Right off the bat, two things mentioned in Marshall (2004, chapter 6) made me pause and reflect. The first is that film is actually a series of still images that give the viewer the effect of motion. I knew this already, but sometimes, movies can be so compelling that it is very easy to forget. Secondly, I thought about the way Toy Story made me feel when I first saw it in theaters. Digital animation was unlike anything I had ever seen before – it looked so real! It’s true that most animated films are now assisted by computer imaging and while I think it’s visually very appealing and realistic, I have to say that I am happy that I knew a time before digital animation, so that I can better appreciate how far filmmaking has come.
It’s interesting that The Blair Witch Project cost only $45,000 to make, but made $145 million at the box office, while Titanic cost $250 million to make and generated $1.3 billion at the box office. The handheld camera techniques used in The Blair Witch Project were unfamiliar to many viewers at the time, yet it captured the essence of the storyline well. However, if filmmakers had tried to produce Titanic on a small budget, it wouldn’t have been worth it. The special digital effects, the digital animation, and – let’s face it – James Cameron, are what made the movie great and did justice to the dramatic story.
Marshall (2004, chapter 7) connects new media with the evolution of television in an interesting and succinct way. As he points out, “new media is very much connected to the development of something beyond the active audience into various forms of cultural production.” Television has attempted to embrace this new media culture by incorporating the audience into television programs – thus, reality television shows were born. If anything, the popularity of reality television shows indicates that new media and prosumption are, indeed, what interest many consumers.
von Lohmann (2012, chapter 12) clearly distinguishes between the ways that traditional media and Internet intermediaries handle copyright laws. For traditional intermediaries, the expectation is that permission must be obtained for every copyrighted work that appears in a video. On the other hand, Internet intermediaries do not have to be consulted before a video is uploaded; they only need to get involved if complaints arise. In this way, von Lohmann likens traditional intermediaries to “doormen minding the velvet rope”, while Internet intermediaries are like “bouncers at the bar.” This is a great analogy that represents the differences between the more bureaucratic ways of traditional media and the faster-paced ways of new media. As traditional and new media stake their claims and evolve in modern society, it is certainly an exciting time to be a scholar or practitioner of new media technologies.
“Blair witch project” surely made a revolutionary remark in the history of movie making because the handheld like technique became a quasi-standard to inject realism and dramatic feel. I agree with the point that existing media industry is still clinging onto dying business model, which is slow and extremely selective. People with agile response time and novel ideas will find a niche market with big payback.
I don’t think we can boil “The Blair Witch Project’s success down to a camera technique. In the year leading up to the film’s release, the filmmakers created a full scale gorilla marketing plan that built up an eager audience before the movie even came out. They were also careful to create an atmosphere around the film that it was truly a documentary, not a work of fiction. That coupled with the unfamiliar camera technique all played together to create something of a perfect storm for the film. It was all pretty brilliant. I also agree with Alexa, it worked for this film’s subject matter, but not for something like Titanic. Low budgets often play into the type of genre a film maker can work in, and it seems to be true that necessity is the mother of invention.
Agreed, Meagan. The Blair Witch Project was all about the marketing and hype and the very unusual use, at the time, of viral Internet marketing. It isn’t a movie people remember as being particularly good but one in which they entered the theater charged with the expectation and buzz generated by the brilliant advertising campaign. Nobody could stay away! The resulting box office success has made it, arguably, the most profitable movie of all time due to the small budget and huge returns. At its core, the film is really rather simplistic and old fashioned using techniques dating back to the early history of film with movies like Cat People where the terrible creatures are never actually seen, only imagined.
I certainly agree that the success of “The Blair Witch” project is not solely due to the camera techniques that were used. I was merely suggesting that it was a contributing factor to the uniqueness of the film at the time. But yes, I find it interesting how much of an impact it made on the film industry…as in any market, risky, novel ideas can lead to a big return, if they are positively perceived by consumers.