I have decided to research this film in detail because the handheld camera technique became popular after it's release and it has a similar plot and style to what I am thinking of doing for my teaser trailer.
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film, directed and written by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sรกnchez.
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Colours
This poster has very little colour. The trees and her face are in black and white and there is also a lot of black space. This gives a mysterious feel and the use of no colour and mostly black suggests evil. The blair witch symbol is in bright red, which makes it really stand out compared to the rest of the poster. The colour red sugegsts warning and also relates to blood, death, fear, anger and so on. This directly links these things to the symbol, suggesting that there is evil and death related to it. The only other colour is the website adress which is also in red, making it stand out so people know to visit it.
Image
Not much of the image has been given away at all. Two images has been merged together, the woods and a clip from the film where she is filming her face. A small part of the woods is shown which then fades to black. We barely see any of her face, just the parts that are illuminated by the light from the camera. This means the focus is on her eyes, which we can see are filling with tears of fear. We can really see the terror in her face. Because the audience cannot see behind her or much of the image at all, it gives a sense of mystery and makes them wonder where she could be and what is happening.
Text
There is a short passage of text included above the image of her face which is an introduction to the story which I noticed was also included in the teaser trailers. This sets the scene for the film and intrigues the audience, it also makes it seems as if it is a true story. I think it is intersting this much text has been included because usually on film posters there is only a short tag line. This passage is quite small and in a thin serif type face. The name of the film is much larger at the bottom of the poster and in the same type face used for the passage. Below this is copyrighting and institutional references along with the website in red, making it stand out on the poster.
Institutional References
There is six institutions logos at the bottom of the poster but tey are quite small. There is also some included in the copyrighting. Some of the institutions that have been included are Artisan Entertainment and Haxan Films.
Mise-en-scene
The mise-en-scene of this poster suggests mystery and fear. The use of no colour apart from the red blair witch symbol suggests a definite sense of mystery but also it makes the poster look very sinister. The red symbol suggests warning, blood, fear and so on, which suggests to the audience that something bad is going to happen and it is to do with the symbol. The silhoutetted trees are a cliche image used in horror films. The trees with no leaves suggests the idea of death, and there is something very sinister about silhouetted trees. The girl in the image is crying and looks very scared, which makes it clear to the audience that something bad has happened. Linked with the other features in the poster, we can tell she is scared because it is a horror film, and the audience then wonder what exactly has happened.
Layout
The layout of this poster shows the silhouettes of bare trees at the top, merging down in to a black background with part of her face showing at the bottom, which is taken from a clip in the film, also used in one of the teaser trailers. In this black space between her face and the trees is the blair witch sign and then a short passage introducing the film. Because this is in the centre, it is the main focus of the poster. At the bottom below the image of her, the name of the film has been included in quite large text. The trees and her face are arranged so the audience see the trees first, giving them the setting, then they see the short passage and ominous symbol, then the terror in her face. The poster becomes more shocking as the audience reads downwards.Colours
This poster has very little colour. The trees and her face are in black and white and there is also a lot of black space. This gives a mysterious feel and the use of no colour and mostly black suggests evil. The blair witch symbol is in bright red, which makes it really stand out compared to the rest of the poster. The colour red sugegsts warning and also relates to blood, death, fear, anger and so on. This directly links these things to the symbol, suggesting that there is evil and death related to it. The only other colour is the website adress which is also in red, making it stand out so people know to visit it.
Image
Not much of the image has been given away at all. Two images has been merged together, the woods and a clip from the film where she is filming her face. A small part of the woods is shown which then fades to black. We barely see any of her face, just the parts that are illuminated by the light from the camera. This means the focus is on her eyes, which we can see are filling with tears of fear. We can really see the terror in her face. Because the audience cannot see behind her or much of the image at all, it gives a sense of mystery and makes them wonder where she could be and what is happening.
