Blair Witch

Starts with a shot of the studio making the film, this means people who know the company will trust that the film will

be made to the same standard.

Eerie non-diegetic moaning gets played as part of the

soundtrack, this is disturbing for the viewer, and helps to

accentuate how scary the film is

The 2nd shot gives the basis of the plot. The last sentence is short and blunt to shock the viewer and add a

new level of fear

The trailer consists of reviews pooping up, this is a way of showing to the viewer that

the film is good and will therefore persuade viewers to pay to see the film

The low key lighting makes the wood look dangerous and scary. The silhouette stick figures have a sinister

feel to them, as they look so out of place. The viewers eye is drawn to them as the large dark sections in the clip are suck in the viewers gaze. The black shadows

also contrast the review, making it clearer and therefore more likely to be read.

The Clips are edited together by fading to black, the jump cutting to a different clip, this creates the

feeling od disjointedness for the viewer

The sounds on the sound track sound like animals, this plays into people’s fear of woods, as they worry about being mulled by animals. By playing into people’s fears in the

trailer, the director is conveying that the film is scary

The flash of white is in contrast to the black, this shocks the viewer as there

not expecting a flash of white amongst the dimly lit and shadowy footage.

The line “tell me where you are josh” is said shouted, with a lot of despair in the persons voice. This creates

sympathy for the viewer but also interest as the person wonders where josh is? And why is josh lost?

The title of the film and the films logo is shows around 2/3rds into the trailer, this is so that the footage can draw the

viewer in, so then they are paying attention and are excited about the film when they find out the name.

There are echoing noises heard, this is conveying how the characters are lost in the woods, and it’s a big wood, which shows the reader that the characters are in danger being hunted/ stalked by a thing in the woods

The last sound heard on the trailer is a scream, this scares the viewer as they think the trailer is

over so they aren’t expecting anything to happen. They also have empathy with the

character screaming, as she is screaming and want to help and find out why she is screaming.

The website for the film is shown, this directs people to the right place to get more information about the film. The website is also at an address

which is easily remembered for a later date, which is always useful.

The film was made before the raise in

social media (1999) so there

are no social media links.

Only part of the main characters face is revealed, this is accentuated by the mysteries

to do with the film and therefore intrigues the viewer.

The extreme close up on the characters upper face, show the scared emotion they have and means the viewer will

have sympathy for them.

The website is written in red, this draws the viewers eye down to the website and the information around it. The website is important as the film was released before the digital revelation so the easy to remember title and the vivid red

righting will ensure that the website is remembered and then looked at when the consumer is next near a computer as they can’t just grab their phone and google.

The poster follows the rule of thirds as the top image sticks to the top third, and the bottom text is in the bottom third, the symbol text and model are all in the middle third. This is done to have the viewers eye drawn to the information. The layout also leaves an abundance of dark space, which makes the poster eye-catching and slightly creepy and

un-nerving. This darkness of the poster also plays on the consumers “fear of the dark” and therefore has the potential to scare the viewer before they even see the film.

The red symbol also features in the film but is largely unexplained. Its presumed that it’s a symbol of the “Blair Witch.” the symbol is

one of the only coloured objects on the black and white poster, making it stand out,

and the unknowns around it poses questions and creates a talking point about

“what is it?” which turns consumers into presume as the advertise the film in

convocation when they discuss potential meanings of the symbol.

The poster is vastly black and white, with hints of colour on the woods and on the

model, this contrasts the conventions of film posters at the time which used an abundance of colour to be eye-catching. The minimalistic

approach to the poster becomes visually striking as the focus is on a small section of

the poster and not on the whole poster. Black has connotations of death and fear which is the predominate colour of poster. The top and the text is white, which contrasts the

black in order to stand out with connotations of purity. The black out weighing the white conveys the demise of the innocence and

purity from the characters. The tiny amount of red symbolises death and danger and acts

as a warning first to the characters in the film, and then to the viewer that the film is

dangerous… tempting them to watch the film.

The very bottom of the poster contains the logos for the companies in association of the film, this conveys to the consumer that the film was made with the same quality and standard as the others

films from the company.

The text on the poste is the tag line for the film. It sets up the plot and intrigues the

viewer. The mode of address is very formal and official, fuelling the fire to the rumours

of the film being true. The ellipsis puts a audience on a cliff hanger making them

curious about what happened to the characters. The last sentence is deliberately

blunt in order to shock the viewer.

The colour scheme is a sickly yellow-green colour, this helps to convey how sickly the

witches character is, and the choice in colour is just a reflection on her

personality

The cover is dominated by the Blair Witch

Symbol, this is done as the models are in the film so it’s the easiest way to

convey to that reader that the cover is about the Blair Witch Project without using words

There is a pun ‘rags to witches’ this coveys to a

reader that it’s a fun magazine, this means that

even if a reader doesn’t like horror films they might still pick up the magazine then even be tempted to

see the film.

The magazine uses the directors as models

instead of the actors, this helps to tie into

the films plot that the characters are dead, so

by using non-cast members to advertise

it, it keeps the idea going that the witch

killed the cast.

The Blair Witch Project

• Three film makers set out to make a documentary on “the Blair witch,” after interviewing locals, they go into the woods were the legend orientated, and are never seen again

• The film was directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez

• The low budget film was mostly unscripted, filmed in 8 days, edited over 8 months, and with a budget between $20,000 and $25,000

• The film was sold for $1 million to Artisan Entertainment and made $1.5 million on opening weekend alone.

Ad Campaign• The Blair Witch Project was revolutionary being one of the

first found footage films released, this combined with unknown actors, led to many people believing the film was real, meaning there was an intrinsic buzz about the film with the public.

• Haxan films put together the website www.blairwitch.com in June 1988 (almost a year before the films release)

• The website contained character histories (including childhood photos) and pictures from a police investigation into the missing characters – fuelling rumours that the film was real.

Ad Campaign

• Missing posters and leaflets were distributed of the characters in the film, and their IMDb pages had them as “missing, presumed dead”

• The low key advertising had the benefits of being cheep, which is good for a low budget film, and viewers felt that they had stumbled on to something special instead of being fed something by mass media conglomerates.

• By mainly advertising on university campuses’ the film saved money by only advertising to their target demographic of students and not just general cinema goers.

Trailers

• Trailers were kept short, giving away very little of the film.

• One trailer consisted just of a black screen while the main character, heather, asked for forgiveness. With another trailer consisting of the police search for the missing people. Both trailers are described as chilling.