UTB
Posts: 8983
Joined: 30/9/2005
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Cloud Cuckoo quote:
ORIGINAL: UTB quote:
ORIGINAL: ROTGUT Why is everyone in the film walking around with a digital camera perched on their shoulder filming everything? To be fair this is practically every single found footage film ever made. Not really - they generally have a reason for filming, e.g. in The Blair Witch Project they are making an investigatory report, or in Paranormal Activity they are using a camcorder as surveillance to try and record paranormal events. I enjoy found-footage films when they are done well. The POV aspect can be hugely powerful in horror films as what we can't see is usually far more frightening than what we can. Amateur footage is also easier to identify with and believe as 'real', and a less polished capture is very good at ratcheting up tension. A recent good example of found-footage was, believe it or not, Paranormal Activity 3, which featured footage filmed by a camcorder mounted on a steadily rotating fan. The slow-panning shots were really effective in building our dread as we wondered what was about to come into vision. While the novelty of found-footage has worn off (and it will never again be as effective as in Blair Witch), as a means of filming it is as valid as any other. It's just a shame that people are not maximizing its potential and are instead using it to churn out shitty films more cheaply. Hey I enjoyed VHS. I think my point was that in every single found footage film there is at least one point which requires you to ask "why don't you put the camera down and run for it?", which ROTGUT was using as a means of criticism. If the viewer isn't able to get past this most obvious of plotholes then found footage films aren't for them.
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