Yes, they knew it was only a movie—one that, like The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield and plenty others before it, used found footage to give a patina of realism to the fanciful events.

water straining through a sandy soil

[…] I haue not that Alacrity of Spirit, / Nor cheere of Minde that I was wont to haue.

My in-laws had given the baby some Flintstones building blocks, and on the blocks was stamped “Kenner Products, Cinti, Ohio”–an abbreviation for Cincinnati.