New Found Footage from M. Night

It has been a few years since M. Night Shyamalan has released what the public would call a quality film (I thought that the Devil was a great little horror film). Most of us thought that the next film from him would be a sequel to Unbreakable. Instead he has made a low budget horror film. Costing less than five million to make and by his and Hollywood standards this is low budget. I have been waiting a few months to see the Visit trailer. Being located in Philly I have heard from those who know the director rumors about the film.

Who would have thought that the new movie would turn out to be a Footage film if not an actual Found footage film. I would like to share the trailer with you today.  If this genre is going to grow and expand it is going to take film makers with the talent of a M. Night to do this. I hope this film is as good as the trailer.
The title of the film is The Visit.

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Found Footage, The Rec Age

                    Found Footage, The Rec Age

There are a few found footage films that tower over all the rest. Amongst these films only one film and its sequel deserved to be considered the best of the best
    “Paranormal Activity one and two right?”
    “Wrong.”
    Although they are both quality films. They are not in the league of Rec and Rec 2.
These two films not only can teach you lessons in how found footage films should be made, but how a sequel to a great film should be done. The second film is better in almost every way as compared to the first and the first Rec film is really good. Rec 2 fills in the blanks and raises the stakes for all involved. If you wish to become a film maker some day and found footage filmmaking is your goal then studying these two films is a must.

Here is a look at the trailer for Rec.

Here is the trailer for Rec 2.

Now we will go beyond the first two films to look at Rec 3. Where the director is different. This is an important change and you can tell by the quality of the film. The movie starts as a found footage film, but break the camera at the end of Act I and becomes a narrative film. The idea was sound, but the execution is poor. The greatest found footage franchise ever was now in trouble of falling off the earth.

This is the trailer for Rec 3.
   

  
 
Now we come to the comeback film. Rec 4 is hitting theaters soon and although it is not a found footage film. It is written and directed by the original film maker and features the original star. This could restore the franchise back to the level of the first two films.

Here is the Trailer for Rec 4.
    

 


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In closing I would like to announce that my book on how to make a found footage film is live on Amazon. You can find it here and it would make the perfect gift for the film maker in your life.

at amazon

On Making a Found Footage Film

After almost two decades the first guide dedicated solely to the making of a found-footage film has arrived. In this book you will be offered clear advice on how to write, direct and produce a quality found footage film. Advice coming from over half a dozen young film makers who are in post production of their films as this book is being published.On Making a Found Footage Film is more than a how to guide it is a call to refocus and redesign a genre of film making. To take if from a sub genre of horror films into comedy, action, suspense and straight drama. There is no limit to what the found-footage film can become in the hands of inventive new film-makers.


This is actually the first book that covers the basics of shooting a found footage film from beginning to end.

It features interviews with a number of young film makers who are about to release their found footage films. Below are a few of the trailers. First The Pigman Murders

Next Found Footage 3D.

Next the complete Night of the Vampire short film.

If you would learn how to make your own found footage film from the ones who have actually done it then my book, On Making a Found Footage Film maybe for you. This is perhaps the most under investigated area of the low budget film making world. My book is the first of its kind and I hope that it will aid many beginning film makers to make quality found footage films.

Now I would like to leave you with my favorite of the short form films that I saw while working on the book.
The title is Jessie's Girl.  The film maker is one of the best that I have ever encountered.


Jessie's Girl from Amanda Forehand on Vimeo.

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Found Footage Films, The Blair Witch Project

                    Found Footage Films, The Blair Witch Project

    No blog about Found footage films would be complete without mentioning the Blair Witch Project. This movie set the standard by which all other found footage movies will by judged. It has been fifteen years since this film hit theaters and it shines brighter than it did back then. Hundreds of found footage films have come and gone since this masterpiece and still only two or three can stand beside it.

    The rules that it established has haunted the genre and not always in a good way. The idea that those who capture the footage must die in the act has been overused and abused. What worked for the Blair Witch Project does not work for every project. I wish that film makers who attempt to follow up this film look beyond the rules that it put into place and embrace the documentary style of the film. Look to a cast that blended perfectly together. Learn from the patience that this movie shows when setting up what is to come. 

