THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

US, 1999, 81 minutes. Colour.
Heather Donohue, Joshua Leonard, Michael C. Williams.
Directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez.

The Blair Witch Project was a classic in its time, an innovating film. In retrospect, it seems superior to many of the imitations and derivative films in later years.

The breakthrough was the pretence of having a documentary which was really a fiction. The Blair Witch was a legend in the woods near Burkittsville in Maryland. It was alleged that in October 1994, three film students wanted to make a documentary and ventured into the woods. They disappeared. A year later their film material was found and edited into this film.

However, the three students were actors as were all the people interviewed in the documentary style.

One of the breakthroughs was the use of the handheld camera, swirling about at times as amateurs would with video productions as well as having set-up shots which were far more effective. The editing of this kind of material together makes for some kind of authenticity. Some people at the time found the handheld camerawork too disturbing and disconcerting. However, it has become a staple of this kind of film as well as many mainstream films.

The film works on suspense rather than anything gory happening – which disappoints some audiences in retrospect. In the first decade of the 21st century there were far more horror films with an emphasis on gore, the massacre in the woods kind of film. In this way, The Blair Witch Project is exemplary in presenting the characters, the situations, the use of what looks like amateur footage, the blend of black and white and colour, the comments from the central characters, the gradual being upset on the part of Heather and her whining, Michael as an ordinary citizen trying to deal with the situation, Joshua and his stalking off and being high-handed.

There was a sequel which did not match the original. Other films which relied on this kind of technique include Cloverfield, The Spanish Rec (*?REC?)films and the American remake, Quarantine. George C. Romero also used this technique for The Diary of the Dead.

Director Daniel Myrick went on to make some other horror films, including Solstice.

1. The impact of the film? The initial responses?

2. The classic status of the film, its setting the tone for films in the next decade? Following the visual style, the handheld camera, the story and the horror? Derivative?

3. The creativity of this film, the documentary style yet it being a fiction? The interaction?

4. The plot, the information about the Maryland woods, Burkittsville, the traditions of the witch? The evidence, the articles, the range of people interviewed, the folklore? Credible or not?

5. The plan to do the documentary, the introduction to Heather, to Josh, to Michael? Their work for the film? Their characters? Credible?

6. The visual style, the handheld camera, controlled but casual, the accidental footage, the blend of colour and black and white, the different angles?

7. The contriving for the cameras to be filming all the time – when, in reality, it probably wouldn’t be possible?

8. The effect of the interviews, the look of the ordinary people, their style of speaking, locals, the build-up of suspense?

9. The woods, the good start and the first shot, the light and the darkness, night? Camping?

10. The dialogue, the characters being scared, the communication of fear, the atmosphere of fear, the audience catching this atmosphere?

11. The different episodes, ordinary, supernatural, eerie, psychological? Joshua and his stances, collapse, behaviour, going off? Michael and his coping? Heather and her being scared?

12. The cumulative effect of fear, the abrupt ending, the witch winning?

13. The footage, allegedly found and edited?

14. The film in retrospect as the pioneer of this kind of film-making and storytelling?