Gliz Caldo

I saw on TikTok someone suggests to leave a low opacity layer of visual noise that computers will pick up on. I do something similar already with regular noise, but with Blender I decided to make a filter that's similar to what the video was suggesting.

1st one is my usual methods: noise and an obnoxious watermark in the center-ish to deter art theft. Human art theft is easy to protect against, because I have the cleanest version available on my computer that no one has access to. However, when it comes to AI scalping my work I need to fight against the results that an AI bro would want from the generated image. I noticed how oddly smooth and sterile that some generated images have, so to fight this I decided to add noise to all of my uploaded work to assist wrecking those results.

2nd image takes inspiration from the video I saw on TikTok, where they suggested to use a low-opacity layer of specific noise patterns that ought to affect the machine from replicating details in the image. I recall how early MS DOS games have used this magenta pink and baby blue to make their graphics, so I made a filter similar to that. I am unsure of how effective it is against machines scalping off the image, but I think it gives me a different approach to protect my work.

On one hand, the noise adds to my horror-centric vibes. While the other is far more effective at muddling details. So much so I feel confident leaving my watermark far from the center because there's no way someone can easily edit the filter out for a clean upload.

Edit: additional examples, Scorn. Some word changes.

Did you ever see something you wish there was more of?

I wish there was better depictions of thalssophobia in movies. Games like Subnautica and Iron Lung made good on what I want to see. In movies, I feel they have gotten used to recognizable hunter animals (sharks, giant squid, etc.) and treat them like a slasher villain.

But that's not what I want to discuss in this post. While thalsophobia in movies is different in games, that's still working on thalssophobia. I want to see more of something that I feel hasn't been explored often.

I have a very niche interest and I'd like to see more of...

I've seen depictions of it here and there and I guess my best example is The Darkness II in the hell segment. Where the player finds these fleshy firearms manufactured within hell and the demons know how to use them. Each weapon has a unique name, not like "hell pistol" or "hellfire rifle". Proper names.

In the comics of Hellraiser, there's a Cenobite character that's a wrathful soldier type. He's equipped with his own arsenal from this other realm that looks similar to own own modern weaponry, but aren't the same.

In the game Scorn, the player navigates a dying unfamiliar world with a small arsenal of organic tools and weapons. There's no dialogue and things are vaguely familiar in shape and function. The gun in the game is familiar, but it isn't anything like what we have in reality. It can swap barrels that changes what kind of weapon the gun is, and each requires it's own type of ammo.

With that said, I'd like to see more hellish/otherworldly creations have their own take of human weaponry. Too often I see in media that a demon/angel/celestial of some type go "ugh, human weapon bad, but this relic is the best weapon ever!", and it be something that belongs in a museum; not a battlefield.

It would be interesting to see a demon's, alien or inhuman take on tactical gear and customized weapons similar to a human arsenal. After all, most of the jabs towards humanity is that we're the cruelest beings to exist. Why not mimic the weapons, too?

I wanna hear from y'all!
Did you ever see something you wish there was more of?

Edit: clarifications.

I'm not one to brag, but I think I have a high tolerance of stories that are very depressing. It is what I want in horror, but that's not for everyone either. I enjoy all kinds of horror, even the ones that don't focus on favored themes.

I want to ask y'all, when did a horror movie (or any media) get too intense/scary for you?

As a kid, I thought Sleepy Hollow where Christopher Walken portrayed the Headless Horseman to be nightmare fuel. Nowadays I enjoy it if I am in the mood for the aesthetics.

When playing Silent Hill 2 the first time, I shut the PS2 off after the otherworld hospital manifested.

Subnautica or any oceanic exploration games? I'm ashamed to admit my outbursts.

Over the years I have found more movies that didn't terrify me but I enjoyed nonetheless. Not to say a horror movie is a failure in my eyes just because it didn't scare me. If I like it, I like it. For many different reasons and with no explanation needed.

