It’s scary cause it’s in night vision green. *Thanks to Crave for the pic*

Based on a true story.

Inspired by real events.

These words accompany films of all kinds, from historical biopics to quirky indies, and have even managed to sneak their way into horror movies. Whether it’s The Amityville Horror, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or the more recent horror hit, The Conjuring, advertisers are always quick pull out the “based on real events” card when marketing their newest film. One of the more interesting ways this advertising gimmick has evolved is in the development of the found footage genre, a style of film-making that initially was used to sell the authenticity of early entries, and is now used to make something really cheap, really quickly.

So what does “found footage” even mean? The genre describes any movie that was not filmed in a traditional, “shot, reverse shot” manner of film-making and scene coverage. This genre instead relies upon the idea that everything in the movie was shot by people who were actually there, and what the audience is watching is the recorded footage found after the event. While elements of this genre have appeared in many films over the years, including Cannibal Holocaust, Aliens, and even Jurassic Park, the genre as we know it today really started with The Blair Witch Project. What made this film unique for the time wasn’t the way in which it was shot (at least, not the main reason), but the way it was marketed. The film relied heavily on the “based on a true story” tagline, and the filmmakers were so adamant to spread belief in this idea that the actors were even told to keep out of the public eye until the film was released. The result of this gimmick was a major success, as The Blair Witch Project grossed $140 million on a budget of $60,000. It became clear that there was, in fact, a market for this kind of film, and the genre became the mainstay it is now after the success of the Paranormal Activity franchise during the first decade of the 21st century.

Much to the degradation of films and filmmakers everywhere.

It’s scary cause nothing’s happening. *Thanks to We Got This Covered for the pic*

Now, that sentence might come off a bit negatively, but in all honesty, there are some interesting ideas floating around the found footage genre. In concept, found footage is an easy way to get an audience invested in the movie, as there are few-to-any recognizable actors in the roles, and the film is shot in a way that someone holding a camera in a stressful situation might actually film an event (very shaky). It makes the footage feel real and intense as the audience seems to be witnessing the event in the same haphazard way the protagonists are. In fact, the best way most found footage elements work is in a film that is not a found footage film. The enigmatic footage from Cannibal Holocaust is intercut with the story of trying to find said footage; the marines in Aliens all have cameras mounted on their armor, streaming their view to the command post; District 9 had a good mix of personal footage, news feed, and a dramatic movie to create a documentary style sci-fi film; even The Martian took advantage of this way of shooting with Matt Damon’s video diaries. And yes, there have been some pretty good found footage films in the past. Cloverfield was a pretty entertaining monster movie (even though 10 Cloverfield Lane is vastly superior (Ed. Note: By far.)), and movies like Into the Storm and Chronicle managed to find ways around some of the problems that plague found footage movies. For the most part.

Despite the upsides listed above, there are numerous problems with the found footage genre that ultimately make it hard to understand why audiences continue to spend money on them. First and foremost, the camera work is very poor. Given that the films in this genre try to convey the idea that everything happening on the screen is real, the cinematography has to mimic the style of home movies, meaning the video quality is not as crisp, and the productions always seem to hire epileptic camera men to shake the camera as much as possible, thus making it almost impossible to figure what exactly is going on during more frenetic scenes. And the whole realism angle that these films strive toward doesn’t really help either, since it means that the characters essentially have to film everything. This is why many people complained about Paranormal Activity being boring, since most of the film is the actors sitting around their house talking about the possession. Because of this, it is almost impossible to deliver exposition or character development in a realistic and authentic way. While it’s not uncommon for people to take videos of their everyday life, can you remember watching a vlog or a friend’s video where they just point the camera and talk in depth about their motivations? No? That’s because people don’t do that. And this isn’t even bringing up the people being filmed. Chronicle features teenagers walking around their high school with pretty big cameras in their hands and on their shoulders, something that most high schools would probably frown on. Most high schools don’t even allow students to use their cell phones during school hours, let alone a camera. And this issue can be found in numerous found footage movies, as most of them feature young adults, the genre’s primary audience.

It’s scary cause the camera’s super close. *Thanks to The Ghost Diaries for the pic*

Despite these issues, found footage is a genre that is not going away any time soon. The Blair Witch Project recently received a new sequel of sorts in Blair Witch, much like the Saw franchise before it. The Paranormal Activity series will most likely continue in the not-too-distant future, and several found footage films (Chronicle mainly) have had a good amount of sequel talk for a while now. Considering these films can be made for an incredibly cheap budget compared to most tent-pole films, the genre will continue to be attractive to studios who can make a nice profit off of them. And who knows? Maybe the genre will be successfully revived someday. I personally doubt that, but the film business has never been known for its reliability.

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