I'm currently in the running to get on a found footage horror film- basically the same thing as Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity. The goal for the film is for it to appear to have been authentic, found footage. I've never done a film like this before so I'm wondering if any of you have worked on something similar. Here are my questions and thoughts:
Backgrounds: To what extent should backgrounds be used? The audio is supposed to be coming from a hidden camera that the main character wears. I feel like stereo backgrounds may pop out and be "unrealistic" in the context of the film. What do you think about mono bgs? Should I approach the design the same way as if I were to be designing backgrounds for a narrative piece?
Mixing: Here is where I'm struggling as well. In theory the film should be mixed in mono- right? I'm no expert on hidden cameras but I'm pretty sure most of them don't record in stereo. However, this is a horror film and there is going to be a lot of off screen sound happening, including dialog. I think I may be able to get away with some panning, but used minimally and very carefully according to the importance of the sounds/ voices. Thoughts?
I have yet to go back and reference similar films (Paranormal, Blair Witch) so if anyone has recently seen them, or have ever thought about these issues it would be great to know what to listen for. Also if you have any other films to suggest that are on Netflix I'd like to take a look at those as well. The producer mentioned Cloverfield but I can't bring myself to watch that! (I've seen clips of the film and had a discussion about it and it doesn't seem anything like Cloverfield.)
Thanks for your help!