DOCSLIB.ORG

The Blair Witch Project: Forming Strong Attitudes, Beliefs and Consumer Intentions from a Myth”

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

This may be the author’s version of a work that was submitted/accepted for publication in the following source: Rugimbana, Robert & Silver, Jon (2006) The Blair Witch Project : Forming strong attitudes, beliefs and consumer intentions from a myth. Consumer Behaviour: An Asia-Pacific Approach., 2006. [Article] This file was downloaded from: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/41193/ c Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning Australia Pty Ltd This work is covered by copyright. Unless the document is being made available under a Creative Commons Licence, you must assume that re-use is limited to personal use and that permission from the copyright owner must be obtained for all other uses. If the docu- ment is available under a Creative Commons License (or other specified license) then refer to the Licence for details of permitted re-use. It is a condition of access that users recog- nise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. If you believe that this work infringes copyright please provide details by email to [email protected] Notice: Please note that this document may not be the Version of Record (i.e. published version) of the work. Author manuscript versions (as Sub- mitted for peer review or as Accepted for publication after peer review) can be identified by an absence of publisher branding and/or typeset appear- ance. If there is any doubt, please refer to the published source. “The Blair Witch Project: Forming strong attitudes, beliefs and consumer intentions from a myth”. A MARKETING CASE STUDY Robert Rugimbana and Jon Silver Published in: Blackwell, Roger; D’Souza, Claire; Taghian, Mehdi; Miniard, Paul & Engel, James (2006) Consumer Behaviour: An Asia-Pacific Approach. First edition. Cengage Learning. South Melbourne pp. 295-296. Introduction The Blair Witch Project was one of the great movie success stories. The movie was supposedly pieced together from the video shot by three student filmmakers who had gone missing in a forest while hunting a mythical witch. (1) The movie, a low-budget horror presented as a documentary, was actually made in 1998 by Haxan Films – basically, a group of unknown film-school graduates from the University of Central Florida. The producers cast three other college friends to play the lead roles. Film distributor Artisan Entertainment acquired The Blair Witch Project for US $1.1 million after a midnight screening at the Sundance Film Festival. Released nationally in the U.S.A. on 16 July 1999, The Blair Witch Project became a box office smash hit and achieved instant cult film status. After a record-breaking opening weekend, grossing U.S. $1.5 million on just 27 screens, it had grossed over U.S. $135 million after sixty days of release. (2) The impact of The Blair Witch Project is utterly unprecedented. Never has a – let’s be honest – weird movie budgeted at a ludicrously low $35,000 stormed both the box- office and the national pop consciousness. (3) And the marketers at Artisan Entertainment, who built the fervent want-to-see for the film through cunning use of the Internet, have been credited with revolutionising the way films are sold. ‘The Blair Witch Project was the must-attend social event for a plugged-in America. (4) Where the average studio film today costs at least US $25 million to market, The Blair Witch Project is an example of how marketers can utilize a good story, clever positioning and publicity to bring out basic attitudinal processes such as imaginative beliefs, and emotive powers to generate strong positive behavioral intentions. According to movie-makers, this kind of strategy can rival any studio marketing juggernaut. (5) Movie marketing and The Blair Witch Project Marketing movies in Hollywood has always been highly competitive. The motion picture industry now faces more competition for the entertainment dollar than ever before. The home entertainment boom was facilitated by the introduction of video in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In response, cinema chains worldwide embarked upon a massive program of building multiplex cinemas that continues to this day. (6) Today consumers have more choices on more screens in exciting environments, (7) and the industry has never looked healthier. The marketplace is so crowded nowadays that a good movie with weak marketing will undoubtedly fail, and according to experts, a poor with great marketing will succeed. (8) Clearly, it is how product is presented and what consumer influences are applied that will make a movie successful. The marketing of The Blair Witch Project began in August 1997 when the Haxan producers managed to get exposure on U.S. cable television in John Pierson’s