Prank flash

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A prank flash is a Macromedia Flash movie in the spirit of a shock site. The term usually does not include clips that are simply humorous have surprising jokes near the end, but that are specifically designed to scare the viewer and induce a 'jump' in their seat. The qualities of any shock flash may vary, although most have basic similarities. Other popular terms are screamers (which vary in length of time and contain a scream within the movie near the end) or ambush or sabotage flash (flash movies that deceive the viewer into interacting or watching intently before scaring them).


Image:Fatal-frame-ii.jpg
Screenshot from videogame Fatal Frame II, often used in screamers

Contents

Screamers

Usually the movies begin innocuously, sometimes with a mundane image (such as the famous "What's wrong with this picture?") or even a simple game or quiz designed to keep the viewer's attention on the screen. Sometimes the image is accompanied by audio which is kept at a deliberately low level, so as to persuade the viewer to turn up the volume on their computer. The image itself may be small to force the user to maximize their browser window. Another technique is to play a song, prompting the user to turn up the volume, with the lyrics of the song scrolling up the screen. In pranks that are disguised as games, there is sometimes a spurious recommendation on the page itself to turn up the volume, in order to hear a clue for the game.

After grabbing the user's attention, the movie is abruptly interrupted by an unexpected image, usually accompanied by a burst of sound, such as a scream or roar. The picture can range from a crude cartoon to an explicitly gruesome image, in which case the shock comes partially from the content of the picture.

Prank flash movies sometimes finish with a suggestion not to follow mysterious links from strangers. On many large, corporate-run message boards, it is against the rules to post links to a screamer without explicitly flagging it as such. Some people nonetheless still follow such links through curiosity.

Although Flash is the most prevalent medium for shock animations, there are others; there is an animated GIF showing a picture of an uncleaned room, and a ghostly lady walking into the room every 40 seconds [1], and there is a prank video that pretends to be a car commercial, used by the German firm K-Fee for advertising purposes.

Also, parodies of such movies exist. One such uses a perfectly innocent smiley face as the shock object, and another involves an unmanipulated (but creepy!) photograph of Michael Jackson.

Avoiding screamers

  • Avoid following suspicious or improperly described direct links to *.swf files (or html with a prominent flash movie loading up), especially from strangers. Many screamers posted at boards that allow comments will usually contain future posts warning of the nature of the flash.
  • Avoid the temptation and do not assume the flash could not be as scary as indicated. Many kinds exist.
  • Familiarize yourself with many of the more well-known screamers through the descriptions below, as some of them appear in many places.
  • If you feel the need, open the file in a window of reduced size with the volume "muted". The screamer image is usually intended to fill the window and so cannot be totally seen this way; this small bit of the window may suddenly shift in appearance, indicating the presence of a shocking image. As many screamers are very loud, merely lowering the volume does not guarantee less surprise and headphones are never recommended.
  • There are bookmarklets that create a seek bar that works with most Flash applets (http://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/flash.html).

Examples of screamers

WARNING: The following Flash animations are intended to shock and surprise and are not recommended for those with heart disorders or who are otherwise sensitive to sudden and unpleasant surprises. It is recommended that you keep your volume down while viewing these.

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Good Intentions

This flash pretends to be just a slide show of very pretty peaceful photos but, after a while, a photo will come very slowly and all of a sudden it screams. It's not over yet, because after this it starts doing the complete opposite, showing scary and unpleasent pictures of murders, monsters, and more.

Link: http://www.netbroadcaster.com/new/shorts/flash/viewSwf.cgi?swf=screamproj

Kikia

Link: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/kikia.php

This is the first prank flash to be widely spread and thus provide inspiration for other similar creations. It originated on Taiwan's Kimo webhosting service from a person with the online username "Netspooky".

There is actually a fanlisting devoted to this prank flash, titled simply "Scream".

Summary
  • Frame 1 (4 sec): In a cartoon, a boy sits on a lawn gazing at the sky. Two lines of Chinese text appear. A rough translation is "Hasn't it been a long time... / Haven't looked at the sky closely..."
  • Frame 2 (4 sec): Shows the boy walking down a city street lined with buildings. A rough translation of the Chinese text is "Walking on the street... / You see...". (The first two scenes are accompanied by Utada Hikaru's soft rock song "First Love").
  • Frame 3 (2 sec): Shows a screenshot of the game Fatal Frame after a piercing scream. It is a scary greyscale drawing of a demonic woman.
  • Frame 4: The yellow text "Kikia" appears. The animation does not loop.

Subliminal Messages

Link: http://www.killsometime.com/animations/animation.asp?ID=119

Caution: Also contains suggestive sexual images.

This animation, sometimes known as "Subliminal Music and Images", is considered by many to be the scariest flash animation on the Internet (compare with Rubber Johnny). It has been distributed to many websites since 2002.

