Blair Witch Project Trailer Analysis

I looked at both the theatrical trailer and the teaser trailer of this film which is a psychological horror film, pieced together from real footage found when three film makers went missing while hiking in the Black Hills, Maryland, US to film a documentary about a local legend, the Blair Witch. I looked at the key concepts of mise en scene, camera shots and angles, sound and editing in the theatrical trailer and just analysed what was actually included in the teaser trailer.

Theatrical Trailer

Camera Shots and Angles

• The entire trailer/movie is shot with a handheld camera, so you could say that they are all point of view shots from what the person filming is experiencing.
• The trailer opens with a mid shot of the girl explaining what is happening, this is also kind of an establishing shot which introduces the storyline.
• Also, close ups are used to help emphasis emotions of the characters which helps to build tension and suspense among the audience.

Mise en Scene

• The characters are wearing normal clothes and to begin with it is filmed in normal environments such as the house and an interview in the cafe, this makes the audience feel comfortable as everything seems to be at ease and normal
• The environment changes to woods and strange things are seen in the scenery which suggests that something strange is going on - they are in an unfamiliar place and this creates a sense of mystery.

Sound

• The sound used is mostly diagetic - whatever is picked up from the camera such as the dialogue and background noise, again, this helps to put the audience at ease to begin with as it is something they are familiar with.
• There is also sounds used to help build up tension for example at the beginning, very bassy sounds are used, which sound very mysterious with very high strings behind. This is usually heard whenever text is used and gets more frequent towards the end of the film.
• No other sound is used which keeps it simple yet mysterious.

Editing

• Editing is kept at a steady pace throughout the trailer which again is simple yet mysterious. But this could also connote the realism of the film.
• The text used in the trailer also helps to create the mysterious atmosphere and build suspense and tension as the audience are left wondering what is going to happen.

Teaser Trailer

• One flash of the production company at the beginning.
• Text used to introduce the story - this is quite important as the dialogue alone would be confusing for viewers - the text along with the dialogue lets the viewer know how something must have gone wrong during the filming
• Atmospheric, quite tense music
• Black screen with voice which seems to be distressed or full of fear, leaves the audience wondering who is speaking and what has happened to make them apologise
• Title of film flashes up with a sound
• Short clip of the girl who's talking, this is a close up and doesn't even show her whole face which also contributes to the build up of tension and mystery
• Then "this halloween" and then the website flashes up. Very simple and mysterious again.