Split Screen movie show. It devoted a segment, which included an eight-minute short by the filmmakers and a mock history of the ‘Blair Witch’. Haxan then used the money it received from Split Screen to finance the trip to Maryland for eight days of filming in June 1998. (9) The producers used ‘method filmmaking’ based on army survival tactics to extract realistic performances from the cast who were sent into the woods armed with hand- held cameras and instructions to be at certain places at appointed times. The filmmakers avoided direct contact with the cast – harassed and disoriented the actors, depriving them of sleep, and near the end, even food. The film’s hyperrealism helps moviegoers to suspend their disbelief long enough to be scared witless. (10) According to movie critics, to say that The Blair Witch Project is a convincing experience is only scratching the surface. The fact is audiences were made to believe it by the following facts. First, vision was limited and the actors were, in reality, alone in the dark. Secondly, it didn’t even seem to be a movie but rather somebody’s home footage that had gone terribly, sickeningly beserk and hence it might be the scariest movie ever made. (11) The movie has no sex or even sexual tension and no music of any kind. There is no prowling, voyeuristic camera from the killer’s point-of-view; this movie is about victims and the victims they make of each other. There are no cuts to the monster. In fact, there is no visible monster! The audience sees only what the camera sees. At night it is sometimes pitch black. The audience is essentially left to its own imagination. (12) Even before a script was penned, producer Eduardo Sanchez developed a website about the fictitious ‘Blair Witch’ to show his friends and showcase the project to potential investors. (13) According to Sanchez, the biggest part of the suspense or buzz, was that ‘we wouldn’t let anyone see it’. Kevin Foxe, the movie’s executive producer said: ‘That frustrated the press. People were calling me from the LA Times and Entertainment Weekly saying they’d spent four hours on the site, begging me for an advance screening. I’d just tell them ‘you’ll have to wait for Sundance’. (14) Artisan began planning the campaign at Sundance as soon as they had bought the distribution rights. They also knew that a low-budget film with no big-name stars and no special effects would need to employ an innovative marketing strategy to turn it into a commercial success. Artisan deliberately targeted the youth segment as the primary audience for the movie. This is arguably the most regular movie-going target group. (15) Industry research shows that the primary audience for the horror genre is in the 12-24 age-range. Teenagers are the main factor in the success or failure of horror films with the early 20s crowds having a lesser influence. In recent years there has been a skew towards young females in horror movies. Examples of this include Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Blair Witch itself. (16) The bottom line was that Artisan, a small independent distribution company, had limited financial capacity. It knew it could not hope to compete with the major studios in terms of the size of the marketing budget needed to attract this target audience. It therefore had to out-think the competition. Acknowledgement. This case is a revised draft of an earlier unpublished paper by Jon Silver. Questions 1. What were the core strategies employed to market The Blair Witch Project? 2. Can attitude theory adequately explain why Blair Witch instantly became a cult movie and a must-see event? 3. Is the success of Blair Witch really likely to ‘revolutionise’ the way Hollywood markets its movies? Discuss. REFERENCES 1. Associated Press (1999) ‘Blair Witch’ bodes well for independent film” at Salon.com – August 3,1999 http://www.salon.com/ent/wire/1999/08/03/blair_indie/index.html August 6,1999 09.16 pm 2. The-Numbers – Box Office Data www.the-numbers.com/movies/1999/BLAIR.html 3. Corliss, Richard (1999) “‘Blair Witch’ Craft” Time Magazine August 16,1999 pp 56-62 4. Ibid. 5. Carvell, Tim (1999) “How the ‘Blair Witch’ Project built up so much buzz” Fortune Vol 40 Issue 4 New York August 16,1999 start pp 32 6. Poulter, Adam (1998) “How Cinema set a new record in media spend”. Marketing Week. Vol. 21 Issue 23 August 6th, 1998 p. 14 7. Wasko, Janet (2003) “How Hollywood Works”. SAGE Publications. London. 8. Ibid. 9. Boyar, Joy (1999) “Bewitching cinema” Orlando Sentinel On-Line June 4,1999 06.33 pm EST http://www.orlandosentinel.com/calendar/060699_boyar06_51.htm 10. Ibid. 11. Atkinson, Michael (1999) “The Blair Witch Project” Mr Showbiz Movie Review http://mrshowbiz.go.com/reviews/moviereviews/movies/TheBlairWitchProject_1999.html Sept 23,1999 01.03 pm 12. Corliss op.
Recommended publications
  • The Invisible Monstrous-Feminine

