Genre and Conventions;- Found Footage Genre (Sub-genre)

The genre I have chosen to look at is the genre of found footage, this means the film is set post the events of narrative, the genre has been identified as a genre as it has become popular within the last few years with film directors and has been used in an array of film, mostly horror or thriller, which raises the argument of it actually being its own genre or a sub-genre of horror.

The first usage of the genre was in 1980 in the form of the film, Cannibal Holocaust (1980). It was then establishes as it’s own genre after the release of ‘The Blair Witch Project’ (1999), ‘Cloverfield’ (2008) and ‘Paranormal Activity’ (2009). As well as being used in horror and thrillers it has also been used in science fiction films such as ‘The McPherson Tapes’ (1997) and ‘Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County’. The actors tend to be average looking, amateur "everyman" types with whom we can identify. Even if you don't believe the events of the film did happen, the informal acting and style of film making causes the viewer to feel a sense of "this could happen to me" much more so than a slick high budget production. The genre still can be classified as a sub-genre of horror as it features main of the same conventions and stylistics, such as; the feature of character isolation for example [REC] (2007) the use of the isolation is emphasised with the mise-en-scene and cinematography. However it combines the conventions of modern horror alongside that of modern documentaries, such as; to document events to allow the audience to understand what is going on. This allows found footage to create its own conventional code. With a mixture of different genre conventions this also allows a mixture of stylistics with in the narrative of the production. The main example of genre conventions within the genre of found footage, is the main idea of the horror genre the idea of isolation of the characters, meaning they are put in a situation alone give the feelings of the horror genre; sacredness, loneliness, endangerment and many more. However with the use of this convention from the horror genre along side the conventions from the documentary genre,; the one to one experience the audience gain from documentaries, this allows the audience to get a up front and more personal look at the genre of horror thanks to the use of the mix of conventions from both horror and documentary’s. This means the effect of the film becomes much more realistic as the audience are seeing it through the use of the conventions. For example The Blair Witch Project (1999) ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMQQpmm5u3w ) this can be seen in the end sequence when the ‘Blair Witch’ it shown attacking the characters. This then gives a much scary appeal to the audience as they are put in the perspective of the character. Many more films use this approach such as; [REC] (2007)

Another main convention of the found footage genre is that either one or none of the characters survive the narrative this is all based around the idea of the footage been found by somebody else and played back to find out the events post of them happening. Or if somebody does survive them showing the footage to somebody else, either way many of the characters do die in a found footage film. This can be seen in films such as Paranormal Activity (2009) with the single female character surviving the story (depending on which of three endings are shown) and [REC] (2007) ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfczJAB-lKk&feature=related ) with the final remaining character dropping the camera and being dragged away, the last image we are shown is her being dragged away in the camera screen. Another conventional feature is that the characters fate becomes sealed as soon as film begins, the audience already know that characters with be killed within the narrative, secondly all the characters are killed equally and there is no real judging of the character, where as in a traditional horror film, there are various reasons in which a character may die such as slasher films the main antagonist has a grudge or something similar against the character giving them a reason to become a killer and follow basic narrative structure. Furthermore the genre of found footage also breaks the rule of narrative structure as we as a audience only get to see the footage through the eyes of the main characters, therefore we see what they see and get no back story or insight as to what is happening unless the characters themselves discover what is going on, this can be seen in Cloverfield (2008) the characters don’t know what is attacking New York or what is happening therefore us as an audience don’t either. This can be seen as a positive convention as we as an audience are place centrally into the story of the film and are made to be like the characters not knowing what is going on.

A final convention I have chosen to look at for the genre of found footage is the convention is the use of mixed footage for example in the film; Cannibal Holocaust (1980) ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ-Xp6VC7RQ ) the film does show found footage however it also shows footage recorded in the method of ‘normal’ cinematography such as in traditional horror films. Meaning that the film is a mixture of filming techniques. However there is also positive to the use of non handheld cinematography in the genre of found footage. It allows the use of handheld footage to seem more believable within the digesis. This is because we as an audience begin to see the digesis through traditional film techniques once we are introduced to the narrative when we are show what we believe to be real footage through the use of found footage it becomes more believable for us, as we have become accustom to the characters. This means it is just as effective as a whole film in the same stylistics.

To conclude the use of the conventions of the found footage genre help to create films which seem believable to the audience as we are put right at the centre of the film and place in the same scenario as the characters. This creates a good basis for a psychological twist for the audience. Furthermore the use of a mix of conventions from both the horror genre and the genre of documentaries allows the verisimilitude to collide with the creative writings of script writers and directors to allow a film which works well in generating horror yet making it seem real to the audience. With films such as The Blair Witch Project (1999) and Paranormal Activity (2009) the genre of found footage will create better and more adventurous films which will appeal to generations to come.

Genre and Convention

The first piece of research needed to be carried out was what type of genre will our short film/sequence be, therefore we had to research the genre and its conventions to help us decided of how we're going to fulfil the brief around this.

A2 Flim Studies Creative Project FM3 (Brief)

The brief is to create a short film (3-5 minutes), while creating the film we must engage and apply the issues raised in FM1 (Film Language) in relation to the production of meaning and the study of film and stylistics.