It’s a film that has been on my watch list for a very long time, and I finally watched it over the last week.
My biggest take away from the film is the creation of mythology around the film, with the lines between fact and fiction getting extremely blurred. So, even though the film makers tell you that this is an act of fiction, many viewers come away believing that is a real story.
The film makers use a very amateurish style of film making to their advantage to build on the aura that has been created by the preceding mythology that had been woven around the film.
Also, the planning of the film in real time, with room left open for continuous improvisation, adds to the impact of the film. In fact one is never sure of where the script ends and improvisation begins.
Finally, The Blair Witch Project works on a unique interaction between cinema and the Internet. The story telling that happens on both mediums continuously interact with each other to transform the ways in which a story can be narrated across time. This for me is the most significant impact of the project.
3 Comments
July 9, 2008 at 10:11 pm
I’ve heard a LOT about this movie (documentary/docudrama?!) but never could bring myself to watch it. Would you recommend this movie?
July 10, 2008 at 12:40 am
this one’s on my list too!
btw, i HATE it when u don’t blog
keep ‘em fingers on the keyboard hun…always!
July 10, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Well Siri… would recommend Blair Witch to a student of cinema… For the mythology that was built around it…or even from the perspective of a student of cinema or even maybe from the perspective of “psychology”.
But, if you are just sitting down to watch a “scary movie”….this one may not get you.
To explain that a little more, Manoj & I watched it, but he didn’t care too much for the film.