The Blair Witch Project

Introduction:

Today, I will share my opinion upon Documentary. The film that I had watched that contain Documentary element is The Blair Witch Project. It was published on 14 July 1999 in United State and 25 January 199 in Sundance. It was directed, edited and written by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez which is both of them is American film director. The film is an American psychological horror film 

Theory Discussion:

A documentary is a type of non-fiction motion picture film; it is used to record a real event. The purpose of a documentary is for education or maintaining a historical event. Documentaries are not scripted before; the misc-en-scene of it looks real and on location. Besides that, documentaries’ filmmakers have to do research about the incident that they prepare to shoot. In documentaries, it does not really show the audience the "truth" of the event, it all just the filmmaker's version of the truth for the incident. The outcome is based on the filmmaker's expectation which is the filmmaking techniques and way of shooting documentaries. Therefore, the truthfulness of the documentaries is questionable because it is based on the version of truth of the filmmakers.

The first documentary film emerged in pre-1900s was dominated by the novelty of showing an event which called "actuality film". The name of a documentary is based on the captured short snippets of a real actual event. Documentary involved the filmmaking techniques, the way the filmmaker film the footage, the angles and other techniques to make the story to be more truthful.

Synopsis:

There are about three film students Heather, Mike and Josh went missing in a forest called Maryland in October 1994. They travelled there to Burkittsville to shoot a documentary about the local legend which is Blair Witch. Before they enter the forest, they went there to film some footage for interviewing the people who live in that town and talking about their experiences and knowledge upon the Blair Witch. In the beginning, everything goes smooth as they planned but their nightmare started when they get into the forest. Eventually, three of them were lost in the forest and only the footage being found.

Film Analysis:

In this film, there are three modes of representation used to create this documentary film. There are interactive, reflexive and performative. First, the interactive mode representation is shown in this film. This mode of representation is a two-way communication between the filmmaker and the audiences. Mean the audiences are sending out their own observation or experiences. The interview is a way to allow the filmmaker to participate in the present incident more actively. For example, the interview scenes in the opening were shown when Heather interviews the public about the Blair Witch in the forest and the filmmaker keeps prompt the interviewee to answer more on the topic. They try to prompt audiences to answer what they want for. There is another example to show the prompting which is the part when interviewing Mary Brown. When Mary Brown answers "Yes, I saw", then Heather asking her what she saw to get more information of Blair Witch. Heather keeps asking the question to proof the existing of Blair Witch.

Furthermore, the second mode of representative is reflexive mode. In the beginning of the film, they purposely record each other and record the other person holding the other camera by standing in front of the mirror to show they are holding the camera. Besides that, they also purposely state the type of camera used for filming this documentary to show to their audiences including other types of equipment used. Other than that, they also mentioned they had prepared enough batteries for the documentary filming and they are using a handheld to hold the camera. Therefore, the shakily of the scene was keep on remind the audiences it was a documentary film and make them feel real.

Lastly, the third mode of representation is Performative mode. This mode of representation is a type of mode where direct reference to the issue which is the mocking to the older incident with other people. It is used to let the audience know more about the rightness of the film. For example, this film is mocking with three film students to find out the truth of the legend of the Blair Witch. All the incident happened in their filming journey is the mocking for the legendary Blair Witch which comes from the mouth of the interviewees to let the audiences believe the truth of Blair Witch inside the Maryland forest.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, this film is such nice documentary films which make the audiences feel it was real footage. All the representatives in this film had successfully enhanced the truthfulness of the film and make audiences feel that the actual existence of the Blair Witch. This film was well directed because the actor's acting skills and their facial expression are very natural; it makes their audiences feel that they are scared and helpless in the forest. Lastly, it was a good example of documentary film.