Line #67 Main/FoundFootageFilms


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6357767504836482671182192021_found_footage.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Well, at least they were nice enough to label it, [[ShoutOut as well as]] [[WebVideo/MarbleHornets what to do with the tape.]]]]
3
4	->''"Every frame of this movie looks like someone's last known photograph."''
5	-->-- '''Joel Hodgeson''', ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S04E24ManosTheHandsOfFate Manos: The Hands of Fate]]"
6
7	Movies that are shot to resemble actual camera footage recovered from an event. They typically contain a fair bit of StylisticSuck, owing to the conceit that they are being filmed by people who aren't professional filmmakers.
8
9	A large number of films using this approach tend to be horror movies; the approach lends itself nicely to low-budget film-making and it positions the audience right in the center of creepy and terrifying events. The concept [[TropeCodifier became a sensation]] after ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject'', [[OlderThanTheyThink though it]] [[UrExample goes back to]] ''Film/CannibalHolocaust'' in TheSeventies, at least as a technique of film. In other mediums it goes back at least to the [[OlderThanTheyThink early 20th century]].
10
11	The subgenre saw a resurgence in popularity starting at the end of the TurnOfTheMillennium within the {{horror}} genre thanks to the success of ''Film/ParanormalActivity'', along with the decreasing cost and increasing availability of digital cameras. Other recent, non-horror films utilizing the format include ''Film/{{Chronicle}}'', ''Film/ProjectX2012'' and ''Film/BestNightEver'', as well as the TV series ''Series/TheRiver''.
12
13	Compare {{Mockumentary}}, BasedOnATrueStory, VlogSeries. See also ApocalypticLog, which lends itself nicely to this style of filmmaking. AnalogHorror also falls in a similar vein. The literary equivalent is the ScrapbookStory. The term "found footage" can also refer to footage that is re-appropriated (that is to say, treated as a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Found_object found object]]), and consequently "found footage film" can also refer to a video collage.
14
15	----
16	!!Examples:
17
18	[[index]]
19
20	[[foldercontrol]]
21
22	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
23	* ''Anime/{{Flag}}'' - not a live-action production, but uses the same presentation style
24	[[/folder]]
25
26	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
27	* ''Film/ABCsOfDeath2'' (for the B and V segments)
28	* ''Film/{{Afflicted}}''
29	* ''Film/AlienAbduction2014''
30	* ''Film/AlienAbductionIncidentInLakeCounty''
31	* ''Film/AmberAlert''
32	* ''Film/AmericanDescent''
33	* ''[[Franchise/{{Amityville}} The Amityville Haunting]]''
34	* ''Film/Apartment143''
35	* ''Film/{{Apollo 18\|2011}}''
36	* ''Film/AsAboveSoBelow''
37	* ''Film/Area51''
38	* ''Film/BansheeChapter'' has many scenes where creepy footage is playbacked.
39	* ''Film/TheBay''
40	* ''Film/BehindTheMaskTheRiseOfLeslieVernon''
41	* ''Film/TheBellWitchHaunting''
42	* ''Film/BestNightEver''
43	* ''Film/{{Bite}}'' - though only for the opening scenes. The rest of the film employs a more conventional narrative.
44	* ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject'' - the TropeCodifier for much of the genre.
45	** ''Film/BlairWitch'' (the direct sequel to ''The Blair Witch Project'', made by the team behind ''V/H/S'')
46	* ''Film/TheBorderlands''
47	* ''Film/CannibalHolocaust'' - believed to be [[UrExample the first ever film of this particular genre]], though only half of the movie is the actual found footage.
48	* ''Film/TheCannibalInTheJungle''
49	* ''Film/{{Chronicle}}''
50	* ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}''
51	* ''Film/Creep2014''
52	* ''Film/TheDarkestDawn''
53	* ''Film/{{Deadstream}}''
54	* ''Film/TheDevilsDoorway''
55	* ''Film/TheDevilInside''
56	* ''Film/DevilsPass''
57	* ''Film/DiaryOfTheDead''
58	* ''Film/TheDinosaurProject''
59	* ''Film/EarthToEcho''
60	* ''Film/EndOfWatch'': It's zig-zagged, since it heavily uses InUniverseCamera rather than solely using Found Footage
61	* ''Film/EuropaReport''
62	* ''Film/{{Evidence}}'' (Switches between traditionally-filmed scenes of police looking through crime scene footage and the footage itself.)
63	* ''Film/ExhibitA''
64	* ''Film/{{Exists}}''
65	* ''Film/EyesInTheDark''
66	* ''Film/FoundFootage3D'' (a parody of the genre)
67	* ''Film/TheFourthKind''
68	* ''Film/FrankensteinsArmy''
69	* ''Film/TheFrankensteinTheory''
70	* ''Film/{{Frogman}}''
71	* ''Gags the Clown'' combines footage from phones, body cams, a news team, and a podcaster to narrate the story of the eponymous MonsterClown.
