Questions about "found footage" films?

J

joey1320

Hello everyone, I'm in the process of working out the little kinks on my first script and I have a couple of questions regarding the direction I'm thinking of going with it. I'm a big fan of "found footage"(f/f) films and the script was written as so, therefore I would like to know if f/f is looked down upon by other people in the industry? Let's say all goes well and we shoot the short and I decide to submit it to festivals, will it be rejected before its even seen by anyone? And even if its not rejected, do critics view f/f films as relevant?



Thanks!
 
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While I can't comment on the found footage aspect of your question. I wanted to comment, that I really like your idea, but I'm not sure where the found footage portion comes into play? Reads like a straight forward narrative project. Guy sends himself an email from the future, girlfriend finds its, things happen. I actually love the through time angle of this idea. Does the email set into play the events that led to the email being sent? Does it change the future, I love it. So many questions, so many ways to take it. Sorry, went off on a tangent.

Could you explain how you see it as a found footage?
 
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I know the ultimate goal of making a film is for people to see it but there is also a passion piece of this. If the story motivates you, go shoot it. A great story with a decent shoot/edit stands a chance of getting into many of the festivals. Sometimes a great story may not translate to the screen but without making the attempt, you will never know. In short, get out there and shoot. You are going to make some movies that get overlooked at festivals, it's a fact of life. This gives you an opportunity to take a step back, ask yourself why and try again.
 
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I like found footage films when they're done well. I think there is a bit of a backlash going on at the moment, but I also believe the sub-genre is here to stay. So if you're passionate about it, go for it!

(FYI, I do have a post about making found footage pieces at the bottom of the first page of my site, if you're interested.)
 
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Wouldn’t it be nice if we could know how critics and audiences
would react before we make our movies?

If done right some people will like it and some won’t. There is no
way to know how festival judges will react but I can tell you from
experience that they look for good movies - at least “good” in
their opinion. Found footage films are over represented for the
exact reason you are doing yours this way - beginning directors
feel that style will hide their lack of experience. So there are a lot
of found footage films entered in festivals.

In all honesty that style can be more difficult to pull off if for no
other reason than it’s done so often and so poorly. On the positive
side if you can do it right and add something unique to the style
then you will have a movie that stands out.
 
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^What he said.^

This is from my article:

Why make a found footage film?

The best thing about this subgenre is that it’s relatively easy and cheap to produce.

It takes a weakness (no budget, yucky video) and turns it into a strength. Can’t afford a RED camera? Say your protagonist carries a Flip Cam and call it an artistic choice.

Why not make a found footage film?

The worst thing about this subgenre is that it’s relatively easy and cheap to produce.

As with most things that are easy to do, it’s hard to do well.​
 
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Thank you guys for the positive and constructive comments. As far as the cons/pros of f/f films, I completely agree with what has been posted and I will try my hardest to make the best possible product.

If you guys have seen some of my posts here, you will know that I'm all about the essence of the film. Yes, visual effects look cool and hot babes look like hot babes on the screen lol, but at the core the movie has got to have a good storyline that grabs the viewer. I truly hope I will manage to do so when all is said and done.
 
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Your concept doesn't seem especially conducive to the found footage concept, in my opinion. What form does the found footage take? Sure, there can be some filming each other stuff, but is it really possible to tell the entire story that way?

I've only worked on one found footage style project. I guy has his entire house wired for sound and picture when he suspects his wife is having an affair; the husband and the audience watches the affair unfold from the POV of the security cameras, with an occasional non-found footage shot of the husband sorting through and watching the security footage.
 
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Yeah, I hate to rain on your parade, but I agree with what has already been stated -- this doesn't really sound like a story that lends itself to the found-footage style of filmmaking. Like others, I like your concept, and I think you can make a really cool movie out of it. I just think straight-forward narrative would work best.

Found-footage is an off-shoot of the mockumentary. But wherein a "normal" mockumentary has a built-in reason for the camera to be running (they're shooting a documentary), the found-footage needs some other conceit.

The Godfather of found-footage movies, Blair Witch, took the mockumentary path. These kids were shooting a documentary, but then got lost and stupid. Since then, we've seen all sorts of reasons why someone might have the camera constantly running.

In any case, the REAL reason the supposed camera is always running is because a mockumentary/found-footage movie is generally incredibly less expensive to shoot than a straight-forward narrative.

I suppose there could be legitimate artistic reason to shoot in that style, but in my opinion, I'm yet to see it.

In the case of your story, the reason for the camera constantly running sounds contrived, to be completely frank.

There is, however, the possibility of mixing both styles of shooting. No reason why you can't have "camcorder" footage mixed in with floating narrative camera. Modern audiences are accustomed to this, and it'd be up to you to find a way to make it work.
 
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I personally enjoy the concept. I also think that writing it in a certain way simply in order to make it easier to make yourself is somewhat of a copout.

Certainly, if you can do it well, do it well. But filmmaking is a collaborative medium, and we can't always do everything ourselves, as much as we'd like to.

I think you'd do well to get a good team around you to make this script a reality. You'll end up with a better project, and it doesn't necessarily mean that you'd be cut out of the process at all.

If you're set on the found footage idea, I'd be interested in seeing how it comes together, though I can't really see it working - it's not really something that pops out at me as 'this would be perfect as a found footage film,' and in fact I feel I'd struggle to believe that the story could play out as found footage - do the couple fight? Is the guy's best friend really going to stick around for that, especially film the whole thing?

But, if you can make it work, I'd love to see how it plays out.
 
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I re-read the script twice more last nite and I'm confident it can work as a f/f project, but then I started thinking about all the extra possibilities I have making it a conventional film and I have decided to go the conventional way. It will take a bit to rewrite the script, but the more I think about it the better I feel about its future.

I'm super glad I started this thread and I want to say thank you guys once again!
 
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