    This blog was designed to talk about the best and worst in the found footage genre and to encourage others to go out and make quality movies in this genre. With that in mind I would like to announce the release of my new book. The book is about how to make a found footage film. The book took me over a year to write and features interview with eight film makers who’s films are about to be release or have recently been released. The book is the beginning film maker. If you are one or if you know one perhaps you should check it out. Links for purchase of this book will be added shortly. The title is How To Make A Found Footage Film, by Rodney Cannon.

Thank you for visiting and have a great day.

New Found Footage Trailers

New Found Footage Trailers


This site is dedicated to all things found footage. I thought that I would show both classic trailers and those from upcoming features. Today is about a few new found footage films. This genre looks like it is not only here to stay, but is growing rapidly. As the release of my book on how to make your own found footage film approaches I find myself impressed with what the coming months have in store for us. 

Okay the first film is a horror movie titled Heidi. It is a low budget.



 Next is the trailer for the thriller, The Houses October Built.

 

The Taking of Deborah Logan is my next trailer.

 

The last trailer for today is from the director of the Blair Witch. Check out Exists.




 Thank you for visiting my blog. If you would like to learn about film making, my book on how to make a found footage film will be released in November. Please take a moment to bookmark this site and share it on stumbleupon. If you want to share the trailers here, just add this post to your facebook page. 

 

Found Footage, The Beginnings

                Found Footage, The Beginnings



    Shortly after finish my book on micro budget film making I got challenged by a friend to do a book on Found Footage film making. Like most people I did not believe that there was much to be discussed about this topic, but a challenge is a challenge and I began the process of reviewing as many of these films as I could find. One year and over two hundred films later I have finished the book and now have a greater respect for the genre.

    This blog is dedicated to the found footage film. Both classic and new. Understand that this will not be your standard review site. I am a film maker, I will approach most films from that view point. I will try to explain why some films worked and why others failed. There are reasons why movies connect and do not connect with an audience. I will try to point these reasons out why listing these films.

    The first film that I will look at is the Cannibal Holocaust.  There were a few films that could be considered found footage before this one, but I believe that this is the one that set the standard.
    The first thing that I love about this film is that it tries to come across as a pure documentary with behind the scenes choices that the film makers make that are shocking. You must see the film to understand what I am taking about.  Secondly this movie was banded in many counties for decades because of the acts of animal cruelty on display in this film. If you are an animal lover and watching them being mercilessly
butchered on camera would sicken you then do not watch this film. The movie is populated by characters that have no interest in being liked by you the viewing audience. They are a-holes and never for a second show another side of their personalities, because there is not other side. While one of their little film crew is being raped and murder by the natives their only goal is to make sure that they get it on camera.

    I will not spoil the ending except to say that everyone gets what is coming to them. Well except for a certain native tribe who I hope got small pox and died after the filming of this one. 

    As a film this movie does a few things extremely well.

    It sticks to the subject. There are no subplots and unless you are making a thriller most film makers should avoid them.

    Secondly, the style of film making sets the standard for every found footage film to follow. Slowly and steadily the walls between subject and camera break down until the ones behind the camera invade the world that they are recording and then are invaded by that world.

    It is pure found footage. There was no way for this to turn out any other way and this does not at all feel forced. So many found footage films have their characters go brain dead in act three so that they will end up laying dead beside their cameras. How it ends feels nature and that it could have turned out no other way.

    Cannibal Holocaust is not a great film, but in its genre, found footage, it may be the best film.

In closing I would ask that you book make this site. Stumble it on stumbleupon and share a post with a friend. I would also like to announce that I am a few weeks from the release of my book on how to make a found footage film. No one has tackled this subject before and I believe that I have done a good job. The book will also feature interviews with film makers who have shoot found footage films. I believe that the best way to learn about a subject is to go to those who are actually doing the work. I believe film making is learned best by actually doing it rather than in a classroom.

    Thank you for visiting and have a nice day.