Text
There is a short passage of text included above the image of her face which is an introduction to the story which I noticed was also included in the teaser trailers. This sets the scene for the film and intrigues the audience, it also makes it seems as if it is a true story. I think it is intersting this much text has been included because usually on film posters there is only a short tag line. This passage is quite small and in a thin serif type face. The name of the film is much larger at the bottom of the poster and in the same type face used for the passage. Below this is copyrighting and institutional references along with the website in red, making it stand out on the poster.
Institutional References
There is six institutions logos at the bottom of the poster but tey are quite small. There is also some included in the copyrighting. Some of the institutions that have been included are Artisan Entertainment and Haxan Films.
Mise-en-scene
The mise-en-scene of this poster suggests mystery and fear. The use of no colour apart from the red blair witch symbol suggests a definite sense of mystery but also it makes the poster look very sinister. The red symbol suggests warning, blood, fear and so on, which suggests to the audience that something bad is going to happen and it is to do with the symbol. The silhoutetted trees are a cliche image used in horror films. The trees with no leaves suggests the idea of death, and there is something very sinister about silhouetted trees. The girl in the image is crying and looks very scared, which makes it clear to the audience that something bad has happened. Linked with the other features in the poster, we can tell she is scared because it is a horror film, and the audience then wonder what exactly has happened.
Screen Shots:
Plot Summary:
Heather Donahue, Michael Williams and Joshua Leonard, student filmmakers, set out to shoot a documentary about a local legend, the Blair Witch. In the forests near Burkittsville, Maryland, many children have vanished in the 1940s and people still avoid going too deep into the woods. So, the party sets out to look for facts that prove the legend, equipped only with two cameras and a little hiking gear. First, they find little piles of stone that must have been arranged artificially, later, they have to admit to be lost in the woods. Eerie sounds at night and more piles of stones in places where they have not been before cause the already desperate group to panic. And one night, days after they should have been back home, Josh disappears completely. Only what has been recorded and filmed with the cameras is found a year later and shows what happened in the woods.
source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185937/plotsummary
Teaser Trailer #1
Camera angle, movement, position
The first title that appeasr on screen is the logo for Artisan Entertainment. This fades in with a strang echoing sound which is so quiet, you question if you've actually heard it. This then fades out and a paragraph of text fades in "In October of 1994, three student film makers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Marylands while shooting a documentary". This sets the plot of the film for the audience when they come to actually watch it. Whilst we read, there is the faint sound of someone breathing and crying which is disturbing as we can't see where it's coming from. There is another echoing sound as another title appears below the previous "a year later their footage was found". This stands out from the rest of the text as it has been seperated and faded in by itself. This is setting the scene for the audience and makes them think it is a true story. The titles are in a simple white sans serif type face which makes the trailer seem more serious, like a documentary, therefore adding to the realism. These titles then fade out to a black screen and we hear a girl start to speak. "I just wanna apologise" she is whispering and sounds very frightened. She carries on speaking between sobs "To mike's mom, and Josh's mom...and my mom". The use of her broken up speak and repition of "and" suggests what she is saying is unplanned, therefore adding to the idea this is real footage. The audience cannot see the girl and have been put in darkness because there is nothing on the screen, which would be very effective in the cinema as I feel it would build fear. The girl continues to whisper "and I am so (louder) so sorry...(quieter) because it is my fault, because it was my project". Immediatley after she says this THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT appears on screen with the Blair Witch symbol. This title appears suddenly with quite quite a loud, strange echoing bang that would probably make the audience jump as they had been placed in darkness for a while. This title fades out and we are then shown the shot of the girl. This shot is extreme close up at a tilted angle showing only part of her face and the pitch black background behind her. The composition of the shot adds to the realism as we can tell she is filming herself. We can see she is crying as she says to the camera "I am so scared". At this point the trailer has reached it's climax. This shot then cuts suddenly to "This Summer" which appears with a another strange echoey bang. We can still hear the girl crying and breathing as this title fades out and the website address fades in, and then out to leave the audience with a black screen again. There is very little use of the camera in this trailer, but the short shot we see is particularly striking because of her emotion, enviroment and realism, which really builds fear for the audience.
