Haxan Films

The company was founded by five graduates of the University of Central Florida Film Program Eduardo Sánchez, Gregg Hale, Daniel Myrick, Robin Cowie and Michael Monello. The company sustained itself by producing television commercials and corporate videos. The Blair Witch Project was the company's first feature film, a horror film in the style of a pseudo-documentary.^[1]

Sánchez and Myrick had the idea to create their own horror film in 1993, while they were still in school. They were discussing what made horror films scary, and why there had not been any particularly scary horror film in a long time. They discussed films that scared them in their childhood, such as Chariots of the Gods (1970) and The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972). And also recalled how scary the television show In Search of... (1977-1982) was.^[1]

Sánchez concluded that what scared him in the case of films about unidentified flying objects (UFO), was the possibility that UFOs were real. He similarly found that films such as The Exorcist (1973) and The Shining (1980) were terrifying, because they played on psychological fears. He and Myrick felt that they could similarly play on their audience's psychological fears, while working with a minuscule budget.^[1]

They came up with the idea of a pseudo-documentary horror film. because they found that "cheesy" documentaries about Bigfoot were scarier than regular motion pictures. Because their documentary-style suggested that they were based on reality. They wanted their audience to feel like experiencing whatever was happening to their film's characters. And that reality would be inescapable.^[1]

Their first film aimed for a sense of realism, while carefully avoiding sensationalism. The "traditional shortcomings of low-budget films" were used as one of the film's strengths, because they added to this sense of realism. They filmed events from a first-person perspective, using a Hi-8 video camera.^[1]

Sánchez and Myrick were the film's screenwriters, but actually only wrote a plot outline. They had no shooting script, and left the details of interpretation up to their actors. They created an environment for their actors, and then "let them act within those constraints."^[1]

The co-directors' original plan was to film a black-and-white 16 mm film, because they felt that the graininess of the format would feel scarier than regular video. It was producer Gregg Hale who suggested using video instead, "strictly as a financial consideration". The co-directors liked the look of the film format, but came to realize that their main character Heather could reasonably own her own Hi-8 video camera. They embraced the idea, and the use of video did not add to the film's cost. Myrick commented that "video is cheap".^[1]

The co-directors also changed their ideas on the film's narrative structure. They originally planned to film ten short scenes with the main characters, and then add "a documentary phase of the film" where the original footage would be examined. A closer examination would reveal figures standing in the background, and other creepy details. But instead of the ten planned scenes, they had 18 hours of footage and a good narrative structure within them. The scenes involving examination of the footage were shot, but were not used. The directors felt that these scenes detracted from the narrative instead of enhancing it. They finally decided to base the entire narrative on the found footage technique.^[1]

There were several documentary-style scenes filmed, but not included in the film. One involved a 1940s newsreel about killer Rustin Parr. A second one included a 1970s-documentary show called Mystic Occurrences, in imitation of In Search of.... A narrator character explained the history of the Blair Witch. A third scene involved video footage of the police, discovering the film reels, Digital Audio Tapes (DAT), and Hi-8s left behind by the missing characters. A fourth scene involved interviews with the characters' family and friends, and interviews with the police detectives handling the case. A fifth scene involved news spots.^[1]

The film's actors received training on how to use the film equipment, and how to use the Global Tracking System (GTS) in the woods. The film crew shadowed the actors' movements, but only periodically had direct contact with them. Otherwise the crew tried to stay unnoticed, allowing the actors to remain immersed in their characters. The directors were able to give way points through the GTS. They set up situations for the actors to react to, before the actors arrived in certain locations.^[1]

The actors were not informed on the content of certain scenes. For example, they were told to "Look for something in the woods.", but not what that was. When they discovered the voodoo dolls left for them, they were genuinely surprised.^[1]

The film crew supplied the actors' with additional batteries to use. Following the third day of their stay in the woods, the film crew provided the actors with additional food. To maintain minimal contact between the actors and the film crew, written notes with directions were left for the actors at the drop-off points.^[1]

The directors edited out early scenes where an angry Heather Donahue was yelling at her two co-stars, and all three actors were "cussing at each other". This took place in the actors' first night in the woods. While these scenes fit in with the eventual mood of the characters, the actors were already angry and performing them too early. The directors felt that the scenes of anger had to occur in later stages of the narrative.^[1]

The actors were chosen following an audition process, based primarily on their improvisation skills. The directors wanted actors who could think on their feet. The chosen actors were given background details on their characters, but were allowed to "bring their own personalities" when fleshing them. They could use elements of their own past for the characters, adding to the realism of the film. The real names of the actors were used for their characters, to make scenes of yelling and duress seem real to the performers.^[1]

Donahue in particular got "so far into the role and the surroundings", that she confessed to Myrick that she felt "about to lose it". She periodically needed time alone, to reflect on her personal life back in New York. Myrick called the way that the actress identified with her role as "method filmmaking", in reference to method acting.^[1]

A key scene of the film was preconceived. The character Heather eventually comes to terms with what is happening, and accepts her own fate. She also accepts responsibility for screwing up, in contrast to her previous behavior as a "ruthless bitch". Sánchez felt that the scene allowed the audience to sympathize with the character.^[1]

A confessional scene for the character Mike was also conceived, but was not used. The scene would conclude with Mike saying goodbye to his family.^[1]

John Pierson was approached to help finance the film, and viewed a tape with early footage. He initially thought that it was genuine found footage, and the directors had to explain that it was all fiction. Pierson agreed to air that tape in his television show Split Screen. He paid the filmmakers for the tape, with his money used to finance the shooting of the actual film. He also paid the filmmakers to shoot another segment for the second season of Split Screen. This also contributed to the film's budget. The filmmakers also contributed their own money to finance the film.^[1]

The production company also produced the Fox TV series FreakyLinks, and the feature films Altered (2006), Seventh Moon (2008), and Lovely Molly (2012), along with Exists (2014).

