Why oh why didn't they use consumer cameras?

[cropsy]

The biggest problem I have with Blair Witch is that it looks too clean, too perfect. Clean and perfect isn't scary, ugly is (like someone said earlier in the "Blair Witch 2016" thread) and one simple way to achieve ugly when filming a found footage movie is to use real consumer equipment.

Someone have also mentioned that consumer cameras today are 1080p so it could look really sharp and clean. My answer to that is no. No. They cheated by using way to advanced cameras as a substitute for the ear piece cameras and the DSLR that we are told supposedly filmed what we are watching. This takes away all the feeling of authenticity that a sequel to BWP should have (if your going the found footage route that is). It all feels more like a regular movie and the found footage angle is just something the audience are told about, not experiencing.

1080p or FULL HD is just a resolution and it say nothing about the rest of the camera, as the sensor and what lens you are using.
My phone can film in 1080p just as my Gopro and my Canon XA20 can. Guess which camera gives me the best image..

Look at these cameras bellow

Red Epic was used for Lisa's dslr camera

A7 and dcam = ear peice camera

panasonic ac160 = dv camera (I don't care about this one, looked authentic for me)


example of ear piece cameras (how it should look)




Sure they could have used better quality cameras then the ones used in the youtube videos above but they should have at least framed them as ear piece cameras, the framing can't be perfect. It was too perfect in the movie. Characters shouldn't be looking into the camera when having a conversation because what that mean is that they are looking directly at someones ear when talking. Makes no sense whatsoever. Also the ear piece cameras would have been recording in full auto mode which would have effected lightning and focus, meaning NO PERFECT SHOTS!

They tried to find a way to suck the viewer in, to make the movie a first person experience. Sort of like a hunted house ride.
They even say in the making of material that they tried to find a way to make the viewer forget that it was found footage. WHAT?!
Also by making the movie look good so it would be easier to market...big mistake.

I guess a "real" found footage movie could never come to life when a studio is involved. With BWP Haxan went pure found footage. They played by the rules they had set up and it came off so effective that some people thought it was real. A real consumer camera along with real locations, the feeling of watching real people with no script, no crew by their side, and no score. All this created a window where I experienced what Heather, Mike and Josh experienced.

Okay so BWP can't be recreated (at least not when a big studio is involved apparently), but at least they could have ditched the Red Epic and also went with real ear piece cameras. That I think would have made this movie so much better.

[Tweek]

Agreed. If you're going the found footage route at least make it look like that. I wish they had shot it like a normal film. Nobody buys that they are watching real events. That ship has sailed.

[tizerist]

I don't think the issue is with with the camera quality. Its more to do with the authenticity of the acting. If I could have BW1 in ultra HD, I would ditch the Blu-Ray version for that. BW1 would still come across as realistic if it was filmed in the camera quality of BW3.
The problem wih BW3 (and I think it's a great entry in the series, overall) is the pacing and the fact that it's clear that it's just acting. I showed Bw1 to a friend of mine, told him it was real, and he believed me. You could never do that with wih BW3.

[cropsy]

Well okay the biggest problem with this movie is the story, second is the camera equipment. I actually don't have a problem with the acting but I judge it on "movie acting" but I know what you mean when you say it isn't realistic, that they don't act as "normal people".

IMO the part of the legend that BWP was centered around was Rustin Parr and in BOS it was Coffin Rock. And BW2016 is about...what exactly?
They included the Rustin Parr house and treat it as if it where the "witch house", it is like how the mask was included in Hannibal Rising. Things that started out as part of the story becomes part of the "brand" an "icon of horror" and the filmmakers just include it because "the audience will love it." The Star Wars movies that came after Jedi suffers from this.

Also it is mentioned that "if you look directly at the witch you die just from the fright of it, that is why Rustin Parr stood in that corner." Okay? What?! Rustin Parr never stood in the corner. In BWP it is established that "He took the children down into the basement by two and made one stand in the corner while he killed the other one...he said he couldn't stand the eyes watching him..."

In "The Burkittsville 7" they do a retcon and say that Kyle (the only surviving child) might have done the killings and that Rustin was just a pawn. They never write it in stone so you can believe what you want. That is how you do it. Don't shit on the original but also add something, make your movie matter. Don't let it just be a part x in a franchise. BW2016 is a soulless modern horror movie. Sad but true.

The final result make it seem like the filmmakers never where fans on the original movie. They even say in the making of that the first draft where really bloody and gory, they sat down and watched the original and realized that it was all about the psychological horror. This to me proves that they never understood - not even now - what the original movie was about. Even the sequel "Book of Shadows" the movie that everyone hates got the "group experiencing weird shit and starts to turn on each other"-part right. To quote Stephen from BOS, "what the fuck is going on?!"

Now I'm watching a movie called The Borderlands and the creators of BW2016 might have taken the idea for the ear piece cameras from that movie.
I'm going to watch As above So below, a movie that might have been the inspiration for the tunnel scene.

[cropsy]

Mar 16, 2017 14:11:48 GMT -6 tizerist said:

If I could have BW1 in ultra HD, I would ditch the Blu-Ray version for that.

I think BWP looks beautiful.

[Monrozombi]

i don't think BWP would look good at all in 4k UHD. It needs the grain and downscaled look to be effective

[Tweek]

I still prefer the dvd to the blu on TBWP. It doesn't really benefit from HD. Found footage shouldn't look pristine anyway.

[cropsy]

I think tizerist meant that he/she wouldn't mind if they would have filmed BWP in 4K. If they ever release the film in 4K and you watch it without knowing it is THE NEW 4K UHD RELEASE!!! then I doubt you would go WOW! you won't see the different since the resolution isn't there to begin with. I watch BWP on dvd with the "viewfinder"-look (the US release) the dvd released in Scandinavia didn't have that it, look like the blu ray, meaning it had corners.

[Tweek]

The "rounded corner" version is my favorite. They zoom in slightly to get rid of those in other versions. Or they crop the top and bottom to make it widescreen.

[cropsy]

widescreen?