Found footage
Encyclopedia
Found footage is a filmmaking term which describes a method of compiling films partly or entirely of footage
which has not been created by the filmmaker, and changing its meaning by placing it in a new context. It should not be mistaken for documentary
or compilation films. It is also not to be mistaken with stock footage
. The term refers to the "found object
" of art history.
collage
artist Joseph Cornell
produced one of the earliest found films with his reassembly of East of Borneo, combined with pieces of other films, into a new work he titled Rose Hobart after the leading actress. His film is notable for its Surrealist
form and influence on later filmmakers. When Salvador Dalí
saw the film, he was famously enraged, believing Cornell had stolen the idea from his thoughts. But Adrian Brunel
made, twelve years before, Crossing the Great Sagrada (1924) and Henri Storck
conceived, for years earlier, Story of the Unknown soldier (Histoire du soldat inconnu) (1932.
In contrast to Cornell's use, structural film
or "" (German) often demands that the artist only use material of preferably unknown origin, not very defined content, and poor physical condition. This material might be treated in any way the artist chooses, even completely untreated, as long as he ignores any meaning or content of the source material.
The second major renaissance of found footage films emerged after Bruce Conner
's A Movie
(1958). The film mixes ephemeral film clips in a dialectical montage. A famous sequence made up of disparate clips shows "a submarine captain [who] seems to see a scantily dressed woman through his periscope and responds by firing a torpedo which produces a nuclear explosion followed by huge waves ridden by surfboard riders." Conner continued to produce several other found footage films including Report and Take the 5:10 to Dreamland among others.
Subsequently, films by Ernie Gehr
, Ken Jacobs
, and Bill Morrison
have focused on minor manipulations like image enhancement or reductions in speed (or famously no manipulations) in film footage. In Douglas Gordon
's 24 Hour Psycho which slows Alfred Hitchcock
's film down until it is 24 hours long.
Another example is Stuart Cooper's Overlord
, which 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
. Other parts of the film were shot by Cooper, but using old WWII-era film stock with WWII-era lenses.
Stan Brakhage
used found imagery for his film Murder Psalm (1981) while numerous other avant-garde filmmakers have incorporated pieces of found footage into their work.
Other notable users of this technique are Craig Baldwin
in his films Spectors of the Spectrum, Tribulation 99 and O No Coronado. Bill Morrisson uses found footage lost and neglected in film archives in his 2002 work Decasia
. A similar entry in the found footage canon is Peter Delpeut's Lyrical Nitrate
(1991).
s. Through means of editing
, sound, voice-over
, subtitle
s and/or inserts, the filmmaker tweaks the interpretation of the audience in a way that it accepts the new truth of the footage. Normally the source footage is of unknown origin, however, if footage with recognisable content (like historical or well-known commercial footage) is used the result can be made a parody or a political statement. A term which describes this genre is mockumentary
.
One of the first examples in mainstream cinema is Orson Welles
' F for Fake
(1974), which masterfully plays with truth and fiction and seems to be able to prove each of its statements. Another example of the use of found footage is in Woody Allen's
first film, What's Up, Tiger Lily?
in which Allen took a Japan
ese spy film
by Senkichi Taniguchi
, completely re-edited it and wrote a new soundtrack made up of his own dialogue for comic effect.
A third meaning of found footage arose with the invention of TV formats which featured odd films and videos, mostly done by amateurs, combined with outtakes of film and video professionals, as well as stunts and accidents from sports shows.
. 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
, use Creative Commons
archives such as the Prelinger Archive
.
Footage
In filmmaking and video production, footage is the raw, unedited material as it had been originally filmed by movie camera or recorded by a video camera which usually must be edited to create a motion picture, video clip, television show or similar completed work...
which has not been created by the filmmaker, and changing its meaning by placing it in a new context. It should not be mistaken for documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
or compilation films. It is also not to be mistaken with stock footage
Stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures and file footage are film or video footage that may or may not be custom shot for use in a specific film or television program. Stock footage is of beneficial use to filmmakers as it is sometimes less expensive than shooting new...
. The term refers to the "found object
Found object
A found object, in an artistic sense, indicates the use of an object which has not been designed for an artistic purpose, but which exists for another purpose already. Found objects may exist either as utilitarian, manufactured items, or things which occur in nature...
" of art history.