Discover more about History related topics

Film

Film

A film – also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick – is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere through the use of moving images. These images are generally accompanied by sound and, more rarely, other sensory stimulations. The word "cinema", short for cinematography, is often used to refer to filmmaking and the film industry, and to the art form that is the result of it.

Eduardo Sánchez (director)

Eduardo Sánchez (director)

Eduardo Miguel Sánchez-Quiros is a Cuban-born American director, known for his work in the horror genre. His most famous credit is for co-directing and writing the 1999 psychological horror film The Blair Witch Project with Daniel Myrick.

Daniel Myrick

Daniel Myrick

Daniel Myrick is an American film director, most famous for horror films, especially for co-directing and writing the 1999 psychological horror The Blair Witch Project with Eduardo Sánchez. They won the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award for this film.

Pseudo-documentary

Pseudo-documentary

A pseudo-documentary or fake documentary is a film or video production that takes the form or style of a documentary film but does not portray real events. Rather, scripted and fictional elements are used to tell the story. The pseudo-documentary, unlike the related mockumentary, is not always intended as satire or humor. It may use documentary camera techniques but with fabricated sets, actors, or situations, and it may use digital effects to alter the filmed scene or even create a wholly synthetic scene.

Chariots of the Gods (film)

Chariots of the Gods (film)

Chariots of the Gods is a 1970 West German documentary film directed by Harald Reinl. It is based on Erich von Däniken's book Chariots of the Gods?, a pseudoscientific book that theorizes extraterrestrials impacted early human life and evolution. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

In Search of... (TV series)

In Search of... (TV series)

In Search of... is an American television series that was broadcast weekly from 1977 to 1982, devoted to mysterious phenomena. It was created after the success of three one-hour TV documentaries produced by creator Alan Landsburg: In Search of Ancient Astronauts in 1973, In Search of Ancient Mysteries and The Outer Space Connection, both in 1975, all of which featured narration by Rod Serling, who was the initial choice to host the spin-off show. Serling died before production started, and Leonard Nimoy was then selected to be the host. The series was revived with host Mitch Pileggi in 2002 and again in 2018 with Zachary Quinto, currently airing on the History Channel.

Bigfoot

Bigfoot

Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is an ape-like cryptid alleged by cryptozoologists and enthusiasts to inhabit the forests of North America. Dubious evidence has been offered to prove Bigfoot's existence, including anecdotal claims of sightings, photographs, video and audio recordings, hair samples, and casts of large footprints. Some of this evidence was later discovered to be hoaxes or misidentification, and scientists do not find any of the remaining evidence compelling.

Realism (arts)

Realism (arts)

Realism in the arts is generally the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding speculative and supernatural elements. The term is often used interchangeably with naturalism, although these terms are not synonymous. Naturalism, as an idea relating to visual representation in Western art, seeks to depict objects with the least possible amount of distortion and is tied to the development of linear perspective and illusionism in Renaissance Europe. Realism, while predicated upon naturalistic representation and a departure from the idealization of earlier academic art, often refers to a specific art historical movement that originated in France in the aftermath of the French Revolution of 1848. With artists like Gustave Courbet capitalizing on the mundane, ugly or sordid, realism was motivated by the renewed interest in the common man and the rise of leftist politics. The Realist painters rejected Romanticism, which had come to dominate French literature and art, with roots in the late 18th century.

Sensationalism

Sensationalism

In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emotionally loaded impressions of events rather than neutrality, and may cause a manipulation to the truth of a story. Sensationalism may rely on reports about generally insignificant matters and portray them as a major influence on society, or biased presentations of newsworthy topics, in a trivial, or tabloid manner, contrary to general assumptions of professional journalistic standards.

Low-budget film

Low-budget film

A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced or unknown filmmakers can also have low budgets. Many young or first time filmmakers shoot low-budget films to prove their talent before doing bigger productions. Most low-budget films that do not gain some form of attention or acclaim are never released in theatres and are often sent straight to retail because of their lack of marketability, look, narrative story, or premise. There is no precise number to define a low budget production, and it is relative to both genre and country. What might be a low-budget film in one country may be a big budget in another. Modern-day young filmmakers rely on film festivals for pre-promotion. They use this to gain acclaim and attention for their films, which often leads to a limited release in theatres. Films that acquire a cult following may be given a wide release. Low-budget films can be either professional productions or amateur. They are either shot using professional or consumer-grade equipment.

8 mm video format

8 mm video format

The 8mm video format refers informally to three related videocassette formats. These are the original Video8 format and its improved successor Hi8, as well as a more recent digital recording format known as Digital8. Their user base consisted mainly of amateur camcorder users, although they also saw important use in the professional television production field.

Black and white

Black and white

Black-and-white images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.