Throughout my time on the internet as a horror enthusiast, I have come across various videos and films that have creeped me out because of their seemingly real features. What I mean by this is that the creepiness of their content comes because of the creator’s idea to make the video/film seem like real people (not just characters) are experiencing a supernatural, unexplainable, or unpleasant dilemma. After watching Nick Nocturne’s video “What is Unfiction? ARGs & the History of Online Storytelling” I am now aware that these pieces of media can be categorized as not just fiction pieces but “unfiction.” Nocturne describes “unfiction” as a piece of media that insists the fictional world, plot, and characters are real. In “unfiction,” no matter how unbelievable an element may seem, there is an unspoken rule that states you cannot admit that the media is fictional. As Nocturne says, the media does everything in its power to make the universe real and does not entertain any idea that it is made up. This idea of “unfiction” fascinated me because of the uncanny valley feature that comes with a piece of media appearing to be real when it is actually fictional, as it makes you question your own reality and what you know to be real (I know how many times can I use the word real). However, when it comes to “unfiction,” it is necessary to identify what we mean by the word “real,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “real” means that something objectively exists, and it is not imaginary. This idea of the word real is what makes “unfiction” so clever because we know what is “real” in our reality; however, the media questions your knowledge as all the characters within the fictional, made-up universe believe their reality is “real” as well. Just writing that idea out made me feel a bit uneasy, but this element of media is an interesting one to analyze as it allows the creator’s message to be portrayed in a unique fashion that is not usually done. An example of “unfiction” that came to my mind while watching Nocturne’s video is the 2012 movie “Amber Alert” which claimed to be a found footage documentary of a group of friends chasing down a car they believed to be the one described on an Amber Alert. This film perfectly embodies Nocturne’s definition of “unfiction” due to the choice of its creator to establish a world where we believe a little girl was truly abducted by her capture, and these individuals were on a hunt to chase him down because of the lack of help from the police. This world and these events might be fictitious, but the actors’ film style and effort allow the lines to blur, and we feel as if we are watching a non-fiction documentary.
Specifically, “Amber Alert” can be classified as “unfiction” because, within the first few minutes of the film, we get a note on the screen telling us that the footage we are about to see is “found footage” of two best friends who were making an audition tape for a reality television show. We are then told that this footage was given to the police as evidence of a crime that was committed. Right off the bat, we are under the impression that we will be watching actual events unfold. As the audience, we see the two best friends talking to the camera and setting up their microphones authentically, which adds to the allusion that this documentary is non-fiction. These actions aid the movie to have the air of being “not fiction” (as Nocturne says) because these actors are seemingly ordinary people doing their own thing before tragedy strikes, and they are forced to step in to help the kidnapped little girl.
Additionally, the conflict is integrated into the film seamlessly. For example, I am hyperlinking a free YouTube video of the film, which shows the scene where the Amber Alert is addressed (8:29). Within this scene, we see the two best friends, Nate and Samantha, talking about their audition questions when Nate casually states that he saw an Amber Alert. This nonchalance from Nate aids in the believability of the media as he is initially un-phased by the alert. However, as the film progresses and more information is given, they all start to panic for the little girl. The term Nocturne addresses as a part of the “unfiction” genre T.I.N.A.G (This Is Not A Game) is precisely the vibe this film is trying to give off because they want the audience to believe this discovery of the Amber Alert was unprompted, and the characters are just as shocked as the audience. The Amber Alert film wants us to believe that nobody within the realm of the film is safe and that all of the events should be considered genuinely tragic. These qualities help the film’s message come across effectively, as we can see through the characters of Samantha, Nate, and the little girl the dangers of not correctly reporting an injustice you see and how the neglect of law enforcement can have devastating results.
Overall, the genre of “unfiction” is an effective method of storytelling as it aids in the immediacy of a film. When we watch an “unfiction” documentary film, we are taken into the world of the characters in a way that seems most authentic. Even if it is for a moment, we second guess what is real and what is fake. As the audience, we almost feel like we have entered the fictitious world we are watching, and the idea of just watching a movie on television seems further removed. ”Unfiction” often mirrors our world (which we consider real) in an uncomfortable way, making films like “Amber Alert” extremely unsettling and effective in portraying their particular messages.
Works Cited
Nocturne, Nick (Night Mind). “What is Unfiction? ARGs and the History of Online Storytelling.” Night Mind. YouTube, January 19, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftCKeWJordI&feature=share
I’m going to watch Amber Alert–thanks for linking it.
I would venture to say that there might be levels of unfiction. Blair Witch was, at one point in time, genuine unfiction because it was one of the first found footage movies, it had a PR campaign that exploited people’s confusion about whether or not it was a real documentary, and there was very little to compare it to in the public sphere at the time. It has become much harder to generate that kind of blurred boundary in the audience because we are getting so used to being “tricked” by creators. Also creators today come under criticism because they may be accused of generating misinformation or panic in the public (because today we live in the era of deepfakes and frequent attempts to genuinely mislead rather than entertain the public). Some of those people being misled may be minors, which causes even more unrest. There was definitely a shift that took place during the height of Slenderman, which might be the height of the unfiction renaissance. There were many webseries and creepypastas about Slenderman and none of them admitted that Slenderman was a fiction; then this happened in 2014 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/11/us/slender-man-anissa-weier-release.html and it changed everything. Since then, we have continued to see unfiction grow, but people are more apt to identify it quickly as fiction, even if only in only forums. You start to see creators identify themselves outside the fourth wall (like Alex Kister of the Mandela Catalog and Kane Pixels of The Backrooms putting their names on their channels, rather than acting completely in character as someone who found the footage). Bringing this back to movies that are released in theaters, since Blair Witch it’s been pretty nigh impossible to avoid spoiling the suspense as to whether something is a documentary or fiction. But they have kept the presentation framework of found footage, and that corner of film creators has exploded. It’s a very easy (relatively) way to create your first major movie with a very low budget. But writing one that works well is a challenge.