" which gained 38 million views since its upload.<ref><nowiki>https://www.denofgeek.com/culture/forgotten-era-of-internet-jump-scares/</nowiki></ref> [[Count The Snow Bunnies|Count the Snow Bunnies]] was also aired and uses the sample of where the viewer search for something.

The advertising campaign for the 2018 horror film "The Nun" utilized an [[The Nun - YouTube Ads|unskippable YouTube ad]] that violated the platform's "shocking content policy."<ref><nowiki>https://deadline.com/2018/08/the-nun-youtube-ad-removed-1202445509/</nowiki></ref> The ad featured an iOS device volume icon and then suddenly transitioned to the titular character with a loud scream. A Twitter post featuring a clip of the ad went viral, garnering over 145,000 likes and 132,000 retweets, as well as numerous complaints to YouTube. The platform subsequently removed the ad.

Various other types of screamers involve staring at a dot or finding the difference between two pictures. One notable example is the 2001 screamer called "[[What's Wrong With This Picture?]]" or simply "What's Wrong?" The screamer, which pretends to be a still image, begins with a normal stock photo of a dining room and asks the viewer to find something wrong with it. After 30 seconds, the image suddenly changes to an eyeless woman with a wide open mouth putting her hands around the side of her face, accompanied by a loud scream. This screamer gained significant popularity and was even featured in ''[[wikipedia:The New York Times|The New York Times]]'' on April 22, 2002. The creator of the animation, Jaybill, stated that he made the screamer "exclusively for the purpose of scaring my girlfriend."<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/22/business/compressed-data-why-is-this-room-so-popular-shh-you-re-about-to-find-out.html?searchResultPosition=1</ref> The screamer also inspired the "[[When you see it|When you see it, you will shitbrix]]" memes where it pretends to be an image (which is actually a .gif itself) before an animated image appears on the screen.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20101016212629/http://www.urlesque.com/2010/10/13/screamers-the-history-of-the-scary-maze-prank/</ref>