Over the Found-Footage Fad?

The hand-held camera genre is upon us again with yet another instalment of Paranormal Activity. That’s right folks, we’re up to chapter four in the supernatural saga. With horror being the prototype of found footage filmmaking, are we getting sick of the faked home video cliché or are we more scared than ever?

The discovered video frenzy has circulated our screens since the early eighties, but it wasn’t until The Blair Witch Project, a nineties cult classic and an amateur footage first, that the genre manifested into a psychological mind-fuck.

Supernatural scares in Paranormal Activity.
Source kurt-less via Flickr

A requirement of the genre is the apparent need for all characters to end up missing or dead, yet thankfully camera equipment is always in pristine condition no matter the multitude of variables that could affect image or sound quality.

Regardless of this major implication, when films get it right, the found footage technique is sure to be a screamer.

While supernatural themes are ancient concepts in cinema, what the genre typically achieves is an unattainable level of scare using the force of suspense. With most films in this category, what makes it so freakin’ scary is the element of the unknown. Rarely do we ever see what is causing the characters to flip out and/or become mentally unsound, rather we are witnesses to shaky camera work and blood-curdling screams.

Entertainment editor of The Week, Scott Meslow claims, “The Blair Witch Project was believable without being grisly, frightening without being repulsive, intriguing without providing all the answers. It was a snuff film with a safety net”.

Don't watch alone. Source HBOIndia via Flickr

This ‘based-on-a-true-story’ concept seems to be Hollywood’s new love affair, with Paranormal Activity succeeding in paying homage to the Blair Witch’s landmark cinema triumph.

But the problem with this fad overkill is that while these horror films have in my book succeeded in causing many sleepless nights and the investment of night-lights, some films (let’s say The Devil Inside) don’t hack it.

What can sometimes be a victory in contemporary cinema can unfortunately also be an utter disappointment.

Horror film phenomena’s work when footage is both possible and powerful. They work when the audience cannot determine true from false and go home Google-ing it, sleeping with one eye open.

I’m still shaken by the ol’ first hand footage but if it can’t be mastered, please Hollywood, leave it alone. 

The Fall of 35mm

With the advent of spring 2012 (or fall for our northern hemisphere counterparts), a deadline looms for film exhibitors around the world. This is the deadline to cash in on the offer propounded by various major film studios that if exhibitors make the conversion from film projection to digital projection, then the studios will pay them a “virtual-print fee” for the next ten years for every new release shown digitally. However, with a price tag of $70,000 to $150,000 per screen, this conversion can be quite costly and near impossible for many specialty art house theatres, which are running on a budget of $500,000 a year.

More than being expensive, the conversion from film projection to digital projection is not necessarily a shift into new technology that is such a desirable one for purist film exhibitors who want to continue to show classic and obscure films in their original format of 35mm.  Quentin Tarantino owns the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, California and has vowed that the day this cinema completely stops showing films in a 35mm format is the day he burns it to the ground.

Christopher Nolan is another Hollywood director who is a big advocator of continuing to shoot films using 35mm. Before the completion of The Dark Knight Rises, which Nolan shot entirely in 35mm, he held a private screening of the first ten minutes of the film to many members of the Director’s Guild of America urging these men and women to continue to fight for the right of the artist to have the choice between shooting films in whichever format they may choose.

How do you make a bad film worse? Make it 3D!

Barging its manic and monotonous head onto a screen near you, the third dimension of film is costing you more (and making you a likely candidate for Blade’s doppelgänger). But with the promiscuity of the over-used and over-it 3D in question, every Tom, Dick and Harry of the film biz is taking it around the block.
3D used to be a niche novelty. And I blame Avatar completely for tarnishing what used to be visually orgasmic experience.

