The Blair Witch Project - Teaser Trailer Analysis

The trailer starts off with ‘Artisan Entertainment’s’ logo. This informs the audience of the film industry that created the film. If the audience enjoy watching ‘The Blair witch project’ then they be encouraged to go and watch other films created by them.

The screen then fades to black and some text appears on the screen which provides the audience with a brief introduction to the film. The sentence is very vague and simple and this has been done in order to keep the audiences attention.

From this point onwards, the screen fades to complete blackness and the first bit of dialogue is said. This is the only communication that the audeince has with the film and they are unware as to what is happening. The black screens upholds the suspence and mysery and succeeds in holding the audiences attention.

Critcis comments appear one after another onto the screen and when combined with the digetic sound of crying and heavy breathing/panting, a realistic atmosphere is created. When the girl says the word ‘Project’, the films logo appears on the screen and the volume of the soundtrack increases.

The trailer ends with a high pitched scream before jumping to two black slides where the audience is given an indication as to the time of year that the film is going to be released. The second black screen displays the films website. This information is given to the audience so they are aware of where to go if they want to find out more information about the film.

The teaser trailer gives very little away but the clever use of combining blackouts with Digetic sounds builds up tension and makes the audience unsure and weary as to what they should expect from the film. The use of blackouts and Digetic sounds leaves the audience with a number of unanswered questions, questions that can only be answered by them going and watching the film.

The Blair Witch Project - Teaser Poster Analysis

The Blair Witch Project is a horror film that was released in 1999. The filming was done with a simple hand held camera and the film was based around three student film makers who go on a hike to film a documentary about a local legend called ‘The Blair Witch’. However, they subsequently go missing and their footage is found a year later.

The only colours that are used on the teaser trailer are red, black, white and various shades of grade. The dark, bold colours use may represent death or fear and these colours indicate to the viewer that this is a thriller film. The red symbol stands out on the white background and this could possibly symbolise blood. The symbol can possibly represent a cross and can be linked to Wicca traditions. Nevertheless, this cannot be for certain and so, the symbol leaves a sense of doubt in the audiences mind.

It is evidently clear that the main location used within the film is the woods. However, the contrast of the white trees against the black sky adds a sense of mystery and fear. The image itself has been desaturated and then inverted in order to create a black and white effect. This in turn suggests that certain parts of the film may be displayed in black or white or may be be filmed at night time. The forest is the main focal point and the audience can easily identify the film genre merely by the colours used.

The writing on the poster provides the audience with a brief outline of the film but details aren’t given. This is purposely done in order to intrigue the audience into wanting to know what’s going to happen next. The font used for the title of the film is very basic. However, the text is kind of spaced out which adds a sense of mystery. The text that is displayed on the poster gives the viewer a brief insight into what the film may be about and the pause shortly after the first sentence creates suspense and a dramatic effect for the viewer. The sentence ‘A year later their footage was found’ is singled out from the rest of the text. This has purposely been done in order to show that a bad event is going to occur.

At the bottom of the poster, you have the names of the actors and actresses as well as the name of the director. This adds a sense of authenticity to the poster. As well as this, the films website address is also included. This is so audience members can go and visit the site to find out more information about the film.

Ideas gained from this poster

Trees used as main background image
Use of a black and white inverted effect
Simple text used placed near to the bottom
Use of similar font style