    The Invisible Monstrous-Feminine

    THE INVISIBLE MONSTROUS-FEMININE: THE BLAIR WITCH AND HER HETEROTOPIC WOODS Nb A thesis submitted to the faculty of 30 San Francisco State University Z0\S In partial fulfillment of F im the requirements for * the Degree Master of Arts In Cinema by Erez Genish San Francisco, California May 2015 Copyright by Erez Genish 2015 CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL I certify that I have read The Invisible Monstrous-Feminine: The Blair Witch and her Heterotopic Woods by Erez Genish, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Master of Arts in Cinema at San Francisco State University. THE INVISIBLE MONSTROUS-FEMININE: THE BLAIR WITCH AND HER HETEROTOPIC WOODS Erez Genish San Francisco, California 2015 What is absent in the pseudo found-footage film of Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick’s The Blair Witch Project (1999), is the visual depiction of the Blair witch. The nontraditional tactic of leaving the witch in the woods without form stands in contrast to other folklore and fairytales that perpetuated the mythic figure of the crone, an old woman whose decaying body represents the blurred line between life and death. The crone- witch corresponds to Barbara Creed’s notion of the monstrous-feminine and her analysis of Julia Kristeva’s abject. As her polluted, filthy old mark her a phobic referent, the crone-witch becomes the non-object that draws the subject to the regenerative womb. However, what draws a parallel in the BWP between the monstrous-feminine crone and abjection is the witch’s invisibility.
  • Fandom, Intermediality, and the Blair Witch Project

    Fandom, Intermediality, and the Blair Witch Project

    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Sacred Heart University: DigitalCommons@SHU Sacred Heart University DigitalCommons@SHU School of Communication and Media Arts Faculty Communication and Media Arts (SCMA) Publications 2004 The olitP ical Economy of the Indie Blockbuster: Fandom, Intermediality, and The lB air Witch Project James Castonguay Sacred Heart University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/media_fac Part of the American Film Studies Commons, and the Film and Media Studies Commons Recommended Citation Castonguay, James. “The oP litical Economy of the Indie Blockbuster: Fandom, Intermediality, and The lB air Witch Project.” Nothing That Is: Millennial Cinema and the Blair Witch Controversies, Ed. Sarah L. Higley and Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2004. Print. This Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the Communication and Media Arts (SCMA) at DigitalCommons@SHU. It has been accepted for inclusion in School of Communication and Media Arts Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@SHU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CHAPTER 3 The Political Economy of the Indie Blockbuster Fandom, Intermediality, and The Blair Witch Project James Castonguay Within the context of the postmodern excesses of fin de siecle media culture, the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project stood out, due in large part to the sheer scale and intensity of its media pres­ ence. Indeed, the cultural production of what J. P. Telotte calls "The Blair Witch Project Project" [see his essay, reprinted in this volume) provides media scholars and cultural critics with a rich case study for addressing important theoretical issues within the field of film and media studies—for example, authorship, realism, intermediality,1 genre, art vs.
  • Found-Footage Horror and the Frame's Undoing

