Found footage (pseudo-documentary)

Found footage is a plot device in pseudo-documentaries in which all or a substantial part of a fictional film is presented as if it were discovered film or video recordings. The events on screen are typically seen through the camera of one or more of the characters involved, often accompanied by their real-time off-camera commentary. For verisimilitude, the cinematography may be done by the actors themselves as they perform, and shaky camera work and naturalistic acting are routinely employed. The footage may be presented as if it were "raw" and complete, or as if it had been edited into a narrative by those who "found" it.

The most common use of the technique is in horror films, where the footage is purported to be the only surviving record of the events, with the participants now missing or dead. It has also been used in comedy (e.g., Babysitting, Project X), science-fiction (e.g., Project Almanac, Europa Report) and drama (e.g., Exhibit A, Zero Day).

Found footage is originally the name of an entirely different genre, but has sometimes been used to describe pseudo-documentaries with this narrative technique. The film magazine Variety has for example used the term "faux found-footage film" to describe the 2012 film Grave Encounters 2. The film scholar David Bordwell has criticized this recent use because of the confusion it creates, and instead prefers the term "discovered footage" for the narrative gimmick.

Found footage films typically employ one or more of the following four cinematic techniques: first person perspective, pseudo-documentary/mockumentary, news footage, and surveillance footage. These four footage sources were determined to be the most prevalent in an analysis of 500 found footage films conducted by the Found Footage Critic website.

History

The technique has precedents in literature, particularly in the epistolary novel, which typically consists of either correspondence or diary entries, purportedly written by a character central to the events. Like found footage, the epistolary technique has often been employed in horror fiction: both Dracula and Frankenstein are epistolary novels, as is The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft.

In filmmaking, it dates back at least as far as 1980's Cannibal Holocaust, but was popularised by The Blair Witch Project (1999), and subsequently used in well-known films such as Paranormal Activity (2007), REC (2007), and Chronicle (2012).

The genre has appeal to producers because of its lower cost, with the feeling of an amateur documentary allowing lower production values and filming quality than would be accepted on a conventional film.

Writer-director Christopher Landon, who has made several found footage horror films, has argued that the genre is likely to extend in future outside horror: "Inevitably, because of the flexibility of our crew and our schedule and how we operate in general, because we're so quick and lightweight and easy and functional that way, we tend to shoot a lot of stuff... I don't think found footage is in danger of running out. I think it's in that process now where I think we're going to obviously start to see more and more movies that are tackling different genres through that lens. I think you're going to see more comedies. I think we're going to see a lot of sci-fi movies... sometimes it reminds me of when reality TV first really hit and was growing. There was a lot of pushback and people saying, 'Oh, it's going to go away, it's going to go away.' But it didn't go away. It just changed a lot... YouTube has completely changed the way that we experience movies because people are out there making stuff all the time and capturing moments, so there's a certain language that I think we've adopted. So I think that the found footage format connects to that. I think it's very relatable to people."

Over the past few years, the genre has been popularized in mainstream film-making, owing to the critical and commercial success of films like Cloverfield, District 9 and Paranormal Activity.

Examples

Films

The following films are in the found footage category, though some were only partially made in that style. Also listed are the films' directors, production company and release date.

