How to Make a Found Footage Horror Good Again
Acknowledge information technology, found footage films are a bit predictable. Only why are the scares so damn horrific in [REC]?
Think back to the first found footage film you e'er saw in theaters. Something is unsettling near existence locked into the perspective of the camera. You are being forced to follow jarring camera movements as the space around you becomes smaller and smaller with each scare. A good found footage film will either get a expert scare out of you, or yous simply throw upwards from motion sickness.
These films have become anticipated and often waste product the audience's time trying to force u.s.a. to care about obscure situations that are out of bear upon with reality. Only [REC] isn't like the residuum. It stands proudly over the others because it finds horror in the affair we despise the virtually—isolation.
Ryan Hollinger breaks down what makes [REC] the all-time establish-footage picture show of all time (pitiful, The Blair Witch Project ).
Tension
[REC] builds tension at a rapid speed. The film is barely eighty minutes long, only everything goes from 0 to 100 once the forced quarantine starts. Every moment is unpredictable, and there is never a chance to recover subsequently the tension snaps. Plot details are added constantly to go along the audition engaged as the scares lurk right around the corner.
One of the elementary means that the film uses tension is by containing the world of the moving picture in a small space. The spiral staircase and a limited corporeality of rooms make the claustrophobia that found footage films are notorious for even more oppressive.
The second way the picture show builds tension is through the characters. The characters in [REC] are everyday people that don't have annihilation remarkable or archetypal near them. They just react to their discomfort; in that location are awkward conversations before and after interviews, insecurities that show themselves through how a person talks, and their raw reaction to scares.
Lastly, tension is created by the beautifully blending sub-genres of horror. [REC] is a found footage moving-picture show nearly a zombie outbreak that is caused by demonic possession. Those are iii horror sub-genres wrapped up in an 80-minute movie, and it is washed to perfection. With subtle side comments fabricated by supporting characters and a quick revelation at the very last 2nd, the last 10 minutes of the picture show leave audiences breathless.
Realism
The characters in the film make the footage experience genuine. Ángela (Manuela Velasco) shows the switch from her casual conversation to her professional mode when she is interviewing. A nuanced detail that the filmmakers added was that Velasco was a presenter in real life and knew how to switch in and out of that professional mode. It is a small detail, only it makes a huge difference when trying to brand a character feel like a person who exists in our reality.
[REC] does something that every good constitute footage film does. The characters are constantly acknowledging the photographic camera.
Almost every single character looks directly into the camera unless they are told not to by Ángela or when they are trying not to die. It'due south hard non to look straight into a camera when one is pointed at you. Past allowing characters to peer straight into the lens, the audition recognizes that these people are boilerplate people who don't feel comfy around cameras like an role player would.
Characters too evangelize lines over one another to make the conversations feel natural and unscripted. Many scenes were improvised, and some of the scares were not written in or mentioned to the actors to go a genuine response out of them. When information technology's nighttime in a scene, it'southward considering information technology is actually night. All of these pocket-size details add to the realism of [REC].
Consistency
Found footage films take been slandered for beingness super easy to pull off. The bad ones utilise off-screen jumpscares, inconsistent cameras, and actors that dramatically react to nothing. The inconsistent camera in a bad found footage will have a character holding a handheld camera that is deliberately shaky to a well-crafted shot that is only there to evoke emotion from the audience. Many bad found footage films are now cheating with multi-camera and drones. (Please, for the love of film, don't apply drones in a found footage film.)
Consistency with the camera is important and meaningful. In The Blair Witch Project , the audition understands that these apprentice filmmakers take no feel with cameras, and the unfocused shots and close zoom-ins emphasize this. Pablo (Pablo Rosso) in [REC] is an actual camera operator and knows what he is doing. He will do whatever it takes to go the all-time shot (thanks to all the fine camera operators out at that place), and this translates in the picture as him just doing his job.
The person holding the camera must have a purpose to hold the camera, and if they are clumsy with the photographic camera or take a natural talent for getting the best shots possible, just make information technology believable.
When it comes to making a found footage film, remember that the earth of the film needs to exist grounded believably. Attempt to make the characters feel like "existent" people and surprise them and the audiences with scares that no one is expecting.
Did nosotros miss any tips that can aid make a expert found footage pic? Let us know below!
Source: https://nofilmschool.com/how-rec-teaches-found-footage
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