The audience is given an introduction to the film through the first documentary/news like title. We are told about the group of students and when they went missing in the woods, but not what they were filimg a documentary about. We are left to read this and then the next title fades in "a year later their footage was found". This makes the audience beleive they are about to see some real footage and that the titles are explaining a true story. Whilst the audience listen to the girl they begin to ask questions. They would probably realise that the girl speaking is one of the students, and the boys she's speaking about were the other two that went missing. However, they ask themselves why she is whispering, crying and sounds extremely scared. They also wonder why Mike and Josh aren't with her. As she says "because it was my project" and the title of the film appears on screen, the audience are told what they went to make a documentary about, but they would be unsure what the Blai Witch was. This would probably lead them to visit the website and look up what the film was about, encouraging them to see it at the cinema.
Character representations
There is only one character representation in this teaser as we only see one character. The girl is portrayed as the helpless victim. She is crying and apologising, which is a typical role played by a female in horror films. She also speaks about two boys and the audience notice she is not with them, meaning she is alone and helpless. This perhaps suggests this female character is in danger without her male companions.
Titles
The first titles that appear introduce the plot to the audience. The language used suggests the film is based on true events, because dates have been given. The next title that fades in reads "a year later their footage was found" which makes the audience they are about to see real footage and that the film is completely real. This title also leads us on to the next part of the trailer where we see the girl speaking. The BLAIR WITCH PROJECT appears on screen very suddenly, as if triggered by when she says "because it was my project". It is a lot larger than the other titles and is in a different type face to the ones we saw previously. The type face is gothic and has a white glow, which as I mentioned before gives a ghostly and mysterious effect. Underneath the title is a symbol, which the audience will find out later is the symbol of the Blair Witch, but at this point it is mysterious to them. The titles that appear after the clip of the girl are the release date, but not exact release date as this is a teaser, then the website after this. These titles are in the same glowing gothic tyoe face, but they are smaller.
Institutional references and logos
The only institutional reference in this teaser trailer is right at the beggining where the Artisan Entertainment logo fades in. This logo fades in with the faint, strange banging sound that makes it fit in to the rest of the trailer.
Number of shots
If I count the black shot where we only hear her voice and titles, there is a total of seven shots. The first is the Artisan logo, the second the introduction to plot, then the black screen where we can only hear her voice, then the BLAIR WITCH PROJECT title, the shot of the girl's face, the release date and finally the website.
Teaser Trailer #2
Teaser Trailer #1
Camera angle, movement, position
The first title that appeasr on screen is the logo for Artisan Entertainment. This fades in with a strang echoing sound which is so quiet, you question if you've actually heard it. This then fades out and a paragraph of text fades in "In October of 1994, three student film makers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Marylands while shooting a documentary". This sets the plot of the film for the audience when they come to actually watch it. Whilst we read, there is the faint sound of someone breathing and crying which is disturbing as we can't see where it's coming from. There is another echoing sound as another title appears below the previous "a year later their footage was found". This stands out from the rest of the text as it has been seperated and faded in by itself. This is setting the scene for the audience and makes them think it is a true story. The titles are in a simple white sans serif type face which makes the trailer seem more serious, like a documentary, therefore adding to the realism. These titles then fade out to a black screen and we hear a girl start to speak. "I just wanna apologise" she is whispering and sounds very frightened. She carries on speaking between sobs "To mike's mom, and Josh's mom...and my mom". The use of her broken up speak and repition of "and" suggests what she is saying is unplanned, therefore adding to the idea this is real footage. The audience cannot see the girl and have been put in darkness because there is nothing on the screen, which would be very effective in the cinema as I feel it would build fear. The girl continues to whisper "and I am so (louder) so sorry...(quieter) because it is my fault, because it was my project". Immediatley after she says this THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT appears on screen with the Blair Witch symbol. This title appears suddenly with quite quite a loud, strange echoing bang that would probably make the audience jump as they had been placed in darkness for a while. This title fades out and we are then shown the shot of the girl. This shot is extreme close up at a tilted angle showing only part of her face and the pitch black background behind her. The composition of the shot adds to the realism as we can tell she is filming herself. We can see she is crying as she says to the camera "I am so scared". At this point the trailer has reached it's climax. This shot then cuts suddenly to "This Summer" which appears with a another strange echoey bang. We can still hear the girl crying and breathing as this title fades out and the website address fades in, and then out to leave the audience with a black screen again. There is very little use of the camera in this trailer, but the short shot we see is particularly striking because of her emotion, enviroment and realism, which really builds fear for the audience.