Summary

After loading, an advertisement for whisky is shown. After a few seconds, part of the image is highlighted and the word "SEX" is visible. An image for a flooring company appears, with a woman appearing to be touching her shoulder. The image is then flipped, so it appears the woman is masturbating herself. The song "Dinner at Deviant's Palace" by the band Cradle of Filth begins to play in reverse. The Lord's Prayer is heard along with strange noises. In the middle of the prayer, a loud scream is heard, along with a flurry of pictures; some of them are of a harlequin fetus.

Ghost TV

It is a scream flash that pretends to be a surveillance cam game to search for a ghost inside a house that was abandoned, you have an EVP monitor that will record a ghost message, sometimes you will hear "Help Me". After searching a lot of rooms you will hear breathing and your screen will go snowy. After a few seconds, a ghost boy will appear and scream. Very scary.

Link: http://sugarqube.com/Ecards/CardView.cfm?CardID=1371&L1=186&L2=253&L3=0&Page=

Murder Investigation

This is a mystery game where you have to find clues to see how a family of three was killed. Once you get all the clues you have to find the killer: if you don't find the killer in time he will find you and kill you, when he finds you a whole bunch of pictures will pop up. No scream, but a screech will sound.

Link: http://sugarqube.com/Ecards/CardView.cfm?CardID=1228

The "walkthrough" also features a brief blurry shot of a puppet that randomly pops up with a loud screech.

Link: http://www.sugarqube.com/siteinfo/Walkthrough/MurderInvestigation.cfm

Night Vision

This flash tells you to look for a hidden ghost in each picture it tells you to crank up your speakers and turn out the lights. After looking a few times, a girl with no face appears and screams.

Link: http://sugarqube.com/Ecards/CardView.cfm?CardID=1120

Urban Legends Series

Link: http://www.jkcinema.com/

A popular series distributed on the internet, which show mini documentaries providing evidence of the paranormal. Most, but not all, of the movies usually stop for 5 seconds, then an image of a ghost appears suddenly, accompanied by a very loud scream. Urban Legends 3: Ghosts, is considered to be the scariest out of the series, and indeed one of the creepiest movies on the internet, but the Urban Legends series are rather documental-type than screamers. It is considered the scariest because of the ghost photography. the image of the girl in the hallway, and the "Karma Ghost", the name attributed to the woman's ghost that pops up in the cluttered room.

Summary

It starts off normally, with a warning, and goes on to show ghost photography, ghost videos, and ITC. The first screamer hints to the viewer that ghosts may be haunting their computer monitor. 10 seconds later, a ghost girl pops up very briefly and is usually unseen. The movie continues with ghost EVP, then ends with a picture of an uncleaned room. The author tells the viewer to "LOOK CLOSER!!!!!" and then a scary loud scream and another ghost girl pops out from the door (this is actually derived from the animated GIF mentioned above - when using a Flash seek bar bookmarklet, the girl doesn't pop up).

Paranormal Activities 6

This flash pretends to be a paranormal activities video with ghosts and subliminal messages. It tells you that there was a death in the band Linkin Park. When it tells you to listen to one of their songs backwards, the song isn't very loud, so you supposedly have to crank up your speakers. After a few seconds a screaming girl will appear and also a picture of what looks like satan.

Link: http://www.kreepykingdom.com/pranks/pa6.html

Other screamers

Image:Untitled6kg1.jpg
  • Chris The Jack-O-Lantern - a (deliberately?) crudely-animated Halloween cartoon featuring a sad jack-o-lantern, who says "Hi kids, my name is Chris. You guys know what Sunday is? Yeah, that's right. Sunday is Halloween. It makes me upset. Know why it makes me upset?" Then he pauses until you click on him. Then he says, "Yeah, because Sunday is the day that..." then comes a scary face with a rather loud scream. Chris' comments date this prank to 2004 (as Halloween fell on a Sunday that year).
  • Clock Crew Quiz - A test which involves a series of questions, all of which gives the following choices: "Strawberry Clock," "Josh Bedn," "Tom Fulp," or "George Bush." First Question: Who is king of the Portal? Answer: Strawberry Clock. Second Question: Who was the first clock? Answer: Strawberry Clock. Third Question: Who is from Canada? Immediately after the question is revealed, a scary, supposedly ugly picture of a woman appears out of nowhere with a distorted scream. Somewhat startling.
  • El Misterioso Juego de las Melodias - Despite being hosted on a Spanish "museum of horror" site, this supposed game of "name that tune" (in cell phone ringtone form) is in English (complete with recommendation to turn up your volume to hear the tunes, which are played at a very low volume).
  • The Hand-Eye Coordination Test - This "test" is divided into "five" parts, the "first" three involving "swatting" a fly by clicking on it (Sight & Speed Visualization), pressing buttons that flash red (Reaction Time), and following a dot tracing an "S" outline (finger dexterity). The other two parts (Perceptual Accuracy and Near Point Stereopsis) are not actually part of this flash: halfway through the finger dexterity test, a "bleeding" eye (actually a photo of a normal eye with animated red blobs simulating blood superimposed) appears out of nowhere, together with loud screams accompanied by a frenzied, "AAGH, MY EYE!" Part of the Liquid Generation "Sabotage" line.
  • Jessica Alba Nude - shows a picture of movie star Jessica Alba supposedly topless, although the picture loads slowly and eventually stops before the "main attraction" (all this is in fact simulated via Flash animation). After a few seconds, a creepy picture of what looks like a demon woman flashes onto the screen with a loud and very long scream.
  • K-Fee Auto, aka "Lexus", and "Mist or Ghost?" - a scary video disguised as a car commercial. A car is pleasantly driving along a countryside road, then disappears. Suddenly, a zombie pops up taking up nearly 3/4 of the screen, and a distorted scream plays. This is best known as a commercial for K-Fee energy drinks in Germany. An alternate framing device for the video to trick viewers to watch is that this is a car commercial that was never put on TV because production noticed some ghostly white mist coming up from behind the car and then following it along the road (there is in fact no ghostly white mist to be seen).
  • Steady Hand - the game's objective is to go to the "goal" without touching the black space. However, on the second level and in the course of the game, an image of a deformed person and some scary music will pop up.
  • Taken - shows a boy watching a news report on TV about a series of attacks. The report then cuts out, replaced by a test card and the test signal. A few seconds later, a demon smashes through the window and pulls the boy through the window. Very mild in comparison with some of the screamers listed here, although slightly startling.

