TW- Institutional Context- Independent Horror Case Study

The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez, 1999)

 

Production (Haxan Films)

• This extremely successful, cult-horror classic had a budget of only $35,000.
• The dialogue within the film is improvised and filming took just 8 weeks, the film followed no specific script.
• Some of the townspeople interviewed in the film were not actors, and some were planted actors, unknown to the main cast, this made the budget lower.
• Almost 19 hours of usable footage was recorded which had to be edited down to 90 minutes, taking more than eight months to complete.
• All footage in the film was actually shot by the cast, as this is one of the first ever films to incorporate a 'documentary style', found-footage film. The cast were given a 16mm celluloid film camera and an RCA Hi-8 video camera only, all lighting at night came from ENG lights on the video camera and all audio came from the camcorder's microphone or the DAT recorder. This created a more visceral feeling, creating more verisimilitude for both the actors and the audiences.
  
  a 16mm film cameraand an RCA Hi-8 video camera only. All the lighting at night comes from ENGlights on the video camera. All the audio comes from the camcorder'smicrophone or the DAT recorder. - See more at: http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/news/news-articles/behind-blair-witch-project/381616#sthash.yTAoBlH3.dpuf
  a 16mm film cameraand an RCA Hi-8 video camera only. All the lighting at night comes from ENGlights on the video camera. All the audio comes from the camcorder'smicrophone or the DAT recorder. - See more at: http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/news/news-articles/behind-blair-witch-project/381616#sthash.yTAoBlH3.dpuf
  a 16mm film cameraand an RCA Hi-8 video camera only. All the lighting at night comes from ENGlights on the video camera. All the audio comes from the camcorder'smicrophone or the DAT recorder. - See more at: http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/news/news-articles/behind-blair-witch-project/381616#sthash.yTAoBlH3.dpuf
• The actors were genuinely left to shoot the film alone, like in the film. This included actually scaring the actors, this included making yelling noises at night and shaking their tent. This resulted in some poor grainy, poorly lit footage but this made the film a lot more real for audiences, one of the important reasons why this film was such a success.
• a 16mm film cameraand an RCA Hi-8 video camera only. All the lighting at night comes from ENGlights on the video camera. All the audio comes from the camcorder'smicrophone or the DAT recorder. - See more at: http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/news/news-articles/behind-blair-witch-project/381616#sthash.yTAoBlH3.dpuf
  a 16mm film cameraand an RCA Hi-8 video camera only. All the lighting at night comes from ENGlights on the video camera. All the audio comes from the camcorder'smicrophone or the DAT recorder. - See more at: http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/news/news-articles/behind-blair-witch-project/381616#sthash.yTAoBlH3.dpuf
  In post production, editors then made the decision to change the entire film from DigiBeta to 35mm, which was a very difficult task, this consequently made the film look like it was being shown on just a big TV screen in cinemas, again in order to make this film actually seem like reality and real past events.
• The audio mix for the film was both cleaned and enhanced, one of very few typical Hollywood film-making aspects that Haxan films used whilst producing the film.

Distribution ( Artisan Films)

• 'The Blair Witch Project' was one of the most interesting and successful distribution campaigns of its time, and the Artisan Films were in control of this; this was when the film company was still independent and had little financial backing.
• The film was first presented at the Sundance Film Festival, where Artisan Films decided to distribute the film.
• Many people say the success of the film relies mainly on it's viral marketing; a website for the film was made to advertise the film due to it's low budget, (costing $15,000), this was an unusual method to incorporate in the marketing campaign as it was distributed in 1999, when most traditional forms of marketing were used such as TV ads and posters.
• Deals were made with TV channels such as the Sci-Fi Channel in order to target the core audience (this films target audience), showing a documentary with other footage that was not used in the film to create a buzz. This documentary beat all the channel’s audience records. This was followed and emphasized by screenings of the film in colleges across the USA, spreading this national 'buzz'.
• To find its audience, the film’s crew played on the illusion of reality. The directing style led us to believe that the three students really existed and they really created this “documentary”.
• The film's website did not simply promote the film, it supported these rumors of this 'documentary' being real, this lead to an online phenomenon of word-of-mouth speculation about the film, in order for people to get answers about what this film actually was.
• The website of the film experienced audience peaks of up to 3 million connections a day and it registered more than 75million visits. This prepared the film for it's theatrical releases worldwide.
• The first theatrical release was on July the 16th 1999 in 27 theaters across the US.
  Then followed the national release on the whole American territory  in 800 theaters in the second week and 1 100 in the third, with a box office total of $248,639,099 (seen as a huge success for an independent film). 

The Blair Witch Project (1999) Trailer

a 16mm film cameraand an RCA Hi-8 video camera only. All the lighting at night comes from ENGlights on the video camera. All the audio comes from the camcorder'smicrophone or the DAT recorder. - See more at: http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/news/news-articles/behind-blair-witch-project/381616#sthash.yTAoBlH3.dpuf