Sound
The sound in this trailer is quite subtle. As each title appears there is a quiet echoey bang which makes us feel as if we are hearing things. This sound is louder for when the film title appears, which might make the audiecne jump. We also hear the bang slightly louder than when we hear it at the beggining of the trailer when the release date and website appears. The voice over is also very important and frightening. Because the audience can't see the girl and can only hear the sobbing, they will probably find it quite disturbing as they don't know what is happening for her to be crying and apologising. The girl sounds distressed, and the audience have been left in the darkness, so they feel this with her. I think the use of sound in this teaser are particularly effective because it is so subtle and would really make us feel jumpy in the darkness of the cinema. I like how a voice over has been used and we only see a short clip of the girl. I think this really makes us listen to what she is saying, which is probably much more fearful than the actual shot of her face.
The sound in this trailer is quite subtle. As each title appears there is a quiet echoey bang which makes us feel as if we are hearing things. This sound is louder for when the film title appears, which might make the audiecne jump. We also hear the bang slightly louder than when we hear it at the beggining of the trailer when the release date and website appears. The voice over is also very important and frightening. Because the audience can't see the girl and can only hear the sobbing, they will probably find it quite disturbing as they don't know what is happening for her to be crying and apologising. The girl sounds distressed, and the audience have been left in the darkness, so they feel this with her. I think the use of sound in this teaser are particularly effective because it is so subtle and would really make us feel jumpy in the darkness of the cinema. I like how a voice over has been used and we only see a short clip of the girl. I think this really makes us listen to what she is saying, which is probably much more fearful than the actual shot of her face.
Mise en Scene
The mise-en-scene of this teaser is dark and sinister. Most of the time the screen is black, already placing the audience in the cinema in the same postion as the actress they see. Darkness makes people scared because it is the fear of the unknown, and this teaser uses this to it's advantage. However was not as effective when I watched it on YouTube, but the colour black still got the sinister, dark themes across. The first titles that appear on screen are in a simplistic white type face, giving a seriousness and therefore suggesting reality. The language used suggest this film is based on actualy facts, as dates have been given which I feel is a vital part in trailers for this genre of horror film. The next titles are in a type face that looks gothic therefore supporting the films of the film. The text also has a white glow around the letters, giving a ghostly, mysterious effect. In the shot of the girl the mise-en-scene has been used to give some hints as to where she is but barely any. We have already been told in the first title they were in the woods, so this explains why we see her in a hat. From this we can tell it's cold, allowing us to put ourselves in her position, exaggerated the fear even further. We can also see she is crying, so we can tell she is extremely scared. Behind her there is nothing but blackness and there is a light on her face, so we know it is night time or she is somewhere that is very dark. The audience in cinemas have just been placed in this position before they saw the shot, so they can also feel her fear.
The mise-en-scene of this teaser is dark and sinister. Most of the time the screen is black, already placing the audience in the cinema in the same postion as the actress they see. Darkness makes people scared because it is the fear of the unknown, and this teaser uses this to it's advantage. However was not as effective when I watched it on YouTube, but the colour black still got the sinister, dark themes across. The first titles that appear on screen are in a simplistic white type face, giving a seriousness and therefore suggesting reality. The language used suggest this film is based on actualy facts, as dates have been given which I feel is a vital part in trailers for this genre of horror film. The next titles are in a type face that looks gothic therefore supporting the films of the film. The text also has a white glow around the letters, giving a ghostly, mysterious effect. In the shot of the girl the mise-en-scene has been used to give some hints as to where she is but barely any. We have already been told in the first title they were in the woods, so this explains why we see her in a hat. From this we can tell it's cold, allowing us to put ourselves in her position, exaggerated the fear even further. We can also see she is crying, so we can tell she is extremely scared. Behind her there is nothing but blackness and there is a light on her face, so we know it is night time or she is somewhere that is very dark. The audience in cinemas have just been placed in this position before they saw the shot, so they can also feel her fear.