    Found-Footage Horror and the Frame's Undoing

    Found-Footage Horror and the Frame’s Undoing by CECILIA SAYAD Abstract: This article fi nds in the found-footage horror cycle an alternative way of under- standing the relationship between horror fi lms and reality, which is usually discussed in terms of allegory. I propose the investigation of framing, considered both fi guratively (framing the fi lm as documentary) and stylistically (the framing in handheld cameras and in static long takes), as a device that playfully destabilizes the separation between the fi lm and the surrounding world. The article’s main case study is the Paranormal Activity franchise, but examples are drawn from a variety of fi lms. urprised by her boyfriend’s excitement about the strange phenomena registered with his HDV camera, Katie (Katie Featherston), the protagonist of Paranormal Activity (Oren Peli, 2007), asks, “Are you not scared?” “It’s a little bizarre,” he replies. “But we’re having it documented, it’s going to be fi ne, OK?” S This reassuring statement implies that the fi lm image may normalize the events that make up the fabric of Paranormal Activity. It is as if by recording the slamming doors, fl oating sheets, and passing shadows that take place while they sleep, Micah and Katie could tame the demon that follows the female lead wherever she goes. Indeed, the fi lm repeatedly shows us the two characters trying to make sense of the images they capture, watching them on a computer screen and using technology that translates the recorded sounds they cannot hear into waves they can visualize.
  • An Animated Examination of Horror in Cinema

    An Animated Examination of Horror in Cinema

    An Animated Examination of Cinematic Horror Elisa Stanis Spring 2019 Thesis submitted in completion of Honors Senior Capstone requirements for the DePaul University Honors Program Thesis Director: Devin Bell, Animation Faculty Reader: Brian Ferguson, Animation S t a n i s | 2 “The night is dark and full of terrors” - George R. R. Martin "What are common tropes in horror movies, and how have they evolved over time?" By researching the history of horror-related storytelling in cinema, I designed an animated short that pays homage to cinematic horror. My research explores the evolution of horror-related movies and alters the aesthetics of animation to fit differing visual themes. I delve into the details of designing a character that can be altered to exist in these conjoining sections, as well as how to best cinematically tell my story. Additionally, I specifically examine the role of young women in horror movies, as well as the idea of turning mundane actions into terrifying experiences. S t a n i s | 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ________________________________________________________________________ 02 Acknowledgements ____________________________________________________________ 04 Introduction ____________________________________________________________________ 05 Concept to Creation ____________________________________________________________ 06 Designing a Protagonist _______________________________________________________ 08 Thematic Content: Structured by Segment: Traditional Horror (1960s) __________________________________________
  • Supernatural Folklore in the Blair Witch Films: New Project, New Proof

    Supernatural Folklore in the Blair Witch Films: New Project, New Proof

    129 Supernatural Folklore in the Blair Witch Films: New Project, New Proof Peter Turner (Oxford Brookes University) Found footage horror films can be significant examples of folk horror, juxtaposing modern technology with its capture of ancient monsters of folklore. These films frequently combine contemporary anxieties over digital technology (Blake and Aldana Reyes 2016) with more archaic fears such as witches, trolls and demons. Both The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, 1999) and its second sequel Blair Witch (Adam Wingard, 2016) dramatise the search for proof of supernatural occurrences. Adam Scovell notes that the narrative of The Blair Witch Project ‘is quintessential Folk Horror through its use of rurality’. The film ‘basks in its rural/urban divide, where the naive students have completely underestimated both the landscape and the power of its folklore’ (2017: 117). The characters in these films are at once sceptical of the existence of a historical witch haunting the area and yet also open-minded enough to take their modern camera technology and try to capture evidence of a supernatural phenomenon—one rooted in the local folklore of Maryland’s woods. Developments in camera technology in the years between the production of The Blair Witch Project and Blair Witch complicate the capturing of proof, and I argue that this leads to different responses from viewers of the two films. While The Blair Witch Project and Blair Witch share many similarities in their representation of proof, there are notable differences regarding the diegetic technology that the characters have at their disposal. After exploring how an impression of authenticity is created in both films through a modern digital camera aesthetics that has substantively changed in the seventeen years between the release of these two films, I then examine how the folklore established in The Blair Witch Project is developed in the distinctive aesthetics of the 2016 sequel.
  • Why Found Footage Horror Films Matter : Introduction

