"Sorrow's my body on the waves" (2)

[greygirlbeast]

Cold this morning. Cold, but sunny, 37˚F. Very, very windy.

Yesterday, I began a second pseudo-vignette for Sirenia Digest, and right now I'm calling this one "Apostate," though I'd like to come up with a better title. "Apostate" is appropriate, I just don't like it. One-word titles can get irksome, and I just finished "Camuffare." Anyway, I did 1

Comments

[handful_ofdust]

I'd make a distinction between Blair Witch, Cloverfield and Lake Mungo, particularly in terms of narrative structure: Aside from events it covers being fiction, Lake Mungo is posed as a straight-up documentary. The people making the documentary never appear in it, they're never part of the story, but the narrative "voice" is theirs, completely; they're picking and choosing what gets in, when it gets revealed, how it gets revealed. And creepily, they appear to be the only people involved in the story who end up "getting" the one-two punch at the end. I kept thinking: Man, if her family came to the screening, I would've loved to have seen their reaction.

(I also love the time-distortion or dimension loop element of it--potentially present in Blair Witch, too, but utterly Peter Weir, and thus completely emblematic of Aussie horror in my mind. Yours too, though.)

Blair Witch starts with a bit of documentary narrative structure, but that's all Heather's--it's probably what was "cut" inside her camera--and thus when events catch up with her, she, Josh and Mike are at the heart of the narrative, at its mercy. The Lake Mungo team stand outside it, which is why they can notice things the family is too close to see. And Cloverfield has no documentary structure at all, aside from the front and end title-cards. It's two home movies that turn toxic, with utterly minimal editing.

What I'm saying is, there probably needs to be another category. "Found-footage" has been used--Paranormal Activity certainly falls under this. The question, however, is always how did someone get hold of this footage, were they involved in making it, and who edited it?

[greygirlbeast]

I'd make a distinction between Blair Witch, Cloverfield and Lake Mungo, particularly in terms of narrative structure:

Agreed. In that we get the "straight-up" documentary, instead of the found-footage documentary. But I'd still call it part of the same phenomenon.

I also love the time-distortion or dimension loop element of it

Yes. Because, for me, if there's any non-psychological element to actual hauntings, it has nothing to do with restless "spirits," but "weak spots" in time.

The question, however, is always how did someone get hold of this footage, were they involved in making it, and who edited it?

Which, in a way, gets back to the "Why are you telling this and to whom?" problem I have with first-person narratives that don't explain that question.

[kylecassidy]

Let's not forget Troll Hunter under found footage. One of my favorites.

[greygirlbeast]

Yes! Love that film.