72	* ''Film/TheGallows''
73	* ''Film/GonjiamHauntedAsylum''
74	* ''Film/GraveEncounters''
75	** ''Film/GraveEncounters2''
76	* ''Film/GuineaPigDevilsExperiment''
77	* ''Franchise/HellHouseLLC''
78	** ''Film/HellHouseLLC''
79	** ''Film/HellHouseLLCIITheAbaddonHotel''
80	** ''Film/HellHouseLLC3''
81	** ''Film/HellHouseLLCOriginsTheCarmichaelManor''
82	* ''Film/HomeMovie''
83	* ''Film/HorrorInTheHighDesert''
84	* ''Film/{{Host}}'' exclusively uses footage from a Zoom meeting.
85	* ''Film/TheHousesOctoberBuilt''
86	* ''Film/HouseOfTemptation''
87	* ''Film/{{Hungerford}}''
88	* ''Film/IAmAlone''
89	* ''Film/{{Influenza}}'' -- Korean short film consisting in its entirety of security camera footage.
90	* ''Film/IntoTheStorm2014'' (Mostly.)
91	* ''Film/LakeMungo''
92	* ''Film/TheLastBroadcast''
93	* ''Film/TheLastExorcism'' (but not the sequel)
94	* ''Film/LateNightWithTheDevil''
95	* ''Film/{{LOLA\|2022}}''
96	* ''Film/TheLostCoastTapes''
97	* ''Film/LuckyBastard''
98	* ''Film/{{Lunopolis}}''
99	* ''Film/ManBitesDog''
100	* ''Film/MeganIsMissing''
101	* ''Film/MermaidsTheBodyFound''
102	* ''Film/TheMonsterProject''
103	* ''Film/MrJones2013''
104	* ''WebVideo/MyDadsTapes'' has the protagonist uploading the titular tapes to [=YouTube=] while investigating the contents.
105	* ''Nightlight'' (2015) [[spoiler: subverted this trope: it ''looks'' like Found Footage, but is really an ImpendingDoomPOV from the perspective of a haunted flashlight.]]
106	* ''Film/NoroiTheCurse''
107	* ''Film/{{Occult}}''
108	* ''Film/OpenWindows''
109	* ''Film/TheOutwaters''
110	* ''Film/ParanormalActivity''
111	* ''Film/TheParanormalDiariesClophill''
112	* ''Film/ParanormalPrison''
113	* ''Phoenix Forgotten'' mostly follows a pseudo-documentary film style as a young woman searches for her missing brother and investigates the 1997 UFO phenomenon known as the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lights Phoenix Lights]]" (which is the last thing her brother was looking into before disappearing), which then becomes a true-blue example of this trope [[spoiler:[[HalfwayPlotTwist when she finds the camera her brother's group was carrying the day they vanished and plays the video inside]], which filmed how the whole lot of them ended up victims of an AlienAbduction.]]
114	* ''Film/ThePossessionOfMichaelKing''
115	* ''Film/ThePoughkeepsieTapes''
116	* ''Film/PrettyDead2013''
117	* ''Film/ProjectAlmanac''
118	* ''Film/ProjectX2012''
119	* ''Film/ThePyramid'' (At least in the beginning; the amount of found footage gradually decreases throughout the film until it's almost entirely traditionally-shot by the climax.)
120	* ''Film/{{Ratter}}''
121	* ''Film/{{REC}}'' (at least up until halfway through the third film)
122	** ''Film/{{Quarantine\|2008}}'' (an [[TransAtlanticEquivalent American remake]] of ''[REC]'')
123	* ''Film/{{Reel}}''
124	* ''Film/{{Savageland}}'' Framed as a documentary, though found photos take up most of the limelight. An actual found footage appears at the end.
125	* ''Film/Series7TheContenders''
126	* ''Film/{{Sinister}}'' mixes found footage with a traditional storytelling method as a framing device.
127	* ''Film/{{Spree}}''
128	* ''Film/TheTakingOfDeborahLogan''
129	* ''Film/Tape407''
130	* ''Film/ThisHouseHasPeopleInIt''
131	* ''Film/TheTrollHunter''
132	* ''Film/TrashHumpers''
133	* ''Film/TheTunnel''
134	* ''Film/{{Undocumented}}''
135	* ''Film/{{Unfriended}}'': It's zig-zagged, since it employs a Skype conference in real-time rather than using Found Footage.
136	** ''Film/UnfriendedDarkWeb''
137	* ''Film/VampireDiary''
138	* ''Film/{{VHS}}''
139	** ''Film/VHS2''
140	** ''Film/VHSViral''
141	** ''[[{{Film/VHS94}} V/H/S/94]]''
142	** ''[[Film/VHS99 V/H/S/99]]''
143	** ''[[Film/VHS85 V/H/S/85]]''
144	* ''Film/TheVisit''
145	* ''Film/{{Vlog}}'': It mostly consists of footage from Brooke's vlog posts, the killer's web videos, and a true crime TV show. However, there a few scenes that do not fit this format.
146	* ''Film/TheWeddingVideo'' (up until the end)
147	* ''Film/WillowCreek''
148	* ''Film/{{Windigo}}''
149	* ''Film/TheWitchFiles''
150	* ''Film/WNUFHalloweenSpecial''
151	** ''Film/OutThereHalloweenMegaTape''
152	* ''Film/ZeroDay''
153	[[/folder]]
154
155	[[folder:Literature]]
156	* ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'' is a book about a review of a movie that used this. Except it was all true. [[MindScrew Maybe.]]
