Cutting Edges - Blair Witch Project

Figure 1. The Blair Witch Project - 1999

Daniel Myrick's 1999 Psychological Horror The Blair Witch Project brings a whole new perspective to film making, with no special effects and only the effect of noise and shaken camera work, brings a real experience of fear and paranoia to audiences.

The movie is very well known for it's use of sound and camera work, giving us the fear of the unknown, and it's because it doesn't rely on special effects "the movie gets its chills without resorting to special effects (which it couldn't have afforded anyway) or anything in the way of an explanation. It's strong on disturbing throwaways (stick-figure dolls, child-sized hand prints, something unidentifiably bloody)" (Thomas, 2000) It seems to do very well with physical effects and convinces viewers enough that the experience was real and with the subtraction of special effects there is nothing that can be pointed out and deconstructed as fake as it uses the unseen to make you feel uncomfortable as if something is there in those woods, watching.

Figure 2

It's not just the camera work and the noises that add to the eeriness of the movie, it's also it's characters as we can see their tension and stress build when things start to not go their way "Once they get into the woods, the situation gradually turns ominous. They walk in circles. Something happens to their map. Nature itself begins to seem oppressive and dead." (Ebert,1999) the scene begins to twist and turn on them and it turns them against each other. Josh (figure 2.) for example starts to taunt Heather when they discover they've gone in a circle, he's harsh and up in her face with these comments, it's uncomfortable because he is expressing almost real and raw emotion and it does feel upsetting to see.

Speaking of the scene, the woods alone brings that setting of dark cold dampness of the movie "By shooting in a chill season, by dampening the color palette, the movie makes the woods look unfriendly and desolate; nature is seen as a hiding place for dread secrets." (Ebert,1999) The distant snapping of twigs at night from outside their tent, the damp wet discolouration of autumn leaves, the maze of skinny long leafless trees. It adds the whole darkness to the movies mood, that something is out there but everything seems blended in looking the same dull colour.

Bibliography:

Thomas,William 2000 The Blair Witch Project Review At: https://www.empireonline.com/movies/blair-witch-project/review/ Accessed [09/05/2018]

Ebert, Roger 1999 THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT At: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-blair-witch-project-1999 Accessed [09/05/2018]

Illustration:
Figure 1. The Blair Witch Project - 1999 - [Movie Poster]

Figure 2. The Blair Witch Project - 1999 - [Movie Still]