Research: The Blair Witch Project

How does “The Blair Witch” subvert and/or conform to the codes and conventions of the horror genre?


In order for a film to classify as “horror” genre, there are certain characteristics and rules which the film must follow. The most obvious features are an unsettling storyline, cause dread and alarm whilst brining our worst fears to life. In addition they are designed to frighten and panic the audience with the darkness and often twist in storyline. “The Blair Witch” project both conforms and subverts from the classic horror film as it effectively centres on the dark side of life; the forbidden, and strange and alarming events, however the slow narrative and ending given away at the beginning subverts the “classic” horror film.

Although “The Blair Witch” doesn’t appear to follow the typical conventions of a horror film, the narrative allows the film to be classified as psychological horror, for example, throughout the film, the characters argue between themselves both aggressively and vocally. This fits in with a typical horror storyline as it connotes a disruption in group dynamics often causes a disruption in the film which most often leads to something bad happening to the characters. For example when Josh and Heather argue, the audience can sense the tension and understand the issue is unresolved, therefore when Josh then goes missing the next day, it isn’t a surprise that a bad thing happened after an argument. However there are many aspects of the narrative which suggets the film subverts the typical horror narrative. For example, in the opening caption we are told the ending e.g. “they were never found”. This reduces the element of surprise for the audience and goes against any typical film which builds up to the end. Another subtle subversion is the frequent use of intertexuality, for example Josh refers to other films with similar stories to being lost in the woods. Intertexuality is very uncommon in films and portrays the film as realistic and natural.

Throughout the film, the audience is reminded that it is a ‘student documentary’, and not had professional editing and filming. This is done through the film techniques. For example the amateurish filming and basic captions allow the audiences focus to be primarily on the story and not on special effects or filming techniques. Similarly there are shots which have up to 35 seconds of black (night time) footage. This is realistic to the story however the unclarity of the shot is unlikely to be in a professional blockbuster. In addition to this, there are many other slightly blurry or dark shots which include heavy breathing over the footage and unclear dialogue. These shots allow confusion for the audience which only entices them into the story more as they try and figure out what exactly there looking at. On the other hand, the film conforms to the postmodern film techniques, for example the cameraman being part of the film. The idea of the cameraman involving themselves within the film and taking it in turns to shoot footage is a modern technique and the colour of the footage from each camera helps identify which actor is filming allowing the audience to understand what is going on.

Iconography is used frequently within the film to ensure the horror genre is featured and the storyline keeps the audience involved. For example all the stereotypical horror iconography is used, such as a witch who is never seen and a dark wood. Another example used for both psychological and gory horror is the burial mounds which are later disturbed by the protagonists. This is a slight twist to the obvious graveyard which makes the film more interesting and unusual. Another small feature of the film conforming to a stereotypical horror film is the use of blood when the audience watch Heather come across what is suspected to be Josh’s teeth. This adds a lot of instant horror to the film whilst reducing it from becoming‘torture porn’.

Whilst the iconography of “The Blair Witch” majorly conforms to typical horror film, the marketing subverts. The simplistic layout of the DVD’s special effects page maintains the realism of the film, for example the scene selection is set out in “day one, night one, day two ...” this is clear and obvious and reduces any suspicion of major editing or scripted storylines. Another major marketing strategy is the website. “http://www.blairwitch.com”. As soon as you enter the site, the first scene of the film appears including Heather speaking about the adventure she is about to undertake. They have then created a mythology and legacy page. This allows the audience to believe the story of the Blair witch is real, and that there is nothing to allow then to think otherwise. By producing such an original marketing plan, the film appears realistic and anyone researching the film before watching it will instantly become enticed into the legacy.

The Blair witch project will influence me in my own film as I understand the use of both subtle and obvious horror features. The slow story with little incidents such as the misplacement of the map help bring the story together without fully allowing the audience to guess exactly what will happen in the end. The film also taught me the importance of iconography which I plan to conform to. However the risk in narrative enables me to understand variety in storylines in importance to be an original film.

In conclusion, “The Blair Witch Project” both subverts and conforms to the typical horror films. The realistic filming and iconography support the subverted narrative making it a successful but controversial film.

Editing and completing the project

Once we finished filming and had a variety of different shots which reflected our storyboard, we went back to the computers and uploaded our footage.
Using iMovie, we then watched all the footage and decided which was worth editing and which we didn't need. For some of our shots, we had the same shot but from 3 different angles. As a group we had to decide which shot worked best and would be kept. We experimented with different orders and cut and pasted shots into different places to see how it would turn out. This worked very well, for example the close up of the feet walking was moved from its original position to in between the chase in order to flow better. As a group we constantly watched the sequence as a whole to ensure every bit of editing worked and was effective. After watching it through, we realised the transitions between shots were not smooth, to overcome this, we experimented with different transition shots such as fade to black and cross dissolve. We placed these in were needed and when we watched back, the continuity and flow was much better.

