The found footage film technique is a sub-genre in which a story is represented like it was footage you just found. It is a great way to make an entertaining low-budget film. The camera often shakes, everyone acts natural, and things are said off-camera by the person holding the camera. It is supposed to look unedited This sub-genre is most often used in horror stories and was made incredibly popular by The Blair Witch Project and the Paranormal Activity series.
Like any genre or sub-genre, found footage has its own tropes (though a lot of them are shared with horror). There are some we love, and some that have gotten boring and dull over time. Here are some examples.
(Love) Apocalyptic Logs
Most of found footage is following this trope. If you did not like this trope, then you would not like found footage! An Apocalyptic Log is basically a record of a terrible thing that has happened to the recorder. For example, The Blair Witch Project revealed a lot of what happened to a group of students who disappeared. Typically for this trope, the final scenes are are the most shocking and confusing because it is typically is at the death of the recorder.
We love this trope for the same reason we love found footage. It is because an apocalypse log is a creative and uniquely dark method of storytelling.
(Sick Of) The Villain Getting The Camera
This is not the most common trope, but it really does not feel right. Audiences are not invested in seeing the world through the villain’s eyes, because most villains in found footage are are not sympathetic. Often, villains take the camera just to freak out the protagonist. In The Last Exorcism, Nell (while she is possessed by a demon) takes the camera while everyone is asleep and beats a cat to death with it. There is also a found footage film technique done during The Visit where the grandmother figure finds the camera and just tries to jump scare at it for no reason while making crazy faces at it.
The trope is less scary and more annoying.
(Love) Something Really Bad Happens Off-Screen
This trope is part of what makes found footage horror so thrilling. The audience’s viewpoint is very specific and leaves a lot of room for fear of the unknown.
In The Blair Witch Project, we actually have no idea what happened to the film crew. The last thing we saw was one of the boys facing the corner, mirroring the witch folktale. Then the camera falls to the ground, leaving us with only theories about the fate of the protagonists. That is so frightening!
(Sick Of) Poor Reasoning For Keeping The Camera On
A major weakness found footage has is finding reasons to keep the cameras on. This is totally up to the writers to cover, and some of them have creative answers. For example, Creep is a film where the villain wants everything to be filmed because the film is his trophy after he kills the cameraman. However, a lot of them do not and it leaves audiences thinking more about why the protagonist is still filming rather than being invested in the story. Creep also has weak parts, for example, why does the protagonist film what he got in the mail at home? Why do some characters in found footage continue to film while they are running from a monster?
(Love) Suspenseful Long Shots
This trope is part of what made Paranormal Activity popular. The series had less camera holding and more of a view of security cameras around the house. These allows for long, quiet, and suspenseful shots.
These scenes were so quiet, it allows the smallest bit of unnaturalness to be all the more frightening and shocking. It can also milk the eerie shots such as one character watching another sleep. Overall, it’s very unsettling and that is why we love it in our horror films.
(Sick Of) Jump-Scare Pranks
Jump scares are cheap, and prank jump scares are even worse. This actually happened a lot in Creep, as the villain loved to just hide, jump out, and scare the protagonist for simple fun. However, at least it was in character for him, indicating how off he was. There are other instances in found footage where it is just friends playing around for no reason. It isn’t to build character or get towards the plot. It only exists to get cheap scares out of the audience.
(Love) Freeze Frame Bonuses
Freeze frame bonuses are like exciting little secrets you can find in a film. However, it often requires the pause button on your remote to discover. It is especially cool when horror films execute this trope. If you focus on windows of a house someone is passing, you might notice the villain was watching them all along. In Creep, you see a ton of tapes at the end and you actually have to pause the film in order to read what they say. You will find out the names of the villain’s many other victims.
Audiences are not required to pause in order to get the story, but it’s nice to put little easter eggs in to keep detail-oriented people interested.
(Sick Of) Idiot Protagonists
Honestly, this is a major trope of the horror genre too. Writers can argue that you need idiot characters to get into these frightening situations, but there are other films that prove that there are clever ways to make smart protagonists who still ends up in a terrible situation.
The Blair Witch Project had this trope as an issue. At one point, a character throws away their map of the woods. His reason seemed like he just lost his mind and was mad at the protagonist. To this day, a lot of fans think it was a weak reason and have theories that he might have been possessed by the witch at that point in order for his actions to make sense.
(Love) Creepy Sounds
This trope is pretty general but it can have a strong influence on its audience. Since the audience is bound to a camera with a limited view, sounds are way scarier because we cannot see as much. Since these films do not use music, the smallest little whisper or the sound of a toy falling seems all the more shocking. The absence of music leaves a lot of room for other sounds.
(Sick Of) Bad Guys Always Winning
Fitting with the trope we love, the apocalypse log, villains typically win at the end of found footage stories. The Blair Witch got the teenagers, the villain from Creep killed the protagonist, and Paranormal Activity has its characters get possessed or murdered.
This makes found footage films pretty predictable after you have seen a few. In endings where the villain does not win, they also do not lose. For example Creep 2’s protagonist survives but she is still getting stalked by the villain so we never really know what happens to her.
Next: 10 Great Movies That Were Ruined by Their Ending, According to Fans
