badex at 2012-02-05 17:07:48:

I thought the character development was awesome and as you rightly pointed out, the writer should be given a great deal of credit. excellent stuff!

Henry W. at 2012-02-05 22:25:28:

Hey Scott. I haven't commented in a while but I'm still a fan. You are absolutely right. It's the same old story with giving writers some credit for a movie's success (or not). Still I didn't think the story was overwhelming, as far as the writing. It was predictable, almost to a hurt. Great concept though. Great way to get the youth to the theater. The found footage camera technique was used in a unique way. I get tired of seeing it in movies, but I admired the style this time. It was the actors who really sold the film though. You watch, PROJECT X will be an even Bigger hit.

Mike at 2012-02-06 14:54:04:

Max is also doing an AMA on Reddit...right now! http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/pdj0g/im_max_landis_writer_of_chronicle_and_director_of/

Christopher Westfield at 2012-02-06 16:22:01:

Yep, theater was packed Saturday night in middle Ohio. So let me ask this, is found footage a matter of timing? Youtube, social networking is at it's peak. So these highschool aged kids had 5 - 6 years of growing up with this access in their formitable years. I ask this b/c I'm a zombie movie fan and Romero's Diary of the Dead was a found footage zombie movie, limited release. Why didn't it do well? I suppose limited release plays a role. Or maybe it was just a terrible movie.

Scott at 2012-02-06 17:28:24:

I think you hit both points, CW. YouTube is itself a case of found footage... like literally. You click on the site, click through and... Oh, look what I've found! I have two sons, a 21 year-old and an 11 year-old, and they are perfect examples of the long tail, burrowing into social media to find ever more obscure and interesting bits of entertainment. The quality of the videos is often quite raw. So between YouTube and the solid place reality TV has in the minds of young people, there is a direct transference of aesthetic sensibilities, it seems to me, to found footage movies. Re "Diary of the Dead": Perhaps because it isn't that good [Rotten Tomatoes audience gives it a 43% rating]. But I think perhaps it smells of creaky old stuff (George Romero!), not something fresh, young and new like "Chronicle."