Editing
The editing of this trailer is very symplistic, but the use of fading titles varied with some harsh cuts, the audience is made to feel fear and also jump. The fading in of the titles at the beggining which are paired with the use of the strange echoing sounds create a slow moving and sinister feel. Tension is built slowly as the first titles fade in and out, and we hear the girl speak over a black screen. This means the audience are most likely to jump when THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT appears on screen with a loud, strange, echoey bang. When this fades out we are put back in to tension building, and again when we see the shot of the girl. Hear the audience is almost expecting something to make them jump again, as we cant see anything behind the girl, perhaps something to grab her or appear behind her. But all this shot cuts to suddenly is THIS SUMMER with another strange echoing sound. I think this teaser trailer has been cleverly edited to make the audience feel the fear of the girl and be put on the edge.
NarrativeThe editing of this trailer is very symplistic, but the use of fading titles varied with some harsh cuts, the audience is made to feel fear and also jump. The fading in of the titles at the beggining which are paired with the use of the strange echoing sounds create a slow moving and sinister feel. Tension is built slowly as the first titles fade in and out, and we hear the girl speak over a black screen. This means the audience are most likely to jump when THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT appears on screen with a loud, strange, echoey bang. When this fades out we are put back in to tension building, and again when we see the shot of the girl. Hear the audience is almost expecting something to make them jump again, as we cant see anything behind the girl, perhaps something to grab her or appear behind her. But all this shot cuts to suddenly is THIS SUMMER with another strange echoing sound. I think this teaser trailer has been cleverly edited to make the audience feel the fear of the girl and be put on the edge.
The audience is given an introduction to the film through the first documentary/news like title. We are told about the group of students and when they went missing in the woods, but not what they were filimg a documentary about. We are left to read this and then the next title fades in "a year later their footage was found". This makes the audience beleive they are about to see some real footage and that the titles are explaining a true story. Whilst the audience listen to the girl they begin to ask questions. They would probably realise that the girl speaking is one of the students, and the boys she's speaking about were the other two that went missing. However, they ask themselves why she is whispering, crying and sounds extremely scared. They also wonder why Mike and Josh aren't with her. As she says "because it was my project" and the title of the film appears on screen, the audience are told what they went to make a documentary about, but they would be unsure what the Blai Witch was. This would probably lead them to visit the website and look up what the film was about, encouraging them to see it at the cinema.
Character representations
There is only one character representation in this teaser as we only see one character. The girl is portrayed as the helpless victim. She is crying and apologising, which is a typical role played by a female in horror films. She also speaks about two boys and the audience notice she is not with them, meaning she is alone and helpless. This perhaps suggests this female character is in danger without her male companions.
Titles
The first titles that appear introduce the plot to the audience. The language used suggests the film is based on true events, because dates have been given. The next title that fades in reads "a year later their footage was found" which makes the audience they are about to see real footage and that the film is completely real. This title also leads us on to the next part of the trailer where we see the girl speaking. The BLAIR WITCH PROJECT appears on screen very suddenly, as if triggered by when she says "because it was my project". It is a lot larger than the other titles and is in a different type face to the ones we saw previously. The type face is gothic and has a white glow, which as I mentioned before gives a ghostly and mysterious effect. Underneath the title is a symbol, which the audience will find out later is the symbol of the Blair Witch, but at this point it is mysterious to them. The titles that appear after the clip of the girl are the release date, but not exact release date as this is a teaser, then the website after this. These titles are in the same glowing gothic tyoe face, but they are smaller.
