In filmmaking, found footage is the use of footage as a found object, appropriated for use in collage films, documentary films, mockumentary films and other works.
Use in commercial film Often, fictional films imitate this style in order to increase their authenticity, especially the mockumentary genre. In the dramatized and embellished pseudo-documentary film F for Fake (1973), director Orson Welles borrows all shots of main subject Elmyr de Hory from a BBC documentary, rather than fabricating the footage himself.
Stuart Cooper's Overlord uses stock footage of the landing on Normandy during World War II to increase realism. The footage was obtained from the Imperial War Museum in the UK.The Criterion Collection: Overlord by Stuart Cooper Other parts of the film were shot by Cooper; however, he used old World War II-era film stock with World War II-era lenses.
Music video and VJing A certain style of music video makes extensive use of found footage, mostly found on TV, like news, documentaries, old (and odd) films etc. The forefather of found footage music videos was artist Bruce Conner who screened Cosmic Ray in 1961. Prominent examples are videos of bands such as Public Enemy and Coldcut. The latter also project video material during their stage show, which includes live mixing of video footage. Artists such as Vicki Bennett, also known as People Like Us, or the video artist Kasumi with the film Shockwaves, use Creative Commons archives such as the Prelinger Archives.Maggie Shiels, Unlocking the copyright culture, BBC News website, June 24, 2002. Accessed June 24, 2008.
Practitioners Anti-Banality Union Martin ArnoldFound Footage Magazine-Experimental Cinema Craig BaldwinRecent Found-Footage Films-BAMPFA Dara Birnbaum Abigail ChildEarly Monthly Segments #98: Abigail Child & Julie Murray-Experimental Cinema Bruce ConnerFound-Footage Films of Bruce Conner-BAMPFA Joseph CornellJoseph Cornell and Ken Jacobs: Footage Lost and Found-MoMA William Farley Federica FogliaISSUE #8-FOUND FOOTAGE MAGAZINE Péter Forgács Barbara HammerISSUE #2-FOUND FOOTAGE MAGAZINE Ken JacobsKen Jacobs’ PERFECT FILM, a literal found footage short concerning the assassination of Malcolm X-The Seventh ArtJoseph Cornell and Ken Jacobs: Footage Lost and Found-MoMA Svetlana Kopystiansky Igor Kopystiansky Brett MorgenHow 'Jane' Evolved from Found Footage to Inspiring Documentary - Creative Planet Network85 decibel Monks Matthias Müller Dennis Nyback Vivian Ostrovsky Paul Pfeiffer Rick PrelingerMaggie Shiels, Unlocking the copyright culture, BBC News website, June 24, 2002. Accessed June 24, 2008.Rick Prelinger - MIT Open Documentary LabPanorama Epherema - IFFR EN Luther PriceLuther Price (films)-Whitney Museum of American Art Phil SolomonRecent Found-Footage Films-BAMPFA Chick StrandDivining spirits: Chick Strand-Sight & Sound-BFI System D-128 Peter TscherkasskyFound Footage Magazine-Experimental Cinema René Viénet
See also Experimental film Found Footage Festival Mashup (video) Montage (filmmaking) Vietnam in HD, in which thirteen Americans retell their stories in the Vietnam War paired with found footage from the battlefield VJing WWII in HD, in which twelve American service members retell their stories in World War II paired with found footage from the battlefield Remix culture
References
Further reading Cut: Film as Found Object in Contemporary Video, Stefano Basilico, Milwaukee Art Museum 2004. Found Footage Film, Cecilia Hausheer, Christoph Settele, Luzern 1992, Films Beget Films, Jay Leyda, London, George Allen & Unwin 1964. Recycled Images: The Art and Politics of Found Footage Films, William C. Wees, Anthology Film Archives, New York: 1993.
External links The Recycled Cinema – "A Research Site Devoted to the Past and Future of Found Footage Film and Video" Found Footage Magazine – a semi-annual publication with theoretical, analytical and informative contents related to found footage filmmaking