I can't write anomalous PSAs

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Zachary Maxwell
Date: 10 Mar 2017 19:12
Number of posts: 2

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Summary:

I'm very stuck. Any help is much appreciated.

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I can't write anomalous PSAs

Zachary Maxwell 10 Mar 2017 19:12

I'm writing a tale that involves a group of young people (late teens to early twenties) watching an anomalous PSA on YouTube. The beginning bit, the scene-setting and character development is all fine in my opinion, though please feel free to comment on that too. But what I'm really stuck on is the actual contents of the PSA they're watching – it's supposedly an anti-drug PSA.

First draft pre-video watching is here under the second tab.

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I know where I want this PSA to go, and each character I've written has a role in their reactions, and I've even written some of them up (though it's a bit cheesy right now) but I'm stalling badly on the PSA itself. Any help would be appreciated.

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Zachary Maxwell, 10 Mar 2017 19:12

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Re: I can't write anomalous PSAs

DoctorNovakaine 11 Mar 2017 02:15

I can't speak for everyone, but in my experience, the most effective creepy videos have several characteristics in common:
-EITHER distorted/discordant music and sound of low to moderate volume (loud is more shock than creep), or no music/sound at all
-Visuals that are confusing, vaguely sinister, and nearly impossible to understand, without being excessively graphic; clips with no contextual link to each other may have higher effectiveness
-A sense of something or someone looking at you or addressing you, or in some other way breaching the expectation of temporal distinction (i.e. you're watching something that was made before your observation)
—Bonus points for a mask or otherwise distorted face

Gore is shock value, but not really creepy. And I think if you're aiming for an anomalous PSA, creepy scary goes better than shock scary. (Honestly, I prefer SCPs that way in general as well - but that's probably because I'm less a fan of blood horror than psychological thriller.)

If it's an anti-drug PSA, you could go the route of a "bad trip" from a hallucinogen, from the reference point of the viewer. The creep factor could be magnified if this isn't explained or even hinted at until the end of the PSA, maybe even more if it isn't ever actually explained. Another thing that could ramp up the creep factor is if each of the viewers sees something radically different, but I imagine that would up the difficulty factor of writing the contents rather drastically.

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DoctorNovakaine, 11 Mar 2017 02:15

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page revision: 3, last edited: 22 Sep 2018 03:57

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