| abstract | - NC: Hello, I'm the Nostalgia Critic, I remember it so you don't have to. Guess what I just saw a trailer for? (Cut to footage of Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, causing the people to collectively boo at him) NC: That's right, the next and pray-to-God last of the Paranormal Activity movies! Off-screen voice: Fuck you, entertainment I don't have to see! NC: (holding up both hands) Now, if you're like me, you probably rolled your eyes like the majority of the audience who saw this trailer. (Cut to footage of a Paranormal Activity movie) NC (vo): Which is funny, because before, Paranormal Activity was the movie you had to fight to see. You had to call up your movie theater to have it played there in an ingenious marketing campaign. Now, we've seen it so damn much that we're sick of it. And for many, we're also sick of found footage films. Everyone I talked to says they're done with it. There's just nothing left. It's not a genre, it's a gimmick, and it needs to go out of style. Most people can't take the motion sickness camera in two dimensions... (Cut to a shot of the Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension poster, labeled as playing in 3D) NC (vo): ...but now we're gonna add three to it? Dude, this needs to stop. NC: But then again, there must have been something that drew us to this for such a long period of time. NC (vo): Were these really just cheap ways to make horror films with just a person holding a crappy camera? NC: To answer this, we've gotta go back to where the whole found footage thing started, or... at least when it started to get popular, and that's with The Blair Witch Project. (Cut to footage of Blair Witch) NC (vo): Now, chances are, this kind of idea had been done before, but this is the first time it became a worldwide phenomenon. NC (vo): The hype for this movie was insane, but even from day one... (Cut back to Blair Witch) NC (vo): ...people were split about it. Some say it was one of the scariest movies ever made; others say there were no scares at all. Some praised it as a new form of film-making; others saw it as a lazy shaky cam mess. Whatever your thought process, the film was a big hit, inspiring dozens of other films trying something similar... NC (vo): ...and ironically, the sequel being nothing like the first one. (Cut back to Blair Witch 1) NC (vo): You all know the setup: the whole film is being told from the point of view of a person holding the camera. And while it's debatable whether or not Blair Witch holds up, depending on who you ask, you can't ignore what it inspired. (Cut to alternating snippets of Blair Witch and the Paranormal Activity series) NC (vo): We went from two cameras to multiple cameras, quick edits to shots that take up the entire night, crappy quality to really high-end quality. (The montage now focuses entirely on Paranormal Activity) NC (vo): So, this means that the art form must have evolved, right? Well, again, it depends on who you ask. While the imagery looked better, many say the quality of the scares was getting predictable, and the limitations too frustrating. There's always shaky cam, there's always people reacting to the camera like they've never fucking seen one before, there's always a ton of comedy in the first half, and, of course, the characters always have to unrealistically film everything. (an image of a group of people holding up several phones with cameras on them is displayed) Well, maybe not so unrealistically nowadays, but still, this is pushing it. It's understandable why people would start to get sick of this. NC: Still, a large part of any genre is the limitations and the discipline you assign to it. NC (vo): In film noir, you know you're going to get heavy shadows and a dark, mysterious story. (Cut to a shot of The Notebook) NC (vo): In romances, you know you're always going to get two people... NC (vo): ...who shares their emotions and their feelings to grow closer. (Cut to a Paranormal Activity film) NC (vo): So, why can't these limitations work for the genre of found footage? (Cut to a shot of the cast of The Office) NC (vo): Now, true, this has been used in comedies and dramas, so it's more appropriate to call it a sub-genre. (Cut back to a Paranormal Activity film) NC (vo): But it's still a distinct style with a distinct look that many filmmakers have added their own touch to. NC: On top of that, while repetitive in many areas, it has opened up a new variety of scares. This article is a . You can help My English Wiki by expanding it.
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