What Makes Found Footage?

Found Footage films can be really engaging for an audience. The Blair Witch Project was one of the first to do it and brought the sub-genre to the attention of movie audiences.

The Blair Witch Project has in my opinion one of the most iconic marketing strategies in movie history, with audiences being made to believe the film's events were real. The marketing team even worked with IMDB to edit the profiles of the film's actors to say they were missing and presumed dead.

After Blair Witch, the Paranormal Activity franchise emerged and many more found footage films followed.

So in this post I'll be talking through what I think makes a good found footage film.

Are You Filming?

The first rule for found footage is that the camera needs to be incorporated into the story. There needs to be a reason the character's

are filming and it needs to be a

reason the audience can believe.

For example, in The Blair Witch Project, the characters are filming for a documentary about the legend of the witch. This is a great way to incorporate the camera into the story.

(The Blair Witch Project, 1999)

What's Going On?

At the start of found footage, there is often a title card to give the audience a bit more information. This usually tells the audience how and where the footage was found. This not only gives the audience some context, but it sets the tone for the film.

For example, this title card featured in Cloverfield.

It tells the audience where the camera was found and creates a foreboding feeling for the audience watching.

(Cloverfield, 2008)

What Was That?

Unlike other films, not only horror films, the found footage sub-genre doesn't typically use music to help create the mood of the film.

The point of found footage is to make the audience believe the footage was found on a camera, so editing music into the film wouldn't match this.

Usually the only sound to feature in found footage is diegetic audio (diegetic audio are the sounds that happen in the film universe, for example, dialogue or background noise).

With a lack of music, filmmakers rely on the use of silence to build tension, which in my opinion can be just as effective as music. Filmmakers of found footage also sometimes exaggerate sound effects to make them scarier and more prominent to it's audience. An example of this from Blair Witch Project is the strange sounds the character's hear in the woods at night.

(The Blair Witch Project, 1999)

CCTV In Operation

Throughout most found footage films, the only camera work an audience sees is from the camera a character is holding and carrying around with them.

However, there are times when the camera can't capture everything an audience needs to see. So to get around this, if it makes sense in the film's universe, a CCTV camera could be used. If not CCTV, then the character may set up the camera on a tripod or surface to watch the action happen.

A good example of this is in the first Paranormal Activity film, where the camera is set up to watch the characters sleep and watch how the spirit interacts with them as they sleep.

(Paranormal Activity, 2007)

Before Tragedy

Often at the start of found footage films, you will see the characters interacting or going about their lives before tragedy strikes. This allows the audience to get to know the characters before they're thrown into whatever crazy situation they're in. It also gives a little more context and backstory into what's happening and why the characters were filming in the first place.

A good example of this is Cloverfield, in the start of the film we see some of the characters interacting as they get ready for and go to a party.

(Cloverfield, 2008)

This Is The End

We've had the beginning of the film, now it's time for the end.

Often in found footage films, the ending leaves a sense of mystery, where character's fates are in question.

As the characters holding the camera is our way of seeing what happens, when said character gets into danger, they may end up dropping the camera. Obviously if something is trying to kill you, you won't be filming it happen, you'll be trying to get away. This means an audience doesn't always see what is happening, but filmmakers use sound to imply the fate of the character.

In The Blair Witch Project, the camera is left on the floor and we can't actually see what's going on, all we can hear is Heather in distress. This leaves an audience wondering what's going on, but is also makes the film more realistic because if this footage really was found in the woods, we wouldn't really know what happened to these people.

(The Blair Witch Project, 1999)

So, those are in my opinion the most important aspects of the found footage sub-genre. Thanks for reading and remember if aliens attack, make sure you capture it on camera and it may just make it to cinema screens.