Film	Genre	Director(s)	Production company	Release date (YY-MM-DD)
Cannibal Holocaust	Adventure, Horror	Ruggero Deodato	F.D. Cinematografica	1980-02-07
UFO Abduction	Horror, Science fiction	Dean Alioto	IndieSyndicate Productions	1989–??-??
84C MoPic	Drama, War	Patrick Sheane Duncan	New Century Vista Film Company	1989-04-07
Man Bites Dog	Comedy, Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller	Rémy Belvaux André Bonzel Benoît Poelvoorde	Les Artistes Anonymes	1993-01-15
Forgotten Silver	Comedy	Peter Jackson	WingNut Films	1995-10-28
Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County	Drama, Horror, Science fiction	Dean Alioto	Dick Clark Productions	1998-01-20
The Last Broadcast	Horror, Mystery	Stefan Avalos Lance Weiler	FFM Productions	1998-10-23
The Blair Witch Project	Horror, Mystery	Daniel Myrick Eduardo Sánchez	Haxan Films	1999-07-30
The St. Francisville Experiment	Horror, Mystery, Thriller	Ted Nicolaou	The Kushner-Locke Company	2000-04-15
August Underground	Horror	Fred Vogel	Absu Films Toetag Pictures	2001–??-??
The Collingswood Story	Horror, Mystery, Thriller	Mike Costanza	Cinerebel Media	2002-10-20
August Underground's Mordum	Horror	Fred Vogel Killjoy Cristie Whiles Jerami Cruise Michael T. Schneider	Toetag Pictures	2003–??-??
The Great American Snuff Film	Horror	Sean Tretta	Ominous Productions	2003-??-??
Zero Day	Drama	Ben Coccio	Professor Bright Films	2003-09-03
Incident at Loch Ness	Adventure	Zak Penn	Eden Rock Media	2004-09-17
September Tapes	Documentary, Drama	Christian Johnston	Complex Films Raz Productions Raz Entertainment Persistent Entertainment	2004-09-24
The Last Horror Movie	Horror	Julian Richards	Prolific Films Snakehair Productions	2005-05-13
The Curse	Horror	Kôji Shiraishi	Xanadeux Company	2005-08-20
The Zombie Diaries	Horror	Kevin Gates Michael Bartlett	Off World Films Bleeding Edge Films	2006-10-29
The Hunt	Science fiction, Horror, Thriller	Fritz Kiersch	Graymark Productions Azisa Pictures	2006-12-11
Alone with Her	Crime, Drama, Thriller	Eric Nicholas	Pin Hole Productions LLC The Weinstein Company	2007-01-17
Welcome to the Jungle	Horror	Jonathan Hensleigh	Steelbridge Film Works Bauer Martinez Studios Valhalla Motion Pictures	2007-04-19
The Poughkeepsie Tapes	Horror	John Erick Dowdle	Brothers Dowdle Productions Poughkeepsie Films	2007-04-27
August Underground's Penance	Horror	Fred Vogel	Toetag Pictures	2007-04-30
Long Pigs	Horror	Chris Power	Clowns After Midnight Productions Jordan Entertainment Chris Bridges Effects Studio	2007-09-6
Head Case	Horror	Anthony Spadaccini	Fleet Street Films B.P.A. Productions Group, Inc.	2007-09-8
Exhibit A	Drama, Thriller	Dom Rotheroe	Warp Films	2007-10-1
Paranormal Activity	Supernatural horror	Oren Peli	Blumhouse Productions	2007-10-14
Death of a Ghost Hunter	Horror	Sean Tretta	Ominous Productions	2007-10-28
Live!	Drama	Bill Guttentag	Atlas Entertainment	2007-11-1
REC	Horror	Jaume Balagueró Paco Plaza	Castelao Producciones Filmax	2007-11-23
Look		Adam Rifkin	Captured Films	2007-12-14
Monster	Action, Thriller	Erik Estenberg	The Asylum	2008-01-15
Cloverfield	Science fiction, Monster film	Matt Reeves	Bad Robot Productions	2008-01-18
Diary of the Dead	Horror	George A. Romero	Artfire Films Romero-Grunwald Productions	2008-02-15
Home Movie	Horror	Christopher Denham	Modernciné	2008-07-10
Quarantine	Science fiction, Horror	John Erick Dowdle	Vertigo Entertainment Andale Pictures Filmax Entertainment	2008-10-10
Lunopolis	Science fiction	Matthew Avant	Media Savant	2009–??-??
Occult	Horror	Kôji Shiraishi	Image Rings Creative Axa Company Ltd.	2009-02-28
Evil Things	Horror	Dominic Perez	Go Show Media	2009-08-13
The Ritual	Drama	Anthony Spadaccini	Fleet Street Films B.P.A. Productions Group, Inc.	2009-08-15
REC 2	Horror	Jaume Balagueró Paco Plaza	Castelao Producciones Filmax	2009-10-02
Murder Collection V.1	Horror	Fred Vogel	Toetag Pictures	2009-05-1
Paranormal Entity	Supernatural horror	Shane Van Dyke	The Asylum	2009-12-22
Bachiatari Bōryoku Ningen	Black Comedy	Kōji Shiraishi	Creative AXA	2012–??-??
Love Sex aur Dhokha	Comedy, Drama	Dibakar Banerjee	Freshwater Films	2010-03-19
