Parkins presentation is quite realistic, because it makes the audience wonder if he is mentally ill or just mad! Parkins isolation is well illustrated when Parkins is in the dining room and the camera is leading up to him on his own. Heather becomes more segregated from her friends as the film moves on. They blame her for getting them lost because she won’t stop filming. She explains that things seem less real from behind the camera. This show scariness, because it makes us the audience wonder if anything is going to happen.
For each of the films, you get a variety of Sound Codes throughout the films. Sound is mainly important in a film, because it gets the audiences imagination going. There is a lack in music in both of the films. This brings out unusualness, because there is always scary music in scary films. I think this make makes both films more real, especially The Blair Witch Project; it makes it look like a true story. Dialogue in both films is completely different; in The Blair Witch Project the dialogue seems natural and seems unscripted this makes the film more realistic. The use of swearing in The Blair Witch project also brings out the events and makes the audience think it’s really happening.
In Whistle and I’ll Come To You, there is actually only one real conversation and this is about ghosts, this increases the audiences eagerness. Also when Parkins talks to the hotel staff, he mumbles and repeats himself a lot, this creates the feeling if he is mentally ill or not, as I already said. This also puts the effect on the audience if Parkins haunting is real or not. Sound also creates the picture of ghosts in the film. The only sense of a witch in the Blair Witch Project is the strange sounds the group hear, these are hard to hear because it makes the audience want to listen to what it is. In Whistle and I’ll Come To You, the sound effects are based upon nearby sounds. An excellent example of this, is when Parkins is at the edge of the cliff, and hears sounds coming from the waves, this makes the audience think what it is down there and this also creates tension.
Whistle and I’ll Come To You and The Blair Witch Project, heavily base the film on Visual Codes to create scariness. In the Blair Witch Project fear is created, because the audience always see what one of the group are seeing, this makes the audience think what’s happening to the others and the person behind the camera. The Blair Witch Project symbolises the use of Mise en Scene (The way everything is laid out, and it effects the audience, how everything looks. It bring out the mood of the scene)in a good way at the end of the film when the camera shows handprints on the wall, this links the audiences mind back to the missing children.
The Blair Witch Project is filmed in an interesting way, it mainly consists of two-shots as the third character is always behind the camera, this adds to the realism. Also there are a lot of extreme close-ups, this adds to the emotions of the films. The most famous example of this is of Heather in the dark.
Whistle and I’ll Come To You is quite different to The Blair Witch Project, because you get to see the ghost, in Parkins dream and also at the end. The audience are left in a cliff hanger, on whether to believe that the ghost was there or Parkins was imagining it. Another good scene of Mice en Scene is when Parkins is alone on the beach, this also shows isolation, as if he being consumed by the landscape. The two films vary in their scenes, because they have black as well as colour scenes (Blair Witch Project), which brings out amateurish looks.
In Whistle and I’ll Come To You the camera shots are mostly all still but vary between them, they are placed in particular areas. A good example of this is when the camera is spinning round and round. With dark and light areas, this symbolises loneliness. The dark and light areas can be described as a Low-Keyed area (Much more pronounced shadows and dramatic contrasts).
If we now look at The Blair Witch Project, the camera movements are totally bizarre, because the camera isn’t ever still, because there is always someone filming the area (leaving two people in the scene, Two Shot). This is very strange, because no other film before this, used this feature, so it can be phrased as ‘original’.
There are many Technical Codes throughout the films, which symbolise things, which are meant to affect the audience. Technical Codes are artistically used in Whistle and I’ll Come To You and are more sloppy in The Blair Witch Project. The Blair Witch Project is prepared for publication as if it made from ‘found’ footage. This is shown through blackouts and jumps in the scenes. It also makes the look of the film more unethical. All of the scenes in the Blair Witch Project are filmed as ‘Point of view shots’, this adds to the realism. Whistle and I’ll Come To You is more artistic, features like transitions in the film make it look more polished rather then just put on. One type of transition I picked out was a Cut.
The setting of both of the films brings out how and what genre it is. In this case we are comparing two horror films. The Blair Witch Project is set in the woods, where a group are exploring the Blair Witch. This is a perfect setting for a horror movie. Whistle and I’ll Come To You is set on the beach, where Parkins is like the only person staying at the hotel. This is a good setting for it because it shows his isolation and ghosts. Pathetic Fallacy is used quite a bit throughout the two films, because in The Blair Witch Project, when they hear noises from what they call the ‘witch’, it is a dark setting, which really does set the mood of the scene. In Whistle and I’ll Come To You, when Parkins is on the beach, it bring a dull, everlasting and fragile mood whereas in The Blair Witch Project, as they progress, things tend to become more dark and threatening, this proposes that they are ‘trapped’.
So I think that The Blair Witch Project and Whistle and I’ll Come To You scary their audiences in many ways these can be summarised, into Sound Codes, Visual Codes, Technical Codes, Characterisation and Narrative. The Sounds codes help to emphasize the mood of the scene and build upon the tension to make audiences frightened. The Visual Codes help dramatically, because it helps, to make audiences think about what it is trying to symbolise. The camera shots also show a representation between things. It is due to how and where the camera is set.
The Technical Codes help to show things. They make the film look more adventurous. It also builds tension in a way, because it produces transitions, which are put together in such way to make the audience think what is going to happen next. The Characterisation of the characters is superb, because they can be compared, because even so Heather & Parkins being the protagonists, they still have their differences. The two films narratives are completely different, Whistle and I’ll Come To You really doesn’t have any storyline, and it is mostly brought out through technical codes to show how boring Parkins is, whereas Blair Witch Project has a storyline, but has the most unusual, visual codes.
In all I think the comparison between Whistle and I’ll Come To You and The Blair Witch Project are to excellent horror movies to choose, because they have their similarities and then their differences on the other hand. They both have their ways of scaring the audiences, Whistle and I’ll Come To You has the more artistic view of the genre, and BWP has a more modernised view.