    Why Found Footage Horror Films Matter : Introduction

    Why Found Footage Horror Films Matter : Introduction Peter Turner, Oxford Brookes University The cinematic image of a young woman staring into the camera – crying, hyperventilating, and talking directly to her audience – has become the definitive image of The Blair Witch Project (Myrick and Sanchez, 1999). It is arguably the most famous scene, and certainly the most parodied image of found footage horror cinema in general, perhaps even one of the defining images of cinema in the 1990s. This character, Heather Donahue, is played by a hitherto unknown actress called Heather Donahue, in her feature debut. From what we see on screen, and the manner in which her monologue is delivered, it can be inferred that she is not reciting scripted lines. She does not seem to be acting; her fear appears genuine. Heather is alone in a dark tent, shooting this footage herself with a handheld camera. The shot did not look like most other horror films that had been previously shown in cinemas; it is poorly framed, poorly lit, and the character knows and acknowledges that she is on camera. There had been previous films in this style: Cannibal Holocaust (Deodato, 1980) contains the use of ‘found footage’ within its narrative structure, and Man Bites Dog (Belvaux, Bonzel and Poelvoorde, 1992) is a mock-documentary that purports to be completely filmed by a diegetic film crew. However, neither of these films had the cultural impact or box office success of The Blair Witch Project, a film that eventually spawned numerous imitators, and arguably the entire found footage horror sub- genre that now consists of hundreds of films.1 There is a straightforward economic reason why filmmakers continue to produce found footage horror films.
  • An Investigation of Priming, Self-Consciousness, and Allegiance in the Diegetic Camera Horror Film

    An Investigation of Priming, Self-Consciousness, and Allegiance in the Diegetic Camera Horror Film

    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Oxford Brookes University: RADAR An investigation of priming, self-consciousness, and allegiance in the diegetic camera horror film by Peter Turner A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the award of Doctor of Philosophy by Oxford Brookes University Submitted June 2017 Statement of originality Some of the discussion of The Blair Witch Project throughout this thesis has formed the basis for a book, Devil’s Advocates: The Blair Witch Project (Auteur, 2014). Some of the discussion of priming in chapter four was also used in a conference paper, Behind the Camera: Priming the Spectator of Found Footage Horror, delivered at The Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image in 2015. Sections on personal imagining also formed the basis of a conference paper, Personal Imagining and the Point-of-View Shot in Diegetic Camera Horror Films, delivered at The Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image in 2017. Finally, significant amounts of Chapter 3 and Chapter 5 will be featured in two chapters of an upcoming edited collection on found footage horror films with the working title [Rec] Terror: Essays on Found Footage Horror Films. i Abstract The main research question underpinning this study asks why and how the diegetic camera technique has become so popular to both contemporary horror filmmakers and audiences. In order to answer this question, this thesis adopts a mainly cognitive theoretical framework in order to address the mental schemata and processes that are elicited and triggered by these films.
  • Searching for District 9 in the Archives: an Archaeology of a Film Transmedia Campaign

    Searching for District 9 in the Archives: an Archaeology of a Film Transmedia Campaign

    Searching for District 9 in the archives: An archaeology of a film transmedia campaign Introduction It used to be that once posters, programmes and publicity materials had served their purpose promoting the theatrical release of forthcoming films, the job was done and they were discarded as detritus. If they did survive, a few might find their way into the hands of collectors and circulate through a network of dealers, auctions, shops and web sites. Some universities and museums have recognised the value of these artefacts. Organisations like The Bill Douglas Museum at the University of Exeter, the Special Collection at the British Film Institute and the National Media Museum here in Bradford, with its collection of motion picture marketing including posters from the turn of the century, have championed their preservation. But, aside from this, for the most part film promotion and publicity continue to be regarded as ephemera. With the advent of digitization, the role of such ephemera began to change. Before the digital era, a film’s marketing campaign would typically consist of trailers, posters and press releases and last about six weeks, but in 1999 a low budget American independent film named The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez1999) altered everything. The film is about a group of film students who decide to make a documentary about the legendary ‘Blair witch’ in Burkittsville, Maryland. They set off on a trek through the woods and one by one they disappear until all that is left is the footage they filmed on the journey which in its turn becomes the Blair Witch Project film.
  • Horror Rhetoric in Fiction and Film

