ON THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

“I see why you like this video camera so much -
It’s not quite reality.
It’s like a totally filtered reality.
It’s like you can pretend everything’s not quite the way it is.” - Josh, to Heather.

In 1999 The Blair Witch Project was released, leaving an indelible mark on the cultural landscape.

The age-old fairy tale – of children getting lost in the woods – was reimagined for the MTV generation.

The story began outside of the movie, in an alternate reality constructed to promote the idea that the film was a truthful document. That three film students really did go missing in the Maryland woods. The internet, still in its dial-up phase, was crucial in spreading this idea. The team built a dedicated website outlining the evidence behind the Blair Witch myth, promoted discussion on online forums, circulated a faux behind-the-scenes documentary and listed the actors as ‘Missing – presumed dead’ on their IMDB pages.

The 'MISSING' flyer used as the basis of this print was photo-copied and put up around college campuses and outside cinemas screening the film.

Word of mouth soon took the story beyond the realm of the internet and into the public consciousness. The speculation and rumours over whether the young students had actually died turned the film into a piece of suburban folklore, just like the legend of the Blair Witch within the film itself. For example, my first experience of the film was not through watching it, but of hearing its details as recounted to me by my older sister as we walked through the woods as kids. Watching it was a rite of passage, believing in the story was almost beside the point.

The film took big risks due to a limited budget. There was no script, no camera direction, the project was an experiment in a new type of fully improvised acting now known as 'reality television'. Filming with hand-held, inexpensive cameras was a radical move that could have only come from outside the imagination of big-budget studios. But this format gave the footage authenticity, made the film instantly recognizable, and inspired a generation of young filmmakers to make their own home-made homages.

Looking back on The Blair Witch Project, we can see it as a cultural milestone, a warning-post marking the edge of a new age. It foresaw the dark potential of the online world. Where truth and fiction become harder to tell apart, where the map to lead us home has been thrown away, where the sense of being watched and tracked by unknown agents keeps us afraid of our own shadows. Where we each carry a camera to view the world how we want it to seem and are quick to assign our foes as irredeemable witches. My hope is that this print keeps the legacy of the film burning bright.

CLIMBING FOAM

2024