But... I found a horror movie that gave me those same feelings I had when I saw Sleepy Hollow as a kid. Arguably as an adult the sense of doom, dread and gloom is amplified.

Just yesterday, I found a horror movie I couldn't get past the 30 minute mark. The concept, the concept was too much for me: Lockdown Tower (La Tour).

Lockdown Tower (La Tour) has a super-simple premise: inhabitants of a high-rise apartment complex are trapped inside by an opaque fog that erases everything that comes into contact with it.

The pacing from what I've seen is perfect, no time was wasted to show the audience what's happening and the behavior from the characters hit too close to home for me. It is straight to the point and with so much time left, I was afraid of witnessing what would come next. Felt like watching a realistic portrayal of how people would react if they were in the same situation.

According to what I found online, it is a depressing and nihilistic movie that only gets more intense as time goes on. I cannot recommend it because I haven't seen it all the way, and from what I heard no one else recommends a second watching of it because of how dark it is.

Someday I'll finish it, because I am still curious. But not now or maybe even not during this month.

I want to hear from y'all, when did a horror movie (or any media) get too intense/scary for you?

Edit 1: grammar and spelling

Think of your favorite moment in a horror media, that very part that stood out to you the most.

What's your favorite moment(s)?

I'll share some of mine!

Like I said in an early post, I try to experience as much as I can. There may be bits and pieces I'm forgetting until I'm reminded. However, I like parts that act contrary to the cheap tricks to get a reaction out of the audience.

I mentioned the movie Men was one of my favorites, and it is a recent one I added to my list. My favorite parts in the movie are sprinkled out, because I am a sucker for incredible visuals and suspense.

Without spoiling anything, I can't emphasize how wonderfully shot that movie is and the tense moments are properly tense. There's one scene that could've easily been used as a "oopsie, protagonist is just seeing things and people think they're crazy!", but it didn't play out like that. Thankfully, because it seems common for a horror stories to feature gaslighting women protagonists. As if somehow that stretches the plot or something, but only serves to bring the audience and the protagonist back to square 1. Instead, the scene was approached in a very realistic and probable way within its own universe and our own. Where the threat is present and real to the character and in their environment. It is such a small thing, but it matters a lot when a scene has actual impact and consequences to the story.

There's other parts that I just love from horror movies where there's no jump scare, rather, the audience is stuck watching the horror unfold before them. It is a rare thing, but when it happens I find it is more effective than loud sounds and flashing imagery. Not even excessive gore and blood is required!

Also, not relying on jump scares keeps the audience hooked, because jump scares in my opinion are an immediate immersion breaker. It is like the media in question is breaking the 4th wall, but instead of being amusing, it might as well be the media itself literally going "boo".

In real life, we don't get a musical sting that blasts our ears if something pops up in front of us. Just sayin'.

Okay, I got my jump scare bit out of the way and hopefully we'll never have to talk about why again.

The same tense feeling I would get from watching the horror unfold in a scene can be done in a simplistic way. Literally anyone can do it. Which adds to the frustration why jump scares are so widely used.

There's a free indie horror game that's a collection of short games from multiple developers called C.H.A.I.N. Again, without spoilers, there's one game that has one of those moments that doesn't rely on a jump scare to make it tense.

While those are movie and game media examples, I have one story that makes good on this: The Most Unfortunate Place on Earth.

If you can believe it, I read horror stories that try to portray a jump scare within the text. Not to be critical, but that's a silly thing to do. The reader is reliant on descriptions of scenes unfolding and their imagination will piece it together. That trick just doesn't work here.

For The Most Unfortunate Place on Earth, the reader will get just that. Once more, without spoilers, the protagonist is stuck in place on an amusement park ride and can only watch as the events play out before them. I cannot do it justice by talking about it and I encourage others to check it out.

Read the story yourself or have it read to you, either way is valid!

With all that said, I'd like to hear from y'all! what's your favorite moment(s) in horror?