Solo Trailer Review: The Blair Witch Project

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D51QgOHrCj0

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Year released: 1999

What happened in the trailer?
The whole thing is shot using a handheld camera, it starts off a couple are filming one another at home talking about their trip to explore The Blair Witch myth. The sequence of shots cuts to other home footage of a couple of other people talking about what they think of The Blair Witch too. You see footage of the couple in the woods and slowly bits of the narrative are revealed to the audience but not giving too much away. For example, after the girl is running from something it cuts to a daylight shot of something hanging from the trees. Intertitles cut up the footage to explain the storyline a bit and to also show the reviews of the film. Finally they are running and screaming through the woods at night, then it cuts to an extreme closeup of the girl confessing it's her fault as to why they are now in this situation.

What were the good parts of the trailer?
I thought that the collision cutting was very well edited, starting with very long takes but finishing with a sequence of lots of quick shots. This made the start more tense and the end lots more dramatic. The handheld camera really added to the realism of the trailer, and even though it was set in a number of different loactions and it seemed to run smoothly. The intertitles are a great feature to this trailer as they explain the story just enough for you to understand what it's about but not giving away to much that it spoils the film. Also the subtle parellel sounds fitted very well and create tension as the trailer progressed, highlighting the key parts by changing the sounds slightly.

What were the bad parts of the trailer?
The only bad thing that i could say about this trailer is that i don't think the ending was as good as the rest of it. It didn't make you jump enough to make it a powerful horror trailer, but then the style of The Blair Witch Project is less about lots of horror on screen and is more about lots of tense scenes and restricted narration.