Experimental and avant-garde film
The AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
artist Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell was an American artist and sculptor, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage...
produced one of the earliest found films with his reassembly of East of Borneo, combined with pieces of other films, into a new work he titled Rose Hobart after the leading actress. His film is notable for its Surrealist
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
form and influence on later filmmakers. When Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
saw the film, he was famously enraged, believing Cornell had stolen the idea from his thoughts. But Adrian Brunel
Adrian Brunel
Adrian Brunel was an English film director and screenwriter. Brunel's directorial career started in the silent era, and reached its peak in the latter half of the 1920s...
made, twelve years before, Crossing the Great Sagrada (1924) and Henri Storck
Henri Storck
Henri Storck was a Belgian author, film-maker and documentarist.In 1933, he directed, with Joris Ivens, Misère au Borinage, a film about the miners in the Borinage area. In 1938, with Andre Thirifays and Pierre Vermeylen, he founded the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique...
conceived, for years earlier, Story of the Unknown soldier (Histoire du soldat inconnu) (1932.
In contrast to Cornell's use, structural film
Structural film
Structural film was an experimental film movement prominent in the US in the 1960s and which developed into the Structural/materialist films in the UK in the 1970s.-Overview:The term was coined by P...
or "" (German) often demands that the artist only use material of preferably unknown origin, not very defined content, and poor physical condition. This material might be treated in any way the artist chooses, even completely untreated, as long as he ignores any meaning or content of the source material.
The second major renaissance of found footage films emerged after Bruce Conner
Bruce Conner
Bruce Conner was an American artist renowned for his work in assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography, among other disciplines.-Early life:...
's A Movie
A Movie
A Movie is a 1958 experimental film in which Bruce Conner put together snippets of found footage, taken from B-movies, newsreels, soft-core pornography, novelty short films, and other sources, to a musical score featuring Respighi's The Pines of Rome....
(1958). The film mixes ephemeral film clips in a dialectical montage. A famous sequence made up of disparate clips shows "a submarine captain [who] seems to see a scantily dressed woman through his periscope and responds by firing a torpedo which produces a nuclear explosion followed by huge waves ridden by surfboard riders." Conner continued to produce several other found footage films including Report and Take the 5:10 to Dreamland among others.
Subsequently, films by Ernie Gehr
Ernie Gehr
Ernie Gehr is an American experimental filmmaker closely associated with the Structural film movement of the 1970s. A self-taught artist, Gehr was inspired to begin making films in the 1960s after chancing upon a screening of a Stan Brakhage film. Gehr's film Serene Velocity has been selected...
, Ken Jacobs
Ken Jacobs
Ken Jacobs is an American experimental filmmaker. He is the director of Tom, Tom, The Piper's Son , which was admitted to the National Film Registry in 2007, and Star Spangled to Death , a nearly seven hour film consisting largely of found footage.He coined the term paracinema in the early 1970s,...
, and Bill Morrison
Bill Morrison (director)
Bill Morrison is a New York-based filmmaker and artist, best known for his experimental collage film Decasia . He is a member of Ridge Theater and the founder of Hypnotic Pictures...
have focused on minor manipulations like image enhancement or reductions in speed (or famously no manipulations) in film footage. In Douglas Gordon
Douglas Gordon
Douglas Gordon is a Scottish artist; he won the Turner Prize in 1996 and the following year he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale...
's 24 Hour Psycho which slows Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's film down until it is 24 hours long.
Another example is Stuart Cooper's Overlord
Overlord (film)
Overlord is a 1975 black-and-white film written and directed by Stuart Cooper. Set around the D-Day invasion , Overlord is a war film about a young soldier's meditations on being part of the war machinery, and his premonitions of death...
, which uses stock footage of the landing on Normandy during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to increase realism. The footage was obtained from the Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...
in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Other parts of the film were shot by Cooper, but using old WWII-era film stock with WWII-era lenses.
Stan Brakhage
Stan Brakhage
James Stanley Brakhage , better known as Stan Brakhage, was an American non-narrative filmmaker who is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th century experimental film....
used found imagery for his film Murder Psalm (1981) while numerous other avant-garde filmmakers have incorporated pieces of found footage into their work.
