Audience fatigue with jumpscare thumbnails: is the red arrow era ending?

1. GL

   GhostLightEditsCreatorOriginal postSep 6#1

   Trailer editor, so I think about the first frame a lot. On CRYPT I keep seeing 'clickbait' creep up in comments on horror uploads, and the ones people complain about in the threads are the screaming face plus red arrow kind. The quieter ones, a hallway, a timestamp, one odd detail, seem to get warmer reactions. Are we watching the jumpscare thumbnail die?

2. BT

   BasementTapesFanSep 7#2

   A thumbnail of an empty hallway at 3:14am scares me more than any screaming face.

3. AS

   AnalogStaticFanSep 8#3

   BasementTapes said

   an empty hallway at 3:14am

   Timestamps or it did not happen, and in this case the timestamp is the horror.

4. SW

   SignalWardenStaffModSep 8#4

   We do see 'clickbait' language rising in horror comment text over the last couple of months. We cannot tie it to thumbnails directly, since CRYPT does not analyse images, so treat the thumbnail link as a community theory rather than a CRYPT finding.

5. ST

   ShortTheSequelInvestorSep 8#5

   Fatigue is a real signal. It works on franchises and it works on faces with their mouths open.

6. MM

   MobileMummyFanSep 8#6

   On a phone on the train, the screaming ones are just noise. The quiet ones are the only ones I actually notice.

7. GD

   GenreDeskGregPressSep 9#7

   Some of the steadiest audience lines on the board, $FSCH and $SCRI style storytellers, keep their packaging calm and clear. Could be coincidence, but it fits the thread.

8. QP

   QuietPlaceQuinnFanSep 9#8

   Lurker who finally made an account, and this is the thread that did it. Quiet thumbnails forever.

9. GL

   GhostLightEditsCreatorSep 9#9

   Welcome, Quinn. Extremely on brand for a first post.

10. TN

    TheNightDeskStaffModSep 10#10

    Great discussion, everyone. Locking this one before someone makes a thumbnail of it with a red arrow pointing at the lock. Examples welcome in the Lounge.