    Horror Rhetoric in Fiction and Film

    California State University, San Bernardino CSUSB ScholarWorks Theses Digitization Project John M. Pfau Library 2004 Causes of unease: Horror rhetoric in fiction and film Benjamin Kane Ethridge Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project Part of the Rhetoric Commons Recommended Citation Ethridge, Benjamin Kane, "Causes of unease: Horror rhetoric in fiction and film" (2004). Theses Digitization Project. 2766. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2766 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the John M. Pfau Library at CSUSB ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses Digitization Project by an authorized administrator of CSUSB ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CAUSES OF UNEASE: HORROR RHETORIC IN FICTION AND FILM A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, San Bernardino In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in English Composition: English Literature by Benjamin Kane Ethridge December 2004 CAUSES OF UNEASE: HORROR RHETORIC IN FICTION AND FILM A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, San Bernardino by Benjamin Kane Ethridge December 2004 Approved by: Bruce Golden, Chair, English Dcfte © 2004 Benjamin Kane Ethridge ABSTRACT How do 'artists scare us? Horror Filmmakers and novelists alike can accomplish fear, revulsion, and disturbance in their respective audience. The rhetorical and stylistic strategies employed to evoke these feelings are unique to the gen're. Divulging these strategies will be the major focus of this thesis, yet there will also be discussion on the social and cultural background of the Horror genre.
  • Hollywood Online: Movie Marketing Practices in the Dial�Up and Broadband�Eras of the Internet

    Hollywood Online: Movie Marketing Practices in the DialUp and BroadbandEras of the Internet

    1 Hollywood Online: Movie Marketing Practices in the Dial-Up and Broadband-Eras of the Internet 1994-2009 Ian London A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Film Studies in the Department of Media Arts of Royal Holloway, University of London June 2012 2 Statement of Original Authorship This thesis is a presentation of my original research work. To the best of my knowledge the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference to literature and acknowledgement of private discussions with industry members is made. This work was produced with the supervision of Dr. Barry Langford at the Royal Holloway University of London. The thesis has not been submitted for another degree at this institution or elsewhere. Signed: ………………………………………………………………… Date:……………………………………………………………………. 3 Acknowledgements I wish to thank my supervisor Barry Langford for his tremendous support and guidance over the years. I have at times relied on his extensive knowledge of the Hollywood film industry to give me focus and to keep moving the project forwards – without his patience, compassion and motivation I could not have finished the thesis. I thank John Ellis for his direction in his role of supporting supervisor. I also offer appreciation for the feedback and assistance of Finola Kerrigan and Paul Grainge. In particular, I would like to thank Paul McDonald for his kind words of advice which have stayed with me in recent years. Naturally, I also owe a debt of gratitude to a range of artists and executive personnel across the film, internet and design industries.
  • The Blair Witch Project