We decided to think about sound and/or music for the background sound. We thought of nursery rhymes which could be translated into a slow creepy melody, we then thought of "teddy's bear picnic". We searched YouTube for a version which we liked and came across an instrumental guitarists version. It sounded effective and decided it would work well in our chase sequence. We tried to find a way of slowing it down to make it more creepy, however we could not do this so instead we added a sound effect from iMovie. This adds suspense and smokiness. This sound is played at the beginning and towards the end in the effect of the climax. After watching how the progress appeared, we realised that there was also a lot of background noise which was not intended such as school children. We decided to mute all background noise using Imovie. When we watched it after to see the effect, as a group we decided it was much better and the song made up for any left out noise.

We also found, as we watched through, that some of the lighting and exposure was not equal making the continuity less effective. To overcome this, I experimented with Imovie using the brightness, contrast and exposure effects. We used this in areas which were too bright to be in woods and too bright and cheerful such as the establishing shot.

Once we thought we had finished editing, we watched it over and realised the narrative was weak. We all agreed we had a good variety of different shots however the story was not clear and the sequence seemed to go to fast. We couldn't decided how to overcome this and found it difficult to understand how we can make the narrative stronger with different shots. Nevertheless we went to a different location and filmed more shots with the stalker in. This enables the audience to fully understand she is being stalked without ever giving away the stalkers full identity. However, when we shot the new shots, the continuity failed and in my opinion the shots did not seem to fit and and appeared out of place. We added close ups of the faces, and an over-the-shoulder shot leading into a mid-shot of the stalker following the female. We all agreed the narrative felt stronger but the change in location let it down. I then thought by making it darker and slowing some close ups down, the sequence would flow better and and look more realistic. When we did this, we all agreed it did look better.

After reflecting on our chase sequence we went back to our storyboard and realised that the detail and narrative was not Strong enough. As a group we wanted to start filming which meant we spent less time on the storyboard. Towards the end of our storyboard our notes reduced and the pictures were too simplistic. I think this effected the overall narrative of the sequence and if we had spent more time on the storyboard, the sequence would have been more understandable and easier to follow. When I look back at the storyboard, I now understand that although our pictures were detailed, the description,lighting, camera and music section was very brief. In addition the narrative section is very minimalistic and never fully describes exactly what is going on.

Overall I feel I have learnt the importance of storyboarding and why they are so necessary in sharing the narrative and getting every single shot exactly right. I have also learnt how every little detail in the mise-en-scene makes a difference, for example the amount of leaves on the ground when the feet are walking through helps the continuity and makes it appear more realistic. Similarly, lighting is also crucial, when we shot the close ups of the face looking at the sky, the lighting was bright and almost reflected off the camera, this made the continuity less continuous and we had to spend a long period of time editing it in order to be as realistic as possible.
Everything I have learnt from making this chase sequence will help me next year with creating the horror trailer. I now have a better understanding for camera angles and feel much more confident in my ability to edit and transform footage using iMovie.

planning and filming

In preparation for year 13 media studies coursework, we decided to do a preliminary task of a one minute chase sequence. In order to have a full understanding of how chase sequences work I researched into the different storylines and camera angles. YouTube enabled me to watch both professional and other students chase sequences which helped me see what I felt worked well and what I wanted to avoid. The textual analysis of year 12 TV drama exam benefited me in the planning of the chase as I had a better understanding of different camera angles, for example an over the head shot. I learnt the importance of mise-en-scene and lighting.

Before we started our own ideas, we practised with the cameras by watching a professional chase sequence, and then in our school grounds, trying to copy the angles and storyline. This helped me as I started to understand how long shots take and the importance of shooting each shot more than once to enable a professional finish. Once we had practised , we experimented with Imovie to make sure we knew how to edit and to allow us to practise with different editing techniques.
Once we got put into groups, we immediately started sharing our different ideas for storylines. As a group we all agreed on our storyline and started to storyboard straight away. In our storyboard, we included camera shots, dialogue, mise-en-scene and any extra details needed to ensure the storyboard would be easy to follow when we started filming.

We decided not to use an actor as we wanted to ensure there was no time limit and complications so a member of our group volunteered. This worked well as we all shared different responsibilities but came together to make sure we were all happy with the shot and ready to move on.

Once we started filming we used the storyboard to guide us through the different shots to make sure we didn't miss anything out. When I shot our high-angle shot we had difficulties getting a high enough shot. We started by climbing a lamppost, however, this did not work as well as we planned and the shot was therefore not high enough. To overcome this problem we then found a small bridge which was in a slightly different location to where we originally planned, however this worked better than we thought and the shot turned into a perfect high angle panning shot. Another difficulty whilst filming was when we tried to create the effect of the camera falling to the ground. We used a pillow to ensure we did not damage the camera, however every time we dropped it the footage did not film. After trying many different techniques, we decided to manually drop it moving our hand fast. This also worked very well and the effect of a camera dropping captures what we wanted.