Other notable users of this technique are Craig Baldwin
Craig Baldwin
Craig Baldwin is an American experimental filmmaker. He uses “found” footage from the fringes of popular consciousness as well as images from the mass media to undermine and transform the traditional documentary, infusing it with the energy of high-speed montage and a provocative commentary that...
in his films Spectors of the Spectrum, Tribulation 99 and O No Coronado. Bill Morrisson uses found footage lost and neglected in film archives in his 2002 work Decasia
Decasia
Decasia is a 2002 found footage film by Bill Morrison, featuring an original score by Michael Gordon. The film is a meditation on old, decaying silent films and is similar in spirit to Lyrical Nitrate. It begins and ends with scenes of a dervish and is bookended with old footage showing how film...
. A similar entry in the found footage canon is Peter Delpeut's Lyrical Nitrate
Lyrical Nitrate
Lyrical Nitrate is a 1991 film by Peter Delpeut. The film consists of clips from various silent films printed on decaying nitrocellulose film stock, including shorts, documentaries, and travelogues. There is no formal narrative...
(1991).
Commercial cinema
Another common use of found footage searches for material with recognisable content, which is edited into more or less narrative structureNarrative structure
Narrative structure is generally described as the structural framework that underlies the order and manner in which a narrative is presented to a reader, listener, or viewer....
s. Through means of editing
Film editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
, sound, voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
, subtitle
Subtitle (captioning)
Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language, or a written rendering of the dialog in the same language, with or without added...
s and/or inserts, the filmmaker tweaks the interpretation of the audience in a way that it accepts the new truth of the footage. Normally the source footage is of unknown origin, however, if footage with recognisable content (like historical or well-known commercial footage) is used the result can be made a parody or a political statement. A term which describes this genre is mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
.
One of the first examples in mainstream cinema is Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
' F for Fake
F for Fake
F for Fake is the last major film completed by Orson Welles, who directed, co-wrote, and starred in the film. Initially released in 1974, it focuses on Elmyr de Hory's recounting of his career as a professional art forger; de Hory's story serves as the backdrop for a fast-paced, meandering...
(1974), which masterfully plays with truth and fiction and seems to be able to prove each of its statements. Another example of the use of found footage is in Woody Allen's
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
first film, What's Up, Tiger Lily?
What's Up, Tiger Lily?
The soundtrack album to What's Up Tiger Lily? was released in 1966. It contains music by The Lovin' Spoonful. It was re-released on CD along with You're a Big Boy Now, the Spoonful's soundtrack for the 1966 Francis Ford Coppola film. It reached No...
in which Allen took a Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese spy film
Spy film
The spy film genre deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way or as a basis for fantasy . Many novels in the spy fiction genre have been adapted as films, including works by John Buchan, John Le Carré, Ian Fleming and Len Deighton...
by Senkichi Taniguchi
Senkichi Taniguchi
was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.Born in Tokyo, Japan, he attended Waseda University but left before graduating due to his involvement in a left-wing theater troupe. He joined P.C.L...
, completely re-edited it and wrote a new soundtrack made up of his own dialogue for comic effect.
A third meaning of found footage arose with the invention of TV formats which featured odd films and videos, mostly done by amateurs, combined with outtakes of film and video professionals, as well as stunts and accidents from sports shows.
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. Prominent examples are videos of bands such as Public Enemy and ColdcutColdcut
Coldcut are an English dance music duo, comprising Matt Black and Jonathan More. Their signature style is electronic dance music, featuring cut up samples of hip hop, breaks, jazz, spoken word and various other types of music, as well as video and multimedia.-1980s:In 1986, computer programmer Matt...
. 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
People Like Us (musician)
People Like Us is the stage name of London DJ multimedia artist Vicki Bennett. She has released a number of albums featuring collages of music and sound since 1992. In recent years, she has performed at a number of modern art galleries, festivals and universities.-Musical career:Since 1991 Vicki...
, use Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
archives such as the Prelinger Archive
Rick Prelinger
Rick Prelinger is an archivist, writer and filmmaker, and founder of the Prelinger Archives, a collection of 60,000 advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur films acquired by the Library of Congress in 2002 after 20 years' operation.Rick has partnered with the Internet Archive to make...
.
Practitioners
- Martin ArnoldMartin ArnoldMartin Arnold is an experimental filmmaker known for his obsessive reworkings of found footage. He is also a founding member of the Austrian film distributor Sixpack Film. Arnold studied psychology and art history at the University of Vienna...
- Craig BaldwinCraig BaldwinCraig Baldwin is an American experimental filmmaker. He uses “found” footage from the fringes of popular consciousness as well as images from the mass media to undermine and transform the traditional documentary, infusing it with the energy of high-speed montage and a provocative commentary that...