Poke The Bunny- Shows a small picture of an animated bunny with a hand next to it. Under this picture the words "POKE THE BUNNY" are in a small button. When this button is clicked, the hand pokes the bunny, but after the button is clicked several times, the bunny quickly turns around and bites the hand. Slightly startling compared to some prank flashes.

ABC Song- ABC Song is heard, letters change fast. After awhile, (when it says "now i know my ABC'S") the number 5 comes up with a startling "FIVE!" After clicking the 5, text comes up talking about this actually happening on a T.V show.

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/abcsong.php

Collections
  • Albino Black Sheep - many of the screamers linked here are available from this site, which features a whole section devoted to pranks (although some are not scary at all, for example "Handprint").
  • Sabotage - the Liquid Generation website carries many prank flashes (some already described above), all ending with the caption "You've been sabotaged!!!" with a link to the website after the disturbing image and scream.

Non-screamers

Not all prank flashes are designed to shock the viewer with a shock object and scream. The following examples use other things to provide the shock.

Examples of non-screamers

You Are An Idiot

Link: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/you.html (beware, this is the prank itself!) http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/youare.php (the actual Flash file; does not cause popups)

Albino Black Sheep is one of the many sites hosting the popular "you are an idiot" prank. These pranks are usually not functional in browsers other than Microsoft Internet Explorer and are impaired by the presence of a popup blocker or a virus scanner. The popups can be avoided by pressing the 'back' button on the browser rather than closing the window. Ending the IEXPLORE process in Windows's task manager via ctrl-alt-del also effectively quashes the pop-ups).

Red Room

Link: http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley/4358/red_room1.html

Not a prank as such (there is no "shock", it is simply a horror story), Red Room is a flash video, entirely in Japanese, about an urban legend called "the Red Room". The protagonist in the video searches on the internet for proof of its existence, only for the results to go horribly awry.

This Flash is said to be the favorite of Nevada-tan, the girl who stabbed her classmate on 1 June 2004 in Sasebo, Japan.

Note: ensure you have Flash player version 7.0.19.0 (click here to check your version) or higher, or you will receive an error page in Japanese.

See: Red Room

Other non-screamers

  • Crashme - opens up a window with smileys. When this is opened, a flurry of moving popups attack, making it very frustrating to close. (Note: This site is now offline.)
  • Focus - Hosted at Ebaum's World, the viewer is told to look at the checkered oblong oval for 20 seconds. The flash is disguised as an illusion, and while you look a small picture of a bottom appears with the sound of "passing wind". After two seconds, followed by the words "Haha, gotcha didn't I?", the prank file loops.


In the mainstream

Although most screamers and pranks are designed by common people solely to prank other common people, some have been made by companies to promote their products. Following are some examples.

  • Buddy Lee Staring Contest - This prank features Buddy Lee, the doll mascot for Lee jeans.
  • Coors Light: Ice-Swipe Challenge - A flash game that challenges users to draw shapes in the frost. The scores awarded are constant (6.5, 8.2), no matter how well the player does. After completing two rounds, the third round challenges the player to trace the company logo in the frost. A few seconds into the challenge, Frankenstein's monster appears along with a scream. (In any round, one can simply click "Click here when finished" to proceed.) This screamer also promotes their "Monster Outreach" [2] website, featuring Frankenstein's monster as a Coors employee.
  • K-Fee - Besides the already-mentioned "car" commercial, there are other K-Fee commercials themed around scary creatures suddenly appearing over relaxing scenes. These were made by Cobblestone Productions and The Creature Company, and even won the Silver Lion at Cannes [3].
  • 28 Days Later: Look Closely - This pop-up screamer promotes the British zombie movie.


See also

pl:Screamer

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