157	[[/folder]]
158
159	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
160	* ''2013'' (a Belgian TV series)
161	* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E9SleepNoMore Sleep No More]]"
162	* The Australian TV series ''Jeopardy'' (not to be confused with [[Series/{{Jeopardy}} that one]]) made heavy use of found-footage early on, when it was more ''Blair Witch''-esque.
163	[[index]]
164	* ''Series/LostTapes''
165	* ''Series/TheRiver''
166	* ''Series/{{Siberia}}'' (framed as a RealityTV series)
167	[[/folder]]
168
169	[[folder:Music]]
170	* The video for "One Last Time" by Music/ArianaGrande, which was done by the writer of ''Film/{{Chronicle}}'' above.
171	* The video for "Beauty and a Beat" by Music/JustinBieber, whose synopsis is that it is Bieber's "personal footage" that was stolen and illegally and distributed by an "anonymous blogger".
172	* The video for Music/{{Ludacris}}' "How Low", in which a trio of teenage girls film themselves summoning Ludacris in the mirror, Bloody Mary-style, by dancing in front of it.
173	[[/folder]]
174
175	[[folder:Radio Drama]]
176	* The 1949 ''Suspense'' episode "Ghost Hunt" features a similar premise involving an audio recording.
177	[[/folder]]
178
179	[[folder:Video Games]]
180	* ''VideoGame/AmandaTheAdventurer''
181	* ''VideoGame/BlackSnowHalfLife2'': the game's entire story is what Jon Matsuda's camera recorded before "you" find it.
182	* ''VideoGame/{{Jisatsu}}'' has an intern going into an abandoned house and finding video tapes of what had happened to its owners.
183	* ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion3'' has a brief segment with found footage. Professor E. Gadd had sent a Toad to retrieve an important gadget to help Luigi and had the Toad record himself during his search. The Toad gets ambushed by ghosts and had to flee, dropping the gadget and the camera in the process. Luigi has to use the recording to figure out where Toad and the gadget are.
184	* ''VideoGame/MichiganReportFromHell'' is essentially a playable found footage movie, with the player controlling the cameraman of a news crew in a horror setting. What's strange is that the identity of your cameraman [[SchrodingersPlayerCharacter changes depending on what ending you get]].
185	* ''VideoGame/{{Outlast}}'' (stylistically invoked with the video camera you use for night vision)
186	* ''VideoGame/{{Paranormal}}'' (a haunted-house investigation video game)
187	* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard'' features this in some moments, where you can watch videos left behind by people who'd gone through the house before you, all of which are fully playable.
188	* "VideoGame/{{Unrecord}}" is an unusual variation, being a FirstPersonShooter played from the perspective of a police officer's bodycam, instead of through the eyes of the officer. It even includes the blurring of faces of suspects whom didn't go to trial yet and other similar effects.
189	[[/folder]]
190
191	[[folder:Web Video]]
192	* ''WebVideo/The15Experience'' (a found-footage short film presented as an online experience)
193	* ''WebVideo/AlanLong''
194	* ''WebVideo/ClearLakes44'' -- although the in-story source of the footage is unclear, as it explicitly does things no "camera" should be able to.
195	* ''WebVideo/EndTimes'' switches between found footage from the survivors and vlog-style commentary from the Archivist.
196	* ''WebVideo/HallowedWorldly''
197	* ''WebVideo/HiImMaryMary''
198	* ''WebVideo/TheIndianaJonesInterrogations''
199	* ''WebVideo/TheJokerBlogs'' -- mostly the first season, much less so in the second.
200	* ''WebVideo/KanePixelsTheBackrooms''
201	* ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'', and by extension, most video series set in Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos.
202	* ''WebVideo/StampysLovelyWorld'': '[[ShowWithinAShow What Is This?]]' from Episode 564, "Scary Movies" features a SurferDude named Brick vlogging his journey to find Stampy.
203	* ''WebVideo/TruthInJournalism''
204	* ''WebVideo/TheWestRecords''
205	[[/folder]]
206
207	[[folder:Western Animation]]
208	* ''WesternAnimation/TheScoobyDooProject'' (a DeconstructiveParody of the genre).
209	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
210	** In ''The Adventures of the Road Runner" (a proposed 25-minutes series pilot), the Coyote shows us he keeps a photographic record of his activities in pursuing the Road Runner so he can isolate his mistakes and correct them. He has movie cameras strategically placed throughout the desert. (Some of the scenes were repurposed for the later cartoon "To Beep or Not To Beep"; the segment itself was re-edited in 1964 as "Road Runner A-Go-Go.")
211	** "WesternAnimation/PrehystericalHare" has Bugs discovering a reel of movie film from the year 10,000 B.C. It focuses on Elmer Fuddstone and his hunt for the sabertooth rabbit.
212	[[/folder]]
213
214	[[/index]]

Context Main / FoundFootageFilms