Shaky Cam, Found Footage, and Smartphones

by Rian

Anyone remember Cloverfield from 2008? While the film may have been revolutionary for its time, my hatred of shaky cams and found footage still lives strong to this day. Most of them also happen to be low budget horrors. From what I understand, shaky cam and found footage style help cutting down the cost of making a film. I recall defenders of these styles in horror declaring it as new realism in horror genre.

In 2024, we are living in a world where internet hosts majority of videos, and the majority of the videos watched are from indie sources. And the videos on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok are not shaky —their quality often rivals that of professionals, if not they are the professionals themselves. What shaky cam really carries is a romanticized view of ‘home video’ era, like retro futurism, the future seen through a special camcorder with unlimited battery and storage. It’s a steampunk in its own right, except the world was seen through the tapes of camcorders, not steams and valves.

The pretense of steampunk is the unhindered access to steam power all-around. But we don’t power computers with infinite steams and foot long cogwheels. Technology didn’t make steam more accessible; we use different medium to achieve what would not have been possible through steam only. Shaky cams and found footage are no different. Home videos became popular, perhaps too common to the point where we don’t call a video a home video, not because of bigger battery and longer tape, but rather because how cameras are common features in consumer electronics. Also taking videos became more common place as cameras are simply equipped with smarter softwares and handy hardwares to the point where anyone can make high quality —by ‘90s standards— in general. Smartphones easily beat the quality of home videos recorded on VHS tapes, and the videos created on phones are reaching out to thousands, if not millions and billions, of audiences worldwide everyday.

So every time I watch a shaky cam or a found footage film, my immediate response is this: Your phone is probably equipped with higher resolution camera, let alone an LED light that will last few more days. If you are a fan of videography, you must be as you reached out for a camcorder not a flashlight, your flagship smartphone most likely supports night sight as well. It also supports satellite emergency call or text features, if you don’t want to be that guy in that cabin. Food for thought.