Institutional references and logos
The only institutional reference in this teaser trailer is right at the beggining where the Artisan Entertainment logo fades in. This logo fades in with the faint, strange banging sound that makes it fit in to the rest of the trailer.
Number of shots
If I count the black shot where we only hear her voice and titles, there is a total of seven shots. The first is the Artisan logo, the second the introduction to plot, then the black screen where we can only hear her voice, then the BLAIR WITCH PROJECT title, the shot of the girl's face, the release date and finally the website.
Teaser Trailer #2
Camera angle, movement, position
This trailer opens the same way as the previous. We firstly see the Artisan Entertainment logo which fades in with the strange echoing sound. The first title then appears introducing the plot, the same way as the previous. However this time we don't hear the girl crying and breathing, we only hear the strange echoing sounds which is disturbing to the audience as they are not quite sure if they are hearing them or not. This then fades to a black and white shot panning over the forest floor. The camera is shaky, adding to the realism. There is a voice over of a news broadcast as the audience watch the "footage". The male news reader says "the search of the three missing Montgomery talent students continues in Fredick County tonight". This voice over cross fades with the voice over of a female news reader as the shot of the forrest floor cross fades with another black and white shot of what appears to be the leaves on the trees. The shots are shaky and moving about, again adding to the realism and suggesting it is real footage. The female news reader says "10 days and thousands of man hours have been unable to produce any clues". This shot and the sound cross fades in to another black and white shot of what appears to be a diary in someone's hands as they look through it. This shot is still and looks as if it has been set up, telling the audience this clip is from the new and is showing the evidence that was found. By the shots and the sound cross fading between each other, a continuous flow is created therefore leaving the audience unsuspecting, which therefore means they jump when the film title appears as I will explain later. Over this shot of the diary a voice over begins as if it is an interview of someone who has been asked to speak to the news about the incident "we have a few leads erm few other options that we want to take advantage of and just err put err some pieces together of this puzzle". The speech of the man is disjointed, suggesting this is unplanned and therfore a real interview. Whilst the man is speaking, the shot of the diary cross fades to a shot of someone placing a camera down on pladtic sheets, telling the audience this is the evidence that was found. After this shot it cross fades to the camera panning down showing films reels on a plastic sheet with "BLAIR WITCH" written on them, again telling the audience this was the footage that was found. There is then the strange, echoey banging sound as this shot fades to black. Another shot then fades in which is shaky, telling us this is again the footage filmed by the students. We see a wall covered in handprints, but we can't see if this is blood because the shot is black and white. The camera moves round slightly and we see a man stood in the corner. We think that probably it is one of the students, but we only see a glimpse. This shot cuts to a medium close up of a man from the side, the camera is still so we can tell this is an interview shot. We can't see the reporter but hear him say "Do you believe the err, cult is involved with the dissapearance of your son?" The man looks away angered or upset when the reporter says this. We can tell the reporter was talking to him because of the interview shot and the man;s reaction, so we know this is a diegtic sound unlike the other voice overs of the reporters. Again the use of "err" suggests it's slightly unplanned and therefore real. We hear the echoing bang as he turns away, adding impact to the moment. This shot quickly fades to black but before we notice it there is a flash along with a diegtic sound of lightning and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT appears on screen, which might make the audience jump as so far they have only been shown gentle corss fades between clips and quiet sounds. This title cuts suddenly to a black and white shot of a girl running and screaming through the woods, the camera follows behind her, either chasing her or trying to keep up. The shot is a long shot as we can see a lot of the forest and the girl is fairly far ahead. This cuts to the title "This summer" and then fades to the website. Throughout these two titles the sound of her screaming is continued, prolonging the horror.