Lake Mungo	Horror	Joel Anderson	Screen Australia	2010-03-23
Eyes in the Dark	Horror	Bjorn Anderson	Emerald City Pictures	2010-04-25
A Serbian Film	Horror	Srdjan Spasojevic	Contrafilm	2010-6-16
Hotel Hollywood	Comedy, Horror	Param Gill	G S Productions	2010-07-23
Shirome	Horror	Kôji Shiraishi	Stardust Promotion Shirome Project Partners	2010-08-13
The Last Exorcism	Horror	Daniel Stamm	Strike Entertainment StudioCanal Arcade Pictures	2010-08-27
Undocumented	Horror	Chris Peckover	Sheperd Glen Productions	2010-09-??
The Virginity Hit	Comedy	Huck Botko & Andrew Gurland	Gary Sanchez Productions	2010-09-10
8213: Gacy House	Horror	Anthony Fankhauser	The Asylum	2010-09-28
Atrocious	Horror	Fernando Barreda Luna	Nabu Films Silencio Rodamos Programa Ibermedia	2010-10-15
Paranormal Activity 2	Supernatural horror	Tod Williams	Blumhouse Productions	2010-10-22
Trollhunter	Fantasy, Monster film	André Øvredal	Filmkameratene A/S Film Fund FUZZ	2010-10-29
Unaware	Science fiction, Horror	Sean Bardin Robert Cooley	Cooley Productions	2010-11-13
Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night	Supernatural horror	Toshikazu Nagae	Presidio Corporation	2010-11-20
Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes	Horror	Jude Gerard Prest	The Asylum	2011-03-01
Ragini MMS	Drama, Horror	Pawan Kripalani	Balaji Telefilms	2011-03-13
The Tunnel	Horror	Carlo Ledesma	DLSHS Film Distracted Media Zapruder's Other Films	2011-05-18
Megan Is Missing	Drama, Horror	Michael Goi	Trio Pictures	2011-05-??
Grave Encounters	Horror	The Vicious Brothers	Twin Engine Films	2011-06-01
World of the Dead: The Zombie Diaries	Horror	Kevin Gates Michael Bartlett	Off World Films Bleeding Edge Films Straightwire Films	2011-06-24
Hollow	Horror	Michael Axelgaard	Hollow Pictures Tribeca Film	2011-07-31
Untitled	Drama, Horror	Shaun Troke	Shaunywa Films	2011-09 -??
Apollo 18	Science fiction, Horror	Gonzalo López-Gallego	Bazelevs	2011-09-02
The Tapes	Horror	Scott Bates Lee Alliston	Darkside Pictures Pure Film Productions	2011-09-23
Paranormal Activity 3	Supernatural horror	Henry Joost Ariel Schulman	Blumhouse	2011-10-21
The Amityville Haunting	Horror	Geoff Meed	The Asylum Taut Productions	2011-12-??
Chō Akunin	Drama	Kōji Shiraishi	Tokyo Raiders	2011–??-??
The Devil Inside	Supernatural horror	William Brent Bell	Insurge Pictures	2012-01-06
V/H/S	Horror	Ti West Joe Swanberg David Buckner Adam Wingard Glenn McQuaid Radio Silence Productions	The Collective Bloody Disgusting	2012-01-22
Chronicle	Science fiction, Superhero, Thriller	Josh Trank	Davis Entertainment	2012-02-01
Project X	Comedy	Nima Nourizadeh	Silver Pictures Green Hat Films	2012-03-02
Evidence	Horror	Howie Askins	RynoRyder Productions	2012-03-12
Hate Crime	Horror	James Cullen Bressack	Psykik Junky Pictures	2013-??-??
REC 3: Genesis	Horror	Paco Plaza	Filmax	2012-03-30
Apartment 143	Horror	Carles Torrens	Werc Werk Works Kasdan Pictures Likely Story	2012-05-04
100 Ghost Street: The Return of Richard Speck	Horror	Martin Anderson	The Asylum	2012-7-24
The Dinosaur Project	Adventure	Sid Bennett	Moonlighting Films	2012-08-10
A Night in the Woods	Horror	Richard Parry	Richard Parry	2012-09-07
End of Watch	Thriller, Police Procedural	David Ayer	StudioCanal	2012-09-08
The Conspiracy	Horror	Christopher MacBride	Resolute Films and Entertainment	2012-09-20
Grave Encounters 2	Horror	John Poliquin	Arclight Films	2012-10-02
Paranormal Activity 4	Supernatural horror	Henry Joost Ariel Schulman	Room 101	2012-10-19
The Bay	Science fiction, Horror	Barry Levinson	Lionsgate	2012-11-02
A Haunted House	Comedy	Michael Tiddes	Open Road Films	2013-01-11
The Upper Footage	Crime, Drama, Thriller	Justin Cole		2013-01-31
Devil's Pass	Horror	Renny Harlin	Aldamisa Entertainment Alexander Rodnyansky Non-Stop Productions Midnight Sun Pictures K. Jam Media	2013-02-28
The Frankenstein Theory	Horror	Andrew Weiner	Rocket Inner Station Therapy Content Arctic Film Group	2013-03-01
Cult	Horror	Kôji Shiraishi		2013-04-04
Willow Creek	Horror	Bobcat Goldthwait	Jerkschool Productions	2013-04-29
V/H/S/2	Horror	Simon Barrett Jason Eisener Gareth Evans Gregg Hale Eduardo Sánchez Timo Tjahjanto Adam Wingard	The Collective Bloody Disgusting 8383 Productions Snoot Entertainment Haxan Films Yer Dead Productions	2013-06-06
