If I were to distinguish between the different forms, aims and working methods of found-footage filmmaking, I would describe my work as mashup videos. In my view, however, the distinction between collage, compilation and appropriation is largely academic. In practice, contemporary found-footage films often combine all three.
Working with existing images
A video mashup combines existing video sources into a new work. Sources that initially appear unrelated acquire new connections through editing. For an introduction and examples, see Wikipedia’s article on video mashups.
Marko Straßburger describes working with found footage as a spontaneous, associative process, guided by knowledge of montage and narrative as well as intuition. The filmmaker may begin with an intended statement without knowing exactly what the finished work will look like. Images and ideas are brought into a new context step by step.
Source: Marko Straßburger, bachelor’s thesis, section 3.3 (German). The preceding paragraph is an English summary, not a direct quotation.
A collage exercise
Art With Miss Linda: Nonsense Magazine Collage
Miss Linda uses balance, colour and whimsy to show how a playful collage can become a coherent piece of artwork.
Watch the collage lesson on YouTube
Artists and further reading
List of found-footage films (German)
Copyright: source material and further reading
The German page brings together references on pastiche, appropriation and fair use in Germany, the European Union and the United States. These sources form part of my research into working with existing material.
Till Kreutzer discusses pastiche as an independent cultural or communicative work that recognisably draws on creative elements of published works by others. His analysis and the legal source texts are linked below.
- Till Kreutzer: What is pastiche in copyright law? (German)
- German Copyright Act, Section 51a: caricature, parody and pastiche (German)
- Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright in the Digital Single Market (English)
- Stanford: What is fair use?
- George Mason University: copyright resources for artists and scholars