The idea of found footage as a filmmaking technique stretches back to at least 1961 with the release of Shirley Clarke’s relatively obscure drama “The Connection.” The found footage style was used to present scripted material as if it were documentary footage, employing a lot of shaky, handheld camera work and extemporaneous-sounding dialogue.
The term “found footage” sprung from a common conceit of the style, which often implied that something horrible had happened to the filmmakers that prevented them from assembling and editing their footage.
Once their footage was found, it was edited by a third party and presented in the theater.There were many found footage films from 1961 until 2007, but the release and overwhelming success of Oren Peli’s “Paranormal Activity” sparked a years-long wave of the format, with most of its glory-chasers employing horror as their baseline.
Late 2000s found footage horror was largely effective, as it often…