Europa Report	Science fiction	Sebastián Cordero	Wayfare Entertainment Ventures	2013-08-02
Head Cases: Serial Killers in the Delaware Valley	Horror	Anthony Spadaccini	Fleet Street Films B.P.A. Productions Group, Inc.	2013-09-28
Sx_Tape	Horror	Bernard Rose	Aeroplano La.Lune Entertainment	2013-10-10
6-5=2	Horror	KS Ashoka	Swarnalatha Production	2013-11-29
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones	Supernatural horror	Christopher Landon	Paramount Pictures	2014-01-03
Devil's Due	Supernatural horror	Matt Bettinelli-Olpin Tyler Gillett	Davis Entertainment Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation	2014-01-17
Exists	Horror	Eduardo Sánchez	Lionsgate Haxan Films Court Five	2014-03-07
The Den	Horror	Zachary Donohue	Cliffbrook Films Onset Films	2014-03-14
Afflicted	Horror	Derek Lee Clif Prowse	Automatik Entertainment Téléfilm Canada	2014-04-04
Babysitting	Comedy	Nicolas Benamou Philippe Lacheau	Axel Films Madame Films Cinéfrance 1888 Good Lap Production	2014-04-16
A Haunted House 2	Horror comedy	Michael Tiddes	IM Global Octane Wayans Bros. Entertainment Baby Way Productions	2014-04-18
The Sacrament	Horror	Ti West	Worldview Entertainment Arcade Pictures	2014-05-01
Alien Abduction	Horror	Matty Beckerman	Exclusive Media Group Big Picture Next Entertainment Lawrence Bender Productions Mob Scene Creative Productions	2014-05-04
Earth to Echo	Science fiction, Family	Dave Green	Relativity Media	2014-07-02
Into the Storm	Disaster film	Steven Quale	New Line Cinema Village Roadshow Pictures	2014-08-08
As Above, So Below	Horror, Thriller	John Erick Dowdle	Universal Pictures Legendary Pictures	2014-08-29
Gore, Quebec	Horror	Jean Benoit Lauzon	Green Lake Films	2014-10-14
The Taking of Deborah Logan	Horror	Adam Robitel	Eagle Films Millenium Entertainment	2014-10-21
REC 4: Apocalypse	Horror	Jaume Balagueró	Canal+ España	2014-10-31
V/H/S: Viral	Horror	Nacho Vigalondo Marcel Sarmiento Gregg Bishop Justin Benson Todd Lincoln	Bloody Disgusting The Collective Haxan Films	2014-11-21
The Pyramid	Supernatural horror	Grégory Levasseur	Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation	2014-12-05
The Atticus Institute	Horror	Chris Sparling	SND Groupe M6	2015-01-23
Project Almanac	Science fiction adventure	Dean Israelite	Insurge Pictures Platinum Dunes MTV Films	2015-01-30
Demonic	Horror	Will Canon	Icon Entertainment International First Point Entertainment IM Global	2015-02-12
Ghoul	Horror	Petr Jákl jr.	J.B.J Film	2015-02-26
Creep	Horror comedy	Patrick Brice	Blumhouse Productions	2015-03-08
Nightlight	Horror-thriller	Scott Beck, Bryan Woods	Herrick Entertainment	2015-03-27
Unfriended	Supernatural Horror		Universal Studios Blumhouse Productions	2015-04-17
Area 51	Science fiction horror	Oren Peli	Paramount Pictures	2015-05-15
The Cutting Room	Horror	Warren Dudley	Itchy Fish Film	2015-06-??
The Gallows	Supernatural Horror	Travis Cluff, Chris Lofing	New Line Cinema Blumhouse Productions Management 360 Tremendum Pictures	2015-07-10
The Visit	Horror comedy	M. Night Shyamalan	Blinding Edge Pictures Blumhouse Productions Universal Pictures	2015-09-11
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension	Supernatural horror	Gregory Plotkin	Paramount Pictures	2015-10-23
Unfriended 2	Supernatural horror		BH Productions Universal Studios	2016-??-??

TV series and made for TV specials

• Alternative 3 (1977)
• Alien Autopsy: (Fact or Fiction?) (1995)
• Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County (1998) – UPN aired a 60 minute version with more interviews
• Jeopardy (2002) (BBC series)
• Lost Tapes (2009) (series)
• Marble Hornets (2009–2014) (YouTube series)
• The River (2012) (series)
• Lassie Jerky, an episode of Psych was partially filmed as found footage (2013)
• Sleep No More, the ninth episode of Doctor Who Series 9 (2015)

Music videos

• "Photograph" by Ed Sheeran (2015)
• "I Need Your Love" by Calvin Harris ft. Ellie Goulding (2012)
• "One Last Time" by Ariana Grande (2015)

See also

• Mockumentary
• Cinéma vérité
• Epistolary novel
• Hoax