Films that inspired 'Isolation' #2 The Blair Witch Project !

The poster for the release of TBWP

The comparisons between Isolation and The Blair Witch Project (TBWP) are plain for the audience to see. Although groups of teenagers entering a scary location, such as a wood or haunted house are common in horror films the styles and themes presented within TBWP are ones that I would very much like a completed version of my film to share.

Its premise is very simple, yes extremely open to possibilities. It is a collection of amateur film footage following the story of three students who vanished whilst hiking in the Black Hills near Burkesville, Maryland. Their aim was to film a documentary on the local legend known as The Blair Witch. The viewers are told that the three students were never seen or heard from again but that their video and sound equipment (and most of the footage they recorded) is recovered the following year. The 'recovered footage' is the film the viewer is now watching.

As the entire film is just the footage the students recorded it is all shot using a hand camera, so all the scenes (especially the in the last sequence, when the camera operator is running down the stairs) are shaky. This adds to the effect as it is more believable that it is just the three students in the woods, as opposed to an entire film crew.

During the film, after entering the woods the characters become lost. No matter what directions they walk in the always return to the original place where they set of from. Due to this frustration the characters begin turning on each other. This separation of characters is definitely a technique I would have used in a completed version of Isolation. As it say in the title of my film, if the characters physically separated from each other it would create a brilliant sense of isolation amongst the audience, making them and they characters feel even more vulnerable.

It also perfectly uses the technique I so heavily praised 'Alien' for. The use of 'Less is more'. The film never actually shows the viewer what the Blair Witch looks like. Most of what provides the scares in the film is the tried and tested theme of the fear of the dark. When the characters pack up camp and go the sleep in their tents is when most of the films action occurs. Although, the first time they camp nothing supernatural actually happens, even though they are camped at a place called Coffin Rock a place rumoured to be the site where five men were found ritualistically murdered in the 19th century (a blatant misleading to the audience that something would have occurred this night). This is another effect of brilliant pacing leading up to the climatic events of the film, another thing this film has in common with Alien.

The second time they make camp is when the haunting actually begins. One of the characters accidentally disturbs a clearly man maid pile of stones. Believe it to be a bad omen for him to have done that, the female character hastily repairs it. During the night, they hear cackling sounds; they assume this to be animals or locals following them. Slowly but surely, the events of the film are growing more chilling.

Over the next few days things being too quickly become more suspicious, they wake up to find that stone piles have been made around their tents during the night as well as finding  numerous human like stick figuers hanging from trees and continue to hear strange noises at night. They quickly discover something truly disturbing is happening in these woods. The minimalistic effects throughout the film are perfectly used to create fear in the characters that transfers seamlessly into the audience.


Another reason TBWP is a film that inspired Isolation is the fact that it was made on an incredibly low budget, as well as the fact it was filmed very quickly, taking only 8 day to complete. It is also one of the most successful independant films of all time. Costing somwhere in the range of $20,000- $500,000 to make but the film grossed $248,639,099 worldwide!

For the minimalistic effects used, the great pacing of the supernatural events and the low budget and crew required to make the film, The Blair Witch Project is definitely a film that helped make and inspire Isolation.