The Generic convention of The hidden footage genre

In hidden Footage films, there are many Generic conventions that help to establish and distinguish how the film fits within the genre.
  More often than not, because the genre is slightly more horror related, someone with a small role is going to die at the beginning, and this will show how serious things are going to get within the film. Sometimes the death is used to create a dramatic effect, especially if everything's been on the quiet side recently...

Effects used in Hidden Footage films, like grain, shaky camera's and Close-up's of the face when directly speaking to camera, either to emphasize a point, or something awful is happening and the camera cannot focus. Other convents could be they way there is always a sense of mystery and the unknown, as more often than not, hidden footage films never explain reasoning for these creatures, due to the "cameraman" being within a point of the event that isn't a story, just his point of view. For this genre, especially it is known that the quality of filming may be mediocre at best, almost unprofessional like and with added mistakes. These are purposely created to give a sense of authenticity, something I think would be valuable to take into account when we create our own opening to the hidden footage genre.

Grain used in Hidden Footage, mirrors the effect present in the old black and white horror films that coincidentally created a sense of fear and tension due to the darker shadows and merging scenery.

Close-ups within films, usually indicate a sense of tension, or danger, as the camera is in the characters personal space, which can be seen as invasive and dramatic.This helps to hightlight the fact that in these paticular scenes, the characters are close, becoming uncomfortable to the audience as well as the film, already creating a certain emotion without having to progress the story on further.