Why found footage is here to stay

Found footage found its way to this year’s Sundance Film Festival. From IndieWire:

No one would have guessed that, more than a decade after “The Blair Witch Project” broke box-office records to become one the highest grossing independent films of all time, audiences would still flock to found-footage flicks. From the ongoing success of the “Paranormal Activity” movies to the recent strong opening of “The Devil Inside” that caught many by surprise, one thing’s for sure — the style is here to stay.

“V/H/S,” a Sundance Midnight Madness entry premiering at Sundance Sunday, is one more in that vein. The buzzed-about film’s a collective horror effort featuring segments directed by Radio Silence, Adam Wingard, Glenn McQuaid, David Bruckner, Joe Swanberg and Ti West, much like the upcoming “The ABCs of Death.” To string all the parts together, “V/H/S” centers on a group of petty criminals hired to retrieve a rare piece of footage from a house filled with strange VHS tapes, which they must scan through individually.

One of the film’s producers is Brad Miska, founder of leading horror portal Bloody-Disgusting.com and entertainment management/production company The Collective. Over the last year, the Collective and Bloody Disgusting have been testing out a new marketing and distribution model for international horror films by partnering with AMC Theaters to acquire and distribute films from the festival circuit directly to theaters. Their most recent release together was the Sundance 2011 shocker “The Woman,” directed by Lucky McKee.

Some interview excerpts with Miska and why he thinks this sub-genre is here to stay:

You guys released controversial Sundance horror flick “The Woman” by partnering with AMC. Do you foresee a similar release pattern for this film?

We’re actually hoping to sell it to a big studio. We think that it’s perfect timing especially after “The Devil Inside”’s success. Found footage films — there’s kind of this whole debate over whether or not they’re going to last. They’re treating found footage as if it’s 3D — it’s not. And I’ll argue this to the death until I die. Found-footage films are the future if you do it right. The problem with a lot of found footage films is that they don’t tell the story with the camera in mind. They just go, “Oh I’ll make a vampire movie,” and they make the vampire movie with some dude holding a camera. Then when you step back and look at the movie you go, “Why the hell is that guy holding a camera? It makes absolutely no sense.” I think if you approach a found-footage movie the right way, you put them in organic situations where it’s clear why this person has a camera, why they’d be walking around with a camera. If done right, it works the same way that like “Jaws” works with the water. It creates immediate scares. And you can apply that to any genre, which is why it’s infinite — just figuring out the best way to implore cell phone usage or webcams or security cam footage without it coming off cheesy and dated.

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With that said, where do you see the future of horror going? It seemed to be on this torture porn trajectory, but that’s changed with the new found-footage thing that’s taken over the zeitgeist.

Yeah, I mean it changes every decade or so. Now that the economy has sort of tanked and everything’s been really shitty, no one wants to feel like shit when you go to see a movie. Found-footage movies scare you legitimately, but have a more fun feeling to them. You don’t walk out feeling sour. And I think it goes with the times.

In 2012, we’re shifting right now. Found-footage movies are just picking up steam. I think it’s got a good five years at least. I hope it stays around forever but I just don’t know how long until you’re out of ideas at some point. You think everything will be covered and then it’ll switch back to something else, like maybe it’ll be ‘80s-type movies.

“I think it’s got a good five years at least.” Interesting. Contained thrillers seemed to have faded after a nice run of about 5 years or so. But maybe he’s right. If filmmakers approach the conceit right, providing viewers with a plausible reality as to why we’re watching a movie with found footage, there is something at work in how these type of movies can, as Miska suggests, create “immediate scares.”

What are your thoughts about found footage films?

For more of the interview, go here.

HT to Black List intern Chris for sourcing the link.

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