Sound
The use of sound is important in this teaser trailer. Again at the begging of the trailer the trailer we hear the quiet strange bang as the Artisan logo appears and the two introductory titles appear. As we are shown the shots from "news footage" there is the non-diegtic sound of the voice over of news reporters. This makes the clips seems real and that they were actually on the news, making the audience believe what they are seeing is real. We also see an interview clip from one of the students farther's and hear the sound of the news reporter is diegtic, although we dont actually see him. As the film title appears with a flash, there is a sound effect of lighting, which could be seen as diegtic because we see the flash, relating the shot to the sound, but also non-diegtic because it is not filming, but a title. This sound makes the title appearing very drmatic. As we see the shot of the girl running through the woods we hear her screaming. These screams are carried on through the next two titles which prolongs the fear and shocks the audience. There is also the same echoing bang when the release date and website adress appears.
The use of sound is important in this teaser trailer. Again at the begging of the trailer the trailer we hear the quiet strange bang as the Artisan logo appears and the two introductory titles appear. As we are shown the shots from "news footage" there is the non-diegtic sound of the voice over of news reporters. This makes the clips seems real and that they were actually on the news, making the audience believe what they are seeing is real. We also see an interview clip from one of the students farther's and hear the sound of the news reporter is diegtic, although we dont actually see him. As the film title appears with a flash, there is a sound effect of lighting, which could be seen as diegtic because we see the flash, relating the shot to the sound, but also non-diegtic because it is not filming, but a title. This sound makes the title appearing very drmatic. As we see the shot of the girl running through the woods we hear her screaming. These screams are carried on through the next two titles which prolongs the fear and shocks the audience. There is also the same echoing bang when the release date and website adress appears.
Mise en Scene
The mise-en-scene of the trailer suggests horror and realism throughout. We are shown only black and white clips which I think adds to the idea of horror but also makes things unclear and allows us to image what they would look like in colour, for example the handprints on the wall. Are they blood? The lack of colour also makes the video footage seem quiet sisnister, and perhpas more realistic if this is what the footage was filmed, althouhg in teaser trailer #1 the video footage is in colour, so I don't know why it has been changed this way. I think maybe it would have worked better in colour, but I still think it gives the theme of horror. At the beggining of the trailer when we see shots of the forrest floor and what appears to be trees, we are set in the scene which was described to us in the previous title. It also supports what the news readers are saying on the voice over and makes an overally clear introduction to the setting of the film. We are then shown people, most likely police, looking through evidence. We can tell this is 1 - footage from the news and 2 - the evidence that has been found and not filming from the students. Firstly the camera shots are still and look professional, where as the students shots are shaky. We can also tell it is news footage of the evidence because of the way it being laid out on plastic sheets carefully and people are examining the objects. The things also look dirty and old which suggests they have been lost for a long time. The voice over of the news reader and interviewee also suggest this is news footage. The next shot is from the students footage. We know this because it is more shakey and it was said that only their filming equipment was found as evidence, so they wouldn't have found this room that appears to be covered in bloody handprints.
The mise-en-scene of the trailer suggests horror and realism throughout. We are shown only black and white clips which I think adds to the idea of horror but also makes things unclear and allows us to image what they would look like in colour, for example the handprints on the wall. Are they blood? The lack of colour also makes the video footage seem quiet sisnister, and perhpas more realistic if this is what the footage was filmed, althouhg in teaser trailer #1 the video footage is in colour, so I don't know why it has been changed this way. I think maybe it would have worked better in colour, but I still think it gives the theme of horror. At the beggining of the trailer when we see shots of the forrest floor and what appears to be trees, we are set in the scene which was described to us in the previous title. It also supports what the news readers are saying on the voice over and makes an overally clear introduction to the setting of the film. We are then shown people, most likely police, looking through evidence. We can tell this is 1 - footage from the news and 2 - the evidence that has been found and not filming from the students. Firstly the camera shots are still and look professional, where as the students shots are shaky. We can also tell it is news footage of the evidence because of the way it being laid out on plastic sheets carefully and people are examining the objects. The things also look dirty and old which suggests they have been lost for a long time. The voice over of the news reader and interviewee also suggest this is news footage. The next shot is from the students footage. We know this because it is more shakey and it was said that only their filming equipment was found as evidence, so they wouldn't have found this room that appears to be covered in bloody handprints.