James Cameron's Avatar, the reason we are suffering
today. Photo courtesy of xyeshu via Flickr

Sure the equation adds up. A wide, whirling world of colour plus an epic display of special effects must equal 3D. But the problem seems that while Avatar, (which was primarily designed to be a 3D experience mind you), was an excellent contender to adopt the 3D tagline, I physically pull my hair out when films possessing the slightest shred of any special effects feel they are worthy of 3D status.

When films such as Step Up 4: Miami Heat and Disney’s mega-flop Mars Needs Moms start to mess around with the once sacred 3D, the profit hungry cinema distributors are merely rehashing shitty 2D films (Burton’s Alice in Wonderland anyone?) to cash in on the gimmick.

While The Guardian journalist, Mark Kermode jests that “(3D cinema) is the 21^st century equivalent of the snood”, he also joins the club of film-fans-against-film-trash.

Don't they look stupid? Photo courtesy of NASA Goddard
Space Flight Centre via Flickr

“The thing these movies have in common is that they are essentially trash – they are perfectly suited to the phoney-baloney gimmickry of 3D,” he writes.

“It is a con designed entirely to protect the bloated bank balances of buck-hungry Hollywood producers.” Amen Kermode.

Yet by and by, while Hollywood money hunger will forever be the demise of quality cinema, I beg filmmakers to consider the craft of 3D over the gimmickry of it and at least stamp the dreaded 3D on something with substance.

How do you feel about 3D films? Tedious or tremendous? 

The Cabin in the Woods

Yesterday saw the release of the latest Film By Democracy poll results which decided the type of character that the main protagonist for Project A is going to be. It was a photo finish with...

THE BORN SURVIVOR 

...taking 19% of the votes. The Investigator came a close second with 18% of the votes.

A Fanmade FbD Animation

One of users/members (can anyone think of a cool collective term? FbD'ers?) has created this great animation.

Big THANKS Daniel Barnes. We didn't even know he was making it. What a guy! You've just earned some serious Karma points.*

* You to could earn some Karma points (albeit not as many as Daniel) by sharing the video with a few people. Thanks.

www.filmbydemocracy.com

Day 14 - What would you do?

Last chance to have your say.

Tell us what you would do if 99% the world's population disappeared.

Your views, comments and feedback will help determine the characters created in 'Project A'.

www.filmbydemocracy.com

Day 5 - What would you do?

The characters developed in Film by Democracy are inspired by you.

Post, tweet, blog, comment, like, upload, and share what you would do when suddenly half the world's population has disappeared.

Your views, comments and feedback will help determine the characters created in 'Project A'.

Comment below. Or record a video response and send us the link.

www.filmbydemocracy.com

Day 1 - What Would You Do?

The characters developed in Film by Democracy are inspired by you.

Post, tweet, blog, comment, like, upload, and share what you would do when suddenly half the world's population has disappeared.

Your views, comments and feedback will help determine the characters created in 'Project A'.

Comment below. Or record a video response and send us the link.

www.filmbydemocracy.com

We Have a Winner...

Last week you voted for your favourite from 8 shortlisted plot ideas. Project A now has a basic premise!

'Everyday half the world's population disappears. This story follows a group who find themselves the remaining few when it stops'.

This entry received 29% of the total votes. View full results

And so Project A has it's first credit,

'Story based on an original idea by Glyn Shuttleworth'.

New poll NOW OPEN at www.filmbydemocracy.com

The Willhelm Scream

The Wilhelm Scream is a film and TV stock sound effect that was first used in the 1951 film Distant Drums. Since then, it has been used in Star Wars, the Indiana Jones series, Disney cartoons and many other blockbuster films, TV series and video games. It is used when a character (mostly someone that we don’t really care about) falls from a great height, is thrown from and explosion or is hit with a bullet, arrow or other wounding missile.

It’s also the inspiration for the James Blake song Wilhelm’s Scream, which is a pretty cool song if you ask me, but doesn’t actually contain the Wilhelm Scream.

The use of the Wilhelm Scream has become a bit of an insider joke. It has been used in over 225 movies in 2011 alone!

