The shaky hand-held camera, the panicked breaths, the screams.These are the elements being used in the genre of horror films today.

This sub-genre is known as “found footage,” the premise being the main character(s) footage was discovered. This genre makes the abominations appearing on screen seem more real. Found footage also borrows aspects from documentary filmmaking, so one may loosely call them “mockumentaries.”

In recent years, this style has cemented itself into the horror genre. One of the first, most commercially successful was 1999’s “The Blair Witch Project,” where three teenagers go missing in the Black Hills of Maryland.

Thomas Beell, who teaches “History of the Moving Picture” at Iowa State, justified the found footage’s popularity.

“If it’s a documentary, presumably it’s true. And what could be more scary than the walking dead invading your neighborhood?” Beell said.

Even more recently, the “Paranormal Activity” series has employed this style. The first film grossed more than $193 million with a budget of only $15,000. The third installment of the series, “Paranormal Activity 3” will be shown in Carver 101 at 7 and 10 p.m. today through Sunday.

Geoffrey Sauer, professor of film theory at Iowa State, explained the cause for this upsurge.

“Documentary film has flourished in the past two decades. It’s no surprise that the mockumentary form has, as well, and that the mockumentary has impacted horror, as well,” Sauer said. “The mockumentary permits directors to ‘play’ with the documentary format.”

“This format lends itself very well to playing off the fear that people have, and you want them to accept the premise,” Beell added. “They’ve got to get the audience to suspend disbelief. … You’ve got to pull them in and really grab their emotions, so even when they say it’s ‘only a movie,’ and yet they’re still caught up in it.”

The genre of horror has left a lasting impact on the film industry, and as a whole Beell and Sauer both agree the element of creating tension has been perfected within horror films. Beell also stressed the element of surprise is used frequently in other films, but was perfected in horror first.

As far as horror’s future is concerned, Sauer said the future of horror is unpredictable.

“The writers and directors producing horror spend a great deal of energy being creative,” Sauer said. “As a result, it’s always difficult to predict what they’ll come up with next.”