RB - Technical Analysis of 'The Blair Witch Project'

Technical Analysis:

• First of all the 'Artisan Entertainment' logo zooms in.
• it then fades out and another logo fades in
• this second logo fades out and the title of the film appears
• the title fades out and we are shown a brief description about the film
• the description fades away and it cuts to a handycam shot trying to focus on a girl
• there is then a moment where the camera is zooming in and out trying to get her in focus, it eventually stops at a mid shot of the girl. This shows that the footage is supposed to seem like amateur footage.
• this then cuts to some close up handycam footage of someone showing a number of books to the audience, the titles of these books give us an idea of what the film may be about.
• it then cuts to a mid shot of someone getting out of a car, which then cuts to the boot of the car and the man getting out an old fashioned camera.
• it then cuts to the man looking through the camera at the person filming on the handycam.
• we then see the footage through the mans eyes of the other person with the handycam.
• it then cuts to a mid/close up shot of a man laying on the table, talking to the person holding the camera.
• it then cuts to them in the car looking out of the window at another person coming out of thier house, they are picking up this person.

From the opening sequence there isn't much that sets up the films genre, to give us an idea of what it will be like. However the fading titles and the shot of the books gives us a little insight to the film and starts to attract the audiences attention as the handycam shots give an almost first person experience.
There also isn't any sound at all during the titles and brief description, which creates a sense of mystery. The sound in the clips is diagetic sound with no non diagetic sound overlayed, this makes the film seem a lot more realistic, the only sound other than voices is the wind, which creates a spooky idea in the audiences mind as the sound of wind is sometimes used in horror films to create tension.

By doing this technical analysis I have realised how many different shots its takes just to make a 2 minute sequence. I also learnt that handycam footage can be a rather effective and more realistic way of showing a first person or POV shot. The shakeyness of a handycam shot can help emphisise if something is scary, which can also help to hook an audience into watching and enjoying the rest of the film, which is incredibly important in the first few minutes.

(link as embedding was disabled, 'The Blair Witch Project' opening)