2. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
The Blair witch project is a horror film
which was released October 22nd 1999, the
film was written, directed and edited
by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. The
film had a budget of $60,000 and made
$248.6 million at box office. It was directed
by Robin Cowie and Gregg Hale with the
production company Haxan films
3. POSTERS
The Blair witch project was released 22nd October
1999, there media campaign began as missing
peoples posters for the actors where handed out at
festivals such as Sundance in 1999 asking viewers to
come forward with any information. This created a
sense of realism around the whole movie as no one
new if it was real or not as even the IMDb page for
the movie listed the actors as missing and presumed
dead for the first year after the films release. There
main goal was too create uncertainty around the
movie over whether it was real or not, they didn’t
was people o just watch the film they waned it too
be talked about
As for the traditional
marketing, The poster shows
the protagonist looking
scared and distressed in low
key lighting, this shows the
genre of the movie well
which is horror as it shows
the typical codes and
conventions of horror. Also
he shadows shown across the
face of the actor could
suggest some supernatural
themes within the film. It also
shows a picture of the woods
which is a typical place for
horror films to be set. the
actor on the front is making
direct eye contact with the
audience this creates a
4. Throughout all trailers and posters this sign can be seen
on them all, this is the symbol of the Blair witch which
makes all posters and trailers instantly recognisable as
being from the Blair witch film. Also he dark brown
colour scheme has been used throughout all marketing
to match the woods background used in the film.
The same font has also been used
throughout the whole marketing scheme
for the film. The font almost looks like
sticks which matches the theme of the
movie as it takes place in the wood. The
font also makes all products from the
marketing of the movie instantly
recognisable
Poster
Trailer
Poster
Poster Trailer
Merchandise
Also throughout it all
there is a darkness
element to it which fits
very well into the codes
and conventions of the
horror genre, this helps
out the audience as they
can clearly see that it is a
horror movie. Also the
woods which is a theme
throughout the
campaign is within the
codes and conventions
of a horror movie which
also is an indication to
the genre for the
audience.
5. WEBSITE
The filmmakers used viral markeing and created
a fake website that made the film look like I was
an actual documentary. The movie was thought
to be the first widely released movie marketed
primarily by the internet The website brought in
more than 20 million page views before it even
came into the cinema. The film makers also drip
fed information on he ‘legend’ of Blair witch
into internet forums that were dedicated to the
legend of Blair Witch. The website made people
want to return week after week because the
marketing team publish things like interviews
with family member or publish one of heathers
diary pages to keep people coming back to the
website. The website was very simple so it could
look like students did actually put it together
http://www.blairwitch.com
6. TIMELINE
June 1998
The Blair
witch
website was
created
January 1999
the movie was
featured at
Sundance film
festival
1999
Trailer was
released
January 1999
Missing
person
posters
handed out
for actors
July 1999
Team
decided to
make the
website their
main
platform
22nd
October
1999
Movie
released
After opening
weekend, the
marketing
team took out
a full page ad
in Variety
Magazine
7. Response
Overall The Blair Witch Project received mostly positive reviews from critics
and people stating it was a milestone in film history due to its critical and
box office success , with rolling stone calling it “a ground break in freight
that reinvents scary for the new millennium” and getting 87% on rotten
tomato's.
Sequels
A sequel titled Book of shadows was released October 27th 2000 but it was
not received well by critics a third was also announced that year but it did
not materialise. On July 22nd 2016 a surprise trailer for Blair witch was
revealed at San Diego comic con, this was also not well received as it didn’t
acknowledge the second Blair witch, book of shadows.
8. CHAT ROOMS
In 1999 the internet was still fairly new and people
use chat rooms a lot. The marketing people for
The Blair Witch Project used this to their advantage
by asking question about the movie to start
conversations about it and redirecting people to
their website. Within the chat rooms they also
shared the missing people posters for the actors.
The directors also manipulated the IMDb records
so that the acotrs within the movie came up
missing and presumed dead which made the
audience question if the film was actually real or
not. This caused rumors to be spread and got the
movie free promotion.
9. TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=UzrOjposiMY
The trailer for the Blair Witch Project was officially released in 1999, the
trailer emphasized the found footage style to the movie by making it
look very low budget and homemade. The whole movie did only have a
small budget of around $25,000 but the movie went on to earn almost
10 times that amount making $250 million. The the Blair witch project is
a 15 according to the bbfc as it contains bad language throughout the
movie and threats implying superntural occurrences and graphic scenes.
But all of the trailers for Blair witch are 12 except for one which is PG but
it is only 15 seconds long.
10. The first trailer released was only 42 seconds long and it was to get people
excited for the release of the longer trailer and the movie itself.
The trailer starts of with
some information on
the screen, to give some
background information
on what the story is
about and the history if
Blair witch.
This text is then added to
the bottom of the
information, it is added
after add the emphasis on
the fact that this is found
footage and they want
people to think that this
actually happened.
The background then
moves to the woods
which is a typical place
for horror movies to
be set so this gives the
audience an indication
to the genre.
The trailer then ends
with there website
which people will
then want to go to
and become more
invested in the
movie.
11. The longer trailer that was then released was longer than the initial trailer
and started out in the same was but had more added into the end.
A black screen is then used as the
background for about 15 seconds,
this is effective a the audience is
waiting for a jump scare which is a
very typical for the codes and
conventions of horror films. So the
longer the black screen is use it is
building the tension and atmosphere.
A loud piecing background noise is
also increasing in volume as the time
goes on
The trailer then jumps
to a the glowing title of
the movie looking very
supernatural lie with a
voodoo doll beneath it
setting the scary scene
for the movie and what
it could possibly be
about.
The camera then goes to an
extreme close up of one of the
characters crying showing the
distress and emotion that she
is feeling. This also fits with
the found footage style of the
movie as the shot isn't set up
professionally, only the top
half of her head is in and it is
very shaky. Also as she is
whispering you can tell she is
in danger and feeling very
vulnerable.
The website then pops
up over some very
disturbing noises
setting the scene for
this horror movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWO3XP4zavk
12. MERCHANDISE
The movie also had merchandise that
came out after the movies release in the
form of t-shirts which had the wooden
doll on and the poster, they also released
the wooden doll.
13. COMICS
Before the release of the movie in July 1999 a
one shot comic promoting the film was
released with Oni Press, a four-issue miniseries
titled The Blair Witch Chronicles was then
released after the movies release in 22nd
October 1999 each issue offered short stories
inspired by Blair Witch, including adaptations
of the stories central to the mythology. The
comic was written and illustrated by Cece
Malvey
14. SOCIAL MEDIA
Although the movie was made in 1999 before
Facebook and Instagram was even a thing the
movie does have two official Instagram and
Facebook pages, this could be due to the
sequels of the movie also coming out later
when social media was around. On there
Facebook page they are posting clips and
videos from the movie for their 20th anniversary.
Their Instagram post general clips from the
movie and behind the scenes footage that has
not been seen, they have also posted interviews
with the cast members of all of the movies from
the original and the sequels.