- Dara BirnbaumDara BirnbaumDara Birnbaum, born in 1946 in New York ,USA, where she continues to live and work, uses video to reconstruct television imagery using as material such archetypal formats as quizzes, soap operas, and sports programmes. Her techniques involve the repetition of images and interruption of flow with...
- Abigail ChildAbigail ChildAbigail Child is a poet, director, producer, and writer of a number of films.Originally, Child worked in San Francisco but moved to New York later in her career.-Academics:...
- Bruce ConnerBruce ConnerBruce Conner was an American artist renowned for his work in assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography, among other disciplines.-Early life:...
- Joseph CornellJoseph CornellJoseph Cornell was an American artist and sculptor, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage...
- Guy DebordGuy DebordGuy Ernest Debord was a French Marxist theorist, writer, filmmaker, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situationist International . He was also briefly a member of Socialisme ou Barbarie.-Early Life:Guy Debord was born in Paris in 1931...
- William FarleyWilliam FarleyWilliam Farley is an American film director, based in San Francisco. He directed Whoopi Goldberg in her first screen role, in the ensemble piece Citizen : I'm Not Losing My Mind, I'm Giving It Away .-Biography:...
- Péter ForgácsPeter ForgacsPéter Forgács is a media artist and independent filmmaker based in Budapest, Hungary. He is best known for his "Private Hungary" series of award winning films based on home movies from the 1930s and 1960s, which document ordinary lives that were soon to be ruptured by an extraordinary historical...
- Barbara HammerBarbara HammerBarbara Hammer is an American filmmaker in the genre of experimental films and a professor at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee.-Biography:...
- Ken JacobsKen JacobsKen Jacobs is an American experimental filmmaker. He is the director of Tom, Tom, The Piper's Son , which was admitted to the National Film Registry in 2007, and Star Spangled to Death , a nearly seven hour film consisting largely of found footage.He coined the term paracinema in the early 1970s,...
- Matthias Müller
- Vivian OstrovskyVivian OstrovskyVivian Ostrovsky is an experimental filmmaker and curator.-Biography:Ostrovsky was born in New York, USA, and spent most of her childhood years in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She completed a B.A. degree in Psychology in Paris, at the Institut de Psychologie and later enrolled in Film Studies at the...
- Paul Pfeiffer
- Luther PriceLuther Price-Biography:Luther Price received a BFA in Sculpture and Media/Performing Arts from Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where he studied with Saul Levine. He is an experimental filmmaker whose work has been widely screened in the United States and Europe at such venues as the Museum of Modern...
- Philip SolomonPhilip SolomonDr. Philip Solomon was an American psychiatrist and researcher.A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, Solomon served as a Commander in the U.S. Navy attached to the sixth Marine division during World War II as the Division Psychiatrist...
- Chick StrandChick StrandChick Strand was an experimental filmmaker, "a pioneer in blending avant-garde techniques with documentary".-Life:...
- System D-128System D-128System D-128 is a music video and film director, editor, video artist, new media artist and producer.-Early life:...
- Peter TscherkasskyPeter TscherkasskyPeter Tscherkassky is an Austrian avant-garde filmmaker who works exclusively with found footage. All of his work is done with film and heavily edited in the darkroom, rather than relying on technological modes.-Early life:...
- René ViénetRené ViénetRené Viénet is a French sinologist who is famous as a situationist writer and filmmaker. Viénet used the situationist technique of détournement — the diversion of already existing cultural elements to new subversive purposes.- Career :...
See also
- Experimental filmExperimental filmExperimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
- Found Footage Festival
- Mashup (video)Mashup (video)A video mashup is the combination of multiple sources of video—which usually have no relation with each other—into a derivative work, often lampooning its component sources or another text. Many mashup videos are humorous movie trailer parodies, a later genre of mashups gaining much popularity...
- Montage (filmmaking)
- Music videoMusic videoA music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
- VJing
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, ISBN 3-909310-08-7
- Films Beget FilmsFilms Beget FilmsFilms Beget Films is a 1964 book written by Jay Leyda. It traces the history of 'compilation' films constructed using found newsreel footage...
, 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. ISBN 0-911689-19-2
External links
- Found Footage Films and videos Video Channel
- The Recycled Cinema
- Cartographie du Found Footage by Nicole Brenez
- Remontando el siglo XX by Enrique Piñuel Spanish Found Footage Filmmakers (Spanish)