Basic Trope: A scream is used in place of what would otherwise be exceptionally violent content.
- Straight: As Bob is set on fire, the camera turns away and he lets out a bloodcurdling scream.
- Exaggerated: …which lasts for several minutes.
- Downplayed: It isn’t so much a scream as it is a moan of pain.
- Justified:
- Bob feels great pain from his burns but the cameraman doesn't want us to see what's going on with him.
- The POV character Charlie, Bob's 4-year-old son, doesn't want to look.
- Inverted:
- Instead of a scream, Bob is heard giggling.
- The Scream Discretion Shot is used when something good happens.
- Subverted:
- Bob’s hand is on a chopping board, the knife is raised up high… and all we hear is a thud and silence.
- The camera seems like it’s going to pan away from the violence, but then it centers right on it, leading to Family-Unfriendly Violence.
- There is a scream and a pan away...but it belongs to Alice, who walked in just in time to see Bob light on fire.
- Double Subverted:
- ...but then Bob’s endorphins wear off and he screams like hell.
- ...but Bob also screams as well to join her.
- Parodied:
- Bob’s scream undergoes much iteration, becoming a form of vocal gymnastics.
- The Scream Discretion Shot is used for something very minor, such as bad report card grades.
- Alice is zapped by The Nudifier and the camera pans away before she screams.
- Zig Zagged: Bob’s scream is interspersed with periods of silence.
- Averted: There is no violence in this show.
- Enforced:
- The director wants a PG-13 rating, so the violence must be censored.
- and/or they don't have the budget needed to do it justice.
- Lampshaded: "What was that I heard?" — Alice.
- Invoked: Alice tells Charlie to look away as Bob screams.
- Exploited: The villain uses the fact that people are looking away to launch a surprise attack.
- Defied: Bob steels his nerves and tries not to scream from the flames consuming him.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: “Ouch, with a Scream Discretion Shot like that, something terrible must be happening to Bob.”
- Played For Laughs: The entire episode consists of Bob screaming while the camera focuses on other better things you could be watching, such as cute baby animals.
- Played For Drama: Instead of a Gory Discretion Shot, the scream is accompanied by a Happier Times Montage, and the reactions of all of Bob’s closest friends.
AaaaaaaAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGHHHHH! Back to Scream Discretion Shot
