HB: Technical analysis - The Blair Witch Project (Myrick & Sanchez 1999)

http://www.mojvideo.com/video-the-blair-witch-project-part-1/a7b4b8606ecf30cea4c2

• For my technical analysis I looked at the opening to The Blair Witch Project, this is a paranormal film so fits in with what my group want to make for our opening. 
• This has been a helpful film to look at as it follows the idea of 'found footage' so is made entirely on handicam.
• As we won't have a big budget for our opening this is helpful to get ideas from.

• From this analysis I can learn that the character who is featured most is the female protagonist as she has the most dialogue, giving her prevalence. This is something we will need to consider in our film when deciding which character we want the audience to relate to the most.
• The clip had quite a slow cutting rate, the shots were commonly over 10 seconds, however, this made sense due to the films documentary/found footage style. 
• The cutting rates had some points of increase though these weren't so much used for building tension as they were to show setting montages which is still useful and effective. I think in our film opening it will be beneficial to experiment using different cutting rates as some will be more appropriate for different points.
• The camera was often shaky since the whole thing was handicam, however, this added to the found footage effect. This also worked as the whole film was handicam, one of the issues with our Wilderness Woods shoot was that we changed from using a tripod to handicam in random places which looked unprofessional so we need to be sure to stick to one or the other unless we show a clear reason for change.
• There was also use of fade to black transitions during the title sequence at the very start of the clip. We have tried using this particular transition previously and it was effective, however, we overused it slightly so if we decide to use it again we will need to be sure to do so appropriately. 

• There is significant framing used in the wide shots which follow the rule of thirds:

• This is something we will need to consider as I think the composition in these stills are very effective. 
• The images above show black and white colour grading that was done to the film; my group have discussed the idea of doing this in our opening also as it is seen in many other horror films e.g. Pyscho. This is an effect that works well in the paranormal sub-genre as there is less blood and gore in them, meaning the black and white gives it a darker feel instead.