Backrooms: Found Footage 3 Analysis
Backrooms - Found Footage 3 Analysis
Hello readers, welcome to another post. Today’s post is about the Backrooms, which I have spent a lot of time studying (see My Academic Work).
Today, Kane Pixels posted his third found footage video for his Backrooms series, and I wanted to talk a little bit about it.
I’m not going to sit here and explain what all happened in the video as this is just an analysis. If you want to see what happens, watch the video yourself.
Disclaimer, I am hard of hearing. I did not understand most of the words the characters said in this video, so I apologize for not really understanding the full story of Kane’s video before making this post. And no, closed captions were not available.
Found Footage 3 is Kane’s first post to the Backrooms series in almost two years, and it does not disappoint. We all know Kane is a talented writer, editor, and videographer, so I was excited to see what he had in store.
I absolutely love the addition of music in this video. While the silence in previous videos was dreadful and left me on the edge of my seat, I think the music really adds to the vibe of each different setting, of which there were many.
Kane really experimented with different rooms this time around. Good on him for expanding beyond the mono yellow walls! Plus, I think the music also furthers the immersion in the Backrooms, aiding in making this environment into something the characters have no control over.
The music also adds to the familiar and nostalgic aspect of the different rooms. The school bells (at least, I think they are school bells) that played right after the protagonist, Ravi, fell into the Backrooms, sent me right into the immersion.
Another aspect of the music I liked is that much like the Backrooms themselves, the music felt a little off. It was exactly the kind of music you would hear while watching a liminal spaces compilation video because it fills you with nostalgia, and you can’t even put your finger on why.
Kane even shows the characters experiencing nostalgia within the Backrooms at the end of the video, when Ravi is talking about a memory from when he was seven. He talks about his friends, saying he can see their faces so clearly and that he just wants to go home.
The horror of the Backrooms comes with the realization that Ravi can’t go home.
Kane presents a hopeless scenario here. Just when Ravi feels he has a chance, when he’s talking to the man on the other side of the wall, something goes wrong. The man disappears, and Ravi has no way out.
It’s not clear what happened to the man, but it sounds like he fell into the Backrooms himself. The reason he and Ravi could talk to one another is because the house was a weak spot between the Backrooms and the reality most people in this series live in.
Once the man fell in, the weak spot was gone. Ravi may have even had a chance to find that weak spot and go through to the other side, into the real world. But when the picture of the man and child falls of the wall, this symbolizes that the man has fallen. The Backrooms takes another victim.
Screenshots of the wall before and after the man falls into the Backrooms. You can see the picture of a man and child on the floor, representing how the man fell.
The Backrooms are not a place where hope lasts long. Eventually, it runs out, and the people trapped inside grow tired. They feel as if they would do anything to escape from the empty rooms, but eventually, are overtaken by the bacteria the Backrooms are infested with.This man who tried to help Ravi doesn’t even seem like his first encounter with a weak spot, either. Obviously he encountered a weak spot when he no-clipped in, but what about 27 minutes in when he opens a door and hears a conversation between two people?
I can’t tell what the people are saying, but where are their voices coming from? Is it more Backrooms weirdness or a weak point in the real world?
It is also at this point in the video when Ravi hears a noise behind him and sees something that begins chasing him. It looks like someone who fell into the Backrooms and is starting to be overtaken by the black bacteria.
Screenshot of the figure chasing Ravi.
This thing still has a human-like form, but it is not human anymore. It does not say anything; just makes incomprehensible noises, and it goes straight to chasing Ravi as soon as it sees him. You can tell it’s trying to say something, maybe “Help!” but they’re too far gone to tell.All in all, Found Footage 3 is beautiful, unnerving, nostalgic, terrifying, and heartbreaking. It is everything I hope for in a liminal space video. Go watch it and support Kane Pixels and creators like him!
[The Backrooms playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVAh-MgDVqvDUEq6qDXqORBioE4Yhol_z)
[The Oldest View playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVAh-MgDVqvAwoFF5hJmtRrx86Yw-pdN1)