Basic Trope: A transformation that is partially or fully not shown onscreen.
- Straight: Leon, a werelion, starts transforming. The process is not entirely shown onscreen; it is instead shown in shadows/silhouettes, sounds, and the reactions of other nearby characters.
- Exaggerated: Every transformation that happens in the work is entirely offscreen.
- Downplayed: Most of the transformation is shown onscreen, but some of the more horrifying parts of it are given a discretion shot.
- Justified: Leon happened to be in a cluttered room at the time, so it was simply hard to see him.
- Inverted: Leon is generally not shown onscreen, except when he's mid-transformation.
- Subverted: The transformation is shown in limited detail at first, before it begins being shown in full detail.
- Double Subverted: After a brief moment of being shown in full detail, the rest of the transformation goes back to being seen only in shadows.
- Parodied: The "transformation" is just Leon putting on a badly-made lion costume, but the discretion shot makes it look like he's undergoing the worst of Transformation Horror.
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- The transformation is shown in full detail.
- No one ever transforms.
- Enforced:
- To add Nothing Is Scarier if the transformation is really implied to be that horrifying.
- The work is supposed to be for general audiences, and having the full details shown onscreen would be too scary.
- The producers of the work cannot afford special effects or animation to create a full transformation sequence.
- Showing a full transformation onscreen isn't necessary for the work, so it's just not included.
- It allows the producers to show that the monster is (or at least can pass itself off as) a human without spoiling the mystery of who (too much).
- Lampshaded: "Have you ever actually seen Leon transform?" "Nope." "Me neither."
- Invoked: Leon hides before transforming because he doesn't want anyone else to see.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Leon doesn’t want the others to hide from the truth by looking away, so he forces them to watch him transform. The camera is following their perspective, and as such, the audience is also forced to see the transformation.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "Are they not showing the full transformation because it's too scary, or do they just not have the special effects?"
- Played for Horror: Leon turning into a werelion might not be fully shown, but the screams of pain and growing shadows indicate that what's going on isn't pretty.
Back to Transformation Discretion Shot