Editing
This trailer has been edited to build tension. It starts with the paragraph introducing the story of what happened which already lures the audience in. The news footage clips cross fade between each other. This creates a continuous flow and also suggests there was a lot of news coverage making the audience think it was a major event. The trailer is also in black and white, perhaps to make it appear more sinister. After the cross fade between the news shots we are struck by the sudden appearance of the "The Blair Witch Project" which flashes on screen along with a sound effect of lighting, which might make the audience jump after being introduced with soft transitions between shots. The last shot we see is the girl running and screaming which leaves us with high impact from the trailer. As this shot fades to black and the next title appears, the sound has been continued which leaves it with us, which is quite horrifying.
NarrativeThis trailer has been edited to build tension. It starts with the paragraph introducing the story of what happened which already lures the audience in. The news footage clips cross fade between each other. This creates a continuous flow and also suggests there was a lot of news coverage making the audience think it was a major event. The trailer is also in black and white, perhaps to make it appear more sinister. After the cross fade between the news shots we are struck by the sudden appearance of the "The Blair Witch Project" which flashes on screen along with a sound effect of lighting, which might make the audience jump after being introduced with soft transitions between shots. The last shot we see is the girl running and screaming which leaves us with high impact from the trailer. As this shot fades to black and the next title appears, the sound has been continued which leaves it with us, which is quite horrifying.
Quite a lot of narrative has been given away in this trailer, but still leaves mystery which is effective. We are introduced to the plot with the paragraph a the beggining of the trailer. The voice over of the new broadcast then also expalins to us some more about what happened and what the film is about. We don't know why they went missing, which makes us want to watch the "found footage". A small, disturbing part of the plot is given away when the news reporter asks "Do you believe the cult is involved with the dissapearance of your son?" The way the man reacts makes us think he doesn't want to think or believe it, telling us this cult must me dangerous and horrifying. This shot is linked to the name of the film which appears after, making us put the name of the film together with the idea of a cult and the dissapearance of the students. This creates a foreboding that will disturb the audience and also encourage them to watch the horror film.
Character representations
From the voice overs we can tell what characters are speaking. We can tell newsreaders are speaking because of they way they talk in a rehearsed manner. They are telling us information clearly, like we would usually hear on a news boradcast. We can then also tell that the man speaking is an interviewee because of the way he sounds unrehearsed in contrast to the news readers. He pauses and uses "err" which tells us he is giving a statement to the news, not reporting it. This man is most likely to be police or a detectives because of the information he has knowledge of. When the reporter off screen asks the man "do you beleive the cult is involved with the dissapearance of your son?" we are given a stereotypical image of a newsreader asking questions. It seems an intrusive question that maybe shouldn't have been asked to a clearl grieving parent, which gives quite a negative image of the media. The man on screen being interviewed looks disturbed and the way he turns away suggests he is in disbelief. It's like he doesn't want to hear about the cult because he doesn't believe it and is sick of hearing it. In the last shot where we see the girl running and screaming she seems vulnerable which is a stereotypical image gvien of women in horror films.
Titles
The first title that appears on screen gives us an introduction to the plot. It is in a simplistic style and has no colour, making it seems serious. The next part of this title fades on screen seperatley giving it more of an impact "a year later their footage was found". When the film title appears on screen it gives high impact because it flashes on so suddenly contrasting with the gentle cross fades in between shots we see before this. It is also paired with a loud lightning sound effect which makes it more shocking. The last titles fade on screen as the screams of the girl from the previous shot continue "this summer" and then to the website adress.
Institutional references and logos
The only institutional reference we see on screen is Artisan Entertainment, which fades on before the first title.
Number of shots
I counted 13 shots including titles and institutional references. The first shots have cross fade transitions which creates a continuous flow but also builds tension because everything is moving gently and slowly, building the audience up to "the blair witch project" appearing on screen and the final shot of the girl running and screaming.
The overall aspect of different movie produced by Blair Witch Project.
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