    The Blair Witch Project

    «“√ “√«‘™“°“√ ¡À“«‘∑¬“≈—¬ÀÕ°“√§â“‰∑¬ Breaking with Convention:ªï∑’Ë 28 Narrative©∫—∫∑’Ë 1Structure ‡¥◊Õπ¡°√“§¡ and Mechanisms - ¡’π“§¡ of2551 Suspense in The Blair Witch Project reaking with Convention: Narrative Structure B and Mechanisms of Suspense in The Blair Witch Project °“√‰¡à‡ªìπ‰ªμ“¡¢π∫: ‚§√ß √â“߇√◊ËÕ߇≈à“·≈– °≈‰°°“√ √â“ߧ«“¡√–∑÷°„® „π¿“æ¬πμ√å ‡√◊ËÕß ç‚§√ß°“√·¡à¡¥·∫≈√åé . Alexander J. Klemm . Full-time Instructor . Department of English, School of Humanities . The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce . Email: [email protected] ∫∑§—¥¬àÕ ‚§√ß √â“߇√◊ËÕ߇≈à“¢Õß¿“æ¬πμ√å ‡√◊ËÕß ç‚§√ß°“√·¡à¡¥·∫≈√åé (‚¥¬ Daniel Myrick ·≈– Eduardo Sanchezz, À√—∞Õ‡¡√‘°“, 1999) ‰¡à‡ªìπ‰ªμ“¡®“√’μÀ≈—°¢Õß‚§√ß √â“ß¿“æ¬πμ√å ¬Õߢ«—≠À√◊Õ ¶“μ°√√¡≈°≈÷ ∫™— ππ”∑—È «‰ª—Ë °“√ √“ߧ«“¡√–∑â °„®∑÷ ‡¢’Ë ¡¢â πâ ‚¥¬‰¡¡à ¿“æ ’ μ«— ª√–À≈“¥ª√“°Ø„Àå ‡Àâ πÁ ‡ªìπ°≈«‘∏’∑’ˉ¡à‡§¬¡’„§√„™â¡“°àÕπ ∫∑§«“¡‡√◊ËÕßπ’È¡’«—μ∂ÿª√– ߧå∑’Ë®–«‘‡§√“–Àå°≈‰°°“√ √â“ߧ«“¡ √–∑÷°„® ‡æ◊ËÕ„Àâ‡ÀÁπ√–∫∫°“√‡√’¬ß√âÕ¬‡√Ë◊Õß√“«·≈–°“√ √â“ߧ«“¡§“¥À¡“¬„À⇰‘¥¢÷Èπ°—∫ºŸâ™¡ ∫∑§«“¡π’È𔇠πÕ°“√‡√’¬ß≈”¥—∫‡Àμÿ°“√≥å„π¿“æ¬πμ√å ≈—°…≥– ”§—≠·≈–°“√‡º¬μ—« —μ«å ª√–À≈“¥∑’ˉ¡àª√“°Ø√Ÿª≈—°…≥åÕ¬à“ß™—¥‡®π √«¡∂÷ߧ«“¡√Ÿâ ÷°√à«¡√–À«à“ßμ—«≈–§√‡Õ°°—∫ºŸâ™¡ §” ”§—≠: ‚§√ß √â“߇√◊ËÕ߇≈à“ §«“¡√–∑÷°„® §«“¡ ¬Õߢ«—≠ —μ«åª√–À≈“¥ ·¡à¡¥ 256 «“√ “√«‘™“°“√ ¡À“«‘∑¬“≈—¬ÀÕ°“√§â“‰∑¬ ªï∑’Ë 28 ©∫—∫∑’Ë 1 ‡¥◊Õπ¡°√“§¡ - ¡’π“§¡ 2551 Alexander J. Klemm Abstract The narrative structure of The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, USA, 1999) breaks with the dominant traditions of the classical horror film and mystery thriller by implementing an original form of suspense intensified by an unconventional non-manifestation of the monster.
  • Perverse Pleasures: Spectatorship the Blair Witch Project

    Perverse Pleasures: Spectatorship the Blair Witch Project

    1 PERVERSE PLEASURES: SPECTATORSHIP THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT Tamiko Southcott Hayter A Research Report submitted to the Faculty of Humanity, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts. Johannesburg, 2005 2 By drawing on contemporary scholarship that addresses spectatorship in the cinema generally, and in the horror genre specifically, I analyze the perverse pleasure afforded by The Blair Witch Project. To do this I argue that pleasure in horror is afforded through the masochistic positioning of the viewer, especially in relation to psychoanalytic theories surrounding gender in spectator positioning. I also look at the way the film re-deploys conventions, both documentary conceptions of the ‘real’, as well as generic expectations of horror, to activate the perverse pleasure of horror. The Blair Witch Project Spectatorship Psychoanalytic Film Theory Horror Film Conventions Gender Abjection Monstrous Feminine Masochism 3 Declaration I declare that this research essay is my own unaided work. It is submitted for the degree of Masters of Arts in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before for any other degree or examination in any other university. ___________________________ Tamiko Hayter _________ day of ______________ 2005. 4 To Mom & Dad, thank you for being there for me not only during the completion of my degree, but throughout my life. Your love and support will continue to help and sustain me throughout my life, and with it I know my dreams will always become reality. 5 Acknowledgements My sincere thanks go to the University of the Witwatersrand for the financial aid given toward the completion of this degree, and especially the Wits School of the Arts for the invaluable teaching experience.