Found Footage Film Genre

What are found footage films?

Found footage films are feature length movies, shorts, or web series designed to have the look and feel of actual (non-fictional) filmed events that were lost and subsequently discovered and made available to the viewer. For a film to be considered as “found footage,” all of the cameras used to shoot the footage must have known sources within the film itself – i.e. all cameras are effectively props in the film.

After research films within this genre employ a combination of one or more of the following cinematic approaches:

First person perspective (a.k.a. point of view) style – filmed/recorded from the perspective of the main character who is experiencing the event while holding the camera.

Mockumentary (a.k.a. pseudo-documentary style) – filmed/recorded in the form of interviews and investigative reporting of the event.

News Footage style – Footage from a professional news crew investigating the event.

Surveillance Footage style – Footage from a stationary camera automatically filming/recording the event.

What is a Hybrid Found Footage Film?

A hybrid found footage film is comprised of a combination of found footage and narrative shot footage. The percentage or ratio of found footage to narrative shot footage varies from film to film. Even if a film is shot as found footage where all the cameras are props within the film, circumstances exist where a film can still be considered “hybrid found footage”. The most common reasons for labelling an otherwise pure found footage film as hybrid found footage include:

Background music or sound design with No Logical Source – Background/incidental music added to a found footage film with no source within the film itself. Exceptions to this rule include cases where the found footage is subsequently edited by a character in the film or a character mentioned in the film. For example, a mockumentary using found footage has a logical reason for overlaying background music as the final product is needed to create a broadcast ready film. There are also cases where characters in the film edit their own found footage as part of the film itself.

Inclusion of the camera user interface graphics on the recorded video – A video camera user interface that is visible through the camera viewfinder or LCD screen is only visible to the person holding the camera, but these graphics (e.g. battery level, viewing area border, etc.) do not record as part of the found footage.

Limited Budget

Found footage films are typically produced on a very low budget. It’s not uncommon to come across a found footage film with a budget ranging from $500 to $15,000, whereas the typical Hollywood backed feature length film may have a budget ranging from $5,000,000 to $50,000,000. While a limited budget typically imposes significant limitations on the production of a narrative shot film, in the case of found footage films a limited budget often forces creativity and ingenuity to overcome challenges with severely limited resources. In fact, there are many instances where filming on a limited budget actually benefits the end product.

Special Effects

If a found footage film does have any form of budget, this is where it needs to be spent. found footage films are usually about paranormal events, alien encounters, monsters, and violent crimes – all of which require decent special effects to keep things believable. Unlike Hollywood feature length films, the “money shots” are typically fleeting glances, off-centre blurs, distantly shot, and most always occur in poor lighting. Due to budgetary limitations, found footage filmmakers often employ practical effects rather than CGI, which tends to lend some grittiness to the film that, in this author’s opinion, actually benefits the final product.

Conclusion

found footage films are a very different breed of film than the traditional narrative shot films we are all familiar with. One would think that all of the factors described above are limitations imposed on found footage films that lower their quality and effectiveness. In actuality, this author would argue the opposite – low budget, inexperienced director, inexperienced cast, “real” locations, and consumer filming equipment are all necessary ingredients to make a brilliant found footage film.

"A key selling point that impacts the realism of a found footage film is convincing the viewer that the film can actually be found footage"- Quotes from a found footage author.