Let’s play a game, next time you watch a movie, listen out for the Wilhelm Scream. Where else does it pop up? Are there more places you’ve heard it?

Source: static-on-the-screen

Dan's Favourite Plot Idea

Have you voted for your favourite plot idea yet?

Each day this week one of the FbD team will make a pitch for their favourite.

Today it's Dan's turn.

What's your favourite Contemporary Urban Fantasy Drama?

You voted. The results are in.

1st
Amelie

2nd
It’s a Wonderful Life

3rd
Being John Malkovich

This is a really nice group of films. Well done Film By Democracy-ers. We applaud you for your good taste in movies.

Do you feel there were any that didn’t make the list that should have?

Competition Results

Thanks to everyone who entered our ‘Identify films from the loglines’ competition.

The winner was Robert Kelsall from the UK.

Well done Robert. A Film by Democracy t-shirt is will be on it’s way to you soon.

See results.

Behind the scenes of an FbD team meeting.

Discussing the plot submission entries.

Meet the Team #001

How Julia and Monte became involved in FbD!

First FBD Submission Open Now!

We are excited to open the first FbD submission!

You are invited to enter a 20 word plot idea for our first production - Project A.

From our previous polls we know that Project A is going to be a Contemporary Urban Fantasy Drama. So it’s important that your idea is compatible with these genres.

What do these terms mean?

Contemporary
Set at the time the film is made. Often the fantastic elements are hidden or unknown to the general population.

Urban
Takes place in a centre of human population. That could mean a city, town, or even a large village. As opposed to far away lands with snow capped mountains.

Fantasy
Anything that can be imagined but which doesn’t need to be explained by science. Fantasy isn’t governed by the physical laws of nature.

Drama
Drama is the most broad of movies genres and depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Characters are in conflict with themselves, others, society and even natural phenomena.

Films which fit into these genres include:

It’s a Wonderful Life
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Being John Malkovich
Meet Joe Black
Spirited Away
Field of Dreams (Almost, maybe not urban enough?)
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
The Science of Sleep
Amelie
Black Swan

Submit your idea at www.filmbydemocracy.com

Film by Cat...?

Date: Friday 27th April, 2012

Time: Too early

Dan arrived at my place way too early this morning to shoot a quick video for the site. The idea? Film by…CAT. If everyone else is doing it, why shouldn’t we?!

Luckily, I am in possession of the most adorable foster cat, Gandalf. He’s giant and white and fluffy and well – here’s a photo of him (after a bath).

The concept of the video is to ask Gandalf to vote on which genre he’d like ‘Project A’ to be and see what he thinks. And so on. It should be online (and hilarious) in the next week or so.

After multiple cat bites and a restorative cup of tea, Dan and I headed into Carlton for the day’s real purpose – to shoot a series of live polls in University Square. We arrived to find a somewhat bereft Monte, whose long weekend camping in the bush had fogged his mind (fresh air can be a nasty thing), causing him to doubt the mission.

Re-think. In a moment of clarity, we decided instead to share a little of ourselves with the Film by Democracy community. A candid, face-to-face chat with those of us behind the scenes,who have come together to bring you the world’s first democratic (or demoCATic, whichever way you swing) web series.

We had Dean behind the camera, on constant watch for the rogue leafsweeper that was hogging the footpath, Monte on sound, Dan dazzling everyone with his wit and charm, and me watching from the sidelines, trying not to have an anxiety attack about my impending onscreen debut. Not to forget Liana, poor sick Liana, who was off in the bowels of Melbourne Uni battling with a printer. And finally Grace, who missed all the fun today but who will pop up on your screen sooner than you think.

With confusion swirling and camera batteries dying, we did as we always do and retired to the pub. Beer, wine and vodka were prescribed for whatever ailed us and the rest of the afternoon was spent giggling over loglines and talking about The Avengers. Not to mention the more serious task of planning tomorrow’s proper shoot with REAL actors. Stay tuned for that drama!