The Search for Authenticity: Cultivating “Real” So here’s our take on what Blair Witch taught us and whether, two decades on, it might still be able to illuminate what audiences really want. That you need a story around the story to generate buzz and that there’s nothing like confusion and controversy to start a conversation. And what’s really fascinating is that today’s online video ecosystem revolves around truths that Blair Witch demonstrated- like that audiences often care less about expensive production value than that elusive feeling of authenticity, Cut to 2019- we’re years into a cultural obsession with viral video and shareable content.
#THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT MOVIE#
In 1999, this movie was one of the first to unlock the mysterious power of the world wide web to drive meaningful viewership. In the years that followed, countless movies tried (and mostly failed) to replicate the runaway success of this low-budget movie which was (at the time) the most profitable movie ever in terms of return on investment.Įven more than its impact on cinematic style, Blair Witch became the gold standard for what amazing film marketing looks like. This story of three student filmmakers getting lost in the woods - told through what’s supposed to be their own footage discovered after their death - wasn’t the first found-footage horror film, but it so captured the global imagination that it started a found-footage craze in cinema. How The Blair Witch Project Predicted YouTubeĭid The Blair Witch Project invent YouTube as we know it?Ģ0 years ago, the Blair Witch Project was more than a movie - it was a movement. Subscribe to The Take on YouTube | Support The Take on Patreon Did The Blair Witch Project invent YouTube and our modern viral culture as we know it? 20 years after its release and in a completely different landscape, the found footage cult classic still illuminates what audiences really want-authenticity, a story around a story, and sometimes a touch of controversy.