Writing Found Footage...

[Phyrebrat]

In my second WIP I have to show a video feed. I wanted to play with the trope of found footage which is a sub-genre of horror that I adore (even when it's done poorly, if I'm being toally honest with myself!!)

The immediacy of FF comes from the medium of TV/Film which will not have the same effect as the written word - or rather, the written word's medium doesn't lend itself well to that kind of idea.

In one of the Best Books Ever Written, (Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves), there are interludes called The Navidson Report which are more along the lines I'm talking about, and are written in omni.

In film, the conceit works because of the limited view the audience is given. In writing, we as authors are freer to limit the view, so I can play with things a bit more, however, the footage in question is coming from a tech who is decrypting footage from a Generation Ship that has sent back footage hundreds of years before it should. He (Jerry) has his own POV but his story in more to do with the people pulling the strings behind the scene, so I was hoping to use report-like structure for the FF parts.

I'm planning on using Omni, using semi-academic style, and wondered if any Chronners have any knowledge of how other authors may have done this before, or even advice?

 

[Wayne Mack]

"Illuminae - The Illuminae Files_01" (novel) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff was written as a series of damaged text communication logs and video transcripts. It started to wear on me going on for the full novel, but I think a chapter of something similar would be an interesting way to tell some backstory. Illuminae really went overboard with text formatting and that interfered with my reading focus, so just keep it simple and it should work.

A lot of fantasy novels start each chapter with up to a paragraph quoting some ancient writing, so doing a similar chapter would not surprise readers very much.

 

[sule]

Yes, Illuminae was exactly the book I thought of when reading your first post as well. There is even a section early on that is a report that someone filed watching security logs, with his own interpretations and thoughts layered in. If you haven't read Illuminae I would certainly recommend perusing it to get some idea of how others have done this.

My own thoughts are that "found footage" description of a recording for me works best in present tense because it gives a sense of "you are watching this right now." That also usually separates it from the rest of the narrative if the other parts are written in past tense.

 

[Phyrebrat]

My own thoughts are that "found footage" description of a recording for me works best in present tense because it gives a sense of "you are watching this right now." That also usually separates it from the rest of the narrative if the other parts are written in past tense.

Thanks, will check it out. And yep, I've been writing it in present.

pH

 

[tinkerdan]

Something you might consider along with this is the puzzle that might occur from this media.
What I mean by that is that sometimes you might have video without sound and other times perhaps sound without adequate video.
I use this a bit in my first novel Cripple-Mode: Hot Electric.

Watching the video can give you a play by play of the actions and sometimes the expression on faces but without audio you have a sort of mystery that you might be tempted to speculate as to what is happening. Without the audio it remains up in the air though our judgmental subconscious can fill in a lot of detail if we let it.

You could, as in the case with what I used, have both audio and video where certain players are place such that they are never off camera and others are often on and off camera while the audio has limitations to cases of innuendo.

The question might be posed; do you want to just be omni and show what occurs or do you want to insert subjective elements into the mix; possibly unfounded conclusions.

Or do you want the reader to make their own assumptions.

This can be something that you could craft well into the story to mislead the reader or it could be used as a nose ring to lead the reader to something specific.

You might even stage clues about other scenes within the narrative story from what the camera sees.

 

[Toby Frost]

Both Lovecraft and William Gibson have used a script-type format in the middle of a normal story to depict an overheard conversation, a bit like this:

Man: Have you got it?
Woman: Yes, right here.
(Strange muffled sounds. Camera cuts out)

Would that help at all?

 

[Dan Jones]

Given I'm about to start House Of Leaves I'll probably be more help after I've had a look at it. I remember you saying that you were also considering the Derry interludes from It - is that still the sort of stylistic impact you're hoping to have with these interludes? Sticking with King, doesn't Carrie have a section comprising newspaper reports?

Balaño's 2666 also features a constant stream of interludes in the section about an American sports journalist who visits Mexico to cover a boxing match, and ends up becoming embroiled in a series of misogynistic murders. In each case the murders are described in a flat, journalistic style that contrasts with the journalist's own hot-headed POV.

The graphic novel Watchmen also uses various different types of media to tell the story from a variety of angles. None of these are found footage, exactly (though an argument could be made for the Derry interludes I suppose).

Given you're writing a report, I think you can play with font and format, in a sort of Danielewski-lite way to emphasise la difference.

 

[jd73]

Given I'm about to start House Of Leaves I'll probably be more help after I've had a look at it.

Ditto, once I've finished this 700+ page histfic

 

[Phyrebrat]

Thanks all, and apologies for the delay in my reply.

@jd73 and @Dan Jones, I've read HOL twice so no need to report back in terms of how Danielewski does it, although your take, or opinon on it would be helpful.

pH