By Linda Kim
The Blair Witch legend was made famous by the 1999 movie thriller,
The Blair
Witch Project, directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez and
produced by
Haxan Entertainment. The movie, however, only tells the end of the
story about
the four college students who disappeared in 1994 while trying to
make a
documentary about the Blair Witch Legend. The whole story begins in
1785 with
the accusation of Elly Kedward as a witch in the Blair Township of
Maryland.
The Blair Witch website at http://www.blairwitch.com
reveals the mysterious
events related to the Blair Witch Legend, which spans several centuries,
(and
plugs the DVD and CD products for those people who want even more
Blair Witch
entertainment).
The Legacy, which is a moving timeline, has links to photos, sound
clips, and
film pieces with relevant information, documents, and other "evidence."
Despite
the innovative use of different media to tell the story, the format
of the
timeline and its multiple links is inconvenient for the website visitor.
One
has to click dozens of links just to get the basics of the whole story,
and
each link opens new windows that just clutter the screen. Aside from
these
inconveniences, the telling of the Blair Witch legend in this multimedia
form
is interesting and unique to the internet. It requires both text and
images to
captivate and entertain the audience, and the audience can choose
how much they
want to know. For example, one can simply scroll through the Legacy
timeline,
reading only the short phrases that document what even happened when.
Those who
are more curious about the legend can follow the links and go deeper
into
certain aspects of the legend as they please.
Blairwitch.com also provides information about Book of Shadows:
Blair Witch 2.
This is the movie sequel to The Blair Witch Project. This section
features a
traditional film synopsis and character descriptions. There is nothing
too
exciting in terms of multimedia storytelling in this section; the
information
is displayed in text and a few photographs. For owners of the Blair
Witch 2
VHS or DVD, however, the link entitled "the secret of 'ESREVER'"
leads to clues
about hidden images within the film. Every week a new clue is displayed
to help
people unlock the secret images.
The Blair Witch website cleverly advertises its film products and
innovatively
combines different media forms to reach out to its cult fan audience
or to
curious or bored web surfers. Movies hold the spotlight for fleeting
moments
when they just come out in theaters or on VHS or DVD. Through the
website, the
Blair Witch Legend continues to draw audiences and builds the story
without
having to produce big, costly movies.