Post by Dan on Mar 26, 2018 16:21:01 GMT -6
(The thread title is tongue in cheek of course).
Just wanted to pop in and thank you all for supporting this lil' experiment on Elly. It's been far too long since I logged in, and crossing paths with Tweek since launching the series has been nothing short of terrific. Tweek has held the torch for us all since day one and we all owe him a huge debt of gratitude. So with that, thank you Tweek for being who you are and all that you do, for the fans, for Elly, for Lions Gate and for Haxan itself. You have kept the batteries in our flashlights fresh and replaced whenever they have dimmed.
In response to much if what's been discussed throughout this board, yes - the treatment's been floating around for so many years now and is finally coming to surface. In regards to "changes made over the years," do note it was a treatment, one that was initially sketched out and composed in concept as early as 2000. Come 2004 it became more solid. Since then over the years as more "research and information" was gathered, the treatment's path took on a more solid ground.
In example, when The Blair Witch Project was first in development, it was to be a documentary only as a series of talking heads; family, friends, investigators, academics, etc. The found footage was to be dropped in between discussions and interviews. A total of maybe 10 minutes or so worth of footage perhaps.
When the raw footage as delivered was being reviewed and edited down to usable clips, because it was a total of 22 hours worth of footage, it became very frustrating what to cut out, so much of it was absolute gold to work with. It was hard to cut it down to 15 hours, much less 15 minutes worth embedded in a documentary.
Finally, it was thought and decided "this footage is so damn good, it could stand on its own as the film itself." So back the edit bay, shelve the documentary concept for now, with the idea TBWP could act solely as the found footage and could speak for itself.
This, with the notion that Heather's mother, Angie Donahue, who never gave up, would receive the raw footage from the authorities once it was released from investigation (as a cold case). She then would contract this little independent film company called "Haxan Films" who could assemble the footage as well as a thorough website and release it to the public in order that it might garner enough eyes in hopes to attract enough attention and hopefully reveal some clues as to whereabouts of her daughter.
For Angie Donahue, it was never meant for entertainment, it was meant to help find her daughter.
We're the ones who made it entertainment.
When Artisan took possession of TBWP to release nationwide, they asked what else might be in the can that could accompany and help promote it, with the response being "Well, we have all this doc footage of interviews and backstory."
That is what became the "Curse of the Blair Witch." That, ironically, was what TBWP was originally supposed to be.
Fast forward now to the Trial of Elly Kedward. I had sketched out a treatment based on her life in Ireland, and Ed had sketched out a treatment based on her life in America. Both based on theories. Combined, the two treatments revealed a full picture. Separate, they revealed great detail.
My ambition was to explore the life of woman herself. To research and discover what was it about her life, her person, a mortal woman, who would inevitably be accused a witch, prosecuted, left for dead, and a legend of which she became the target of blame of the atrocities since her banishment.
Since the theories in treatment, much has occurred. From many visits to Ireland itself in research that revealed some of her heritage, but only glimpses without much detail.
When the discovery of a diary was unearthed, that changed everything. Now we have a first-hand account of her life, and that is why the former treatment was discarded. Amazingly, some of the research facts on her life in those early years were confirmed, but this discovery opened a whole new universe of information.
There is an additional irony. All the pages of the diary that may have contained American period entries are missing. The binding shows many pages torn from the root. What those pages contained, if they contained anything, is not known.
Just wanted to pop in and thank you all for supporting this lil' experiment on Elly. It's been far too long since I logged in, and crossing paths with Tweek since launching the series has been nothing short of terrific. Tweek has held the torch for us all since day one and we all owe him a huge debt of gratitude. So with that, thank you Tweek for being who you are and all that you do, for the fans, for Elly, for Lions Gate and for Haxan itself. You have kept the batteries in our flashlights fresh and replaced whenever they have dimmed.
In response to much if what's been discussed throughout this board, yes - the treatment's been floating around for so many years now and is finally coming to surface. In regards to "changes made over the years," do note it was a treatment, one that was initially sketched out and composed in concept as early as 2000. Come 2004 it became more solid. Since then over the years as more "research and information" was gathered, the treatment's path took on a more solid ground.
In example, when The Blair Witch Project was first in development, it was to be a documentary only as a series of talking heads; family, friends, investigators, academics, etc. The found footage was to be dropped in between discussions and interviews. A total of maybe 10 minutes or so worth of footage perhaps.
When the raw footage as delivered was being reviewed and edited down to usable clips, because it was a total of 22 hours worth of footage, it became very frustrating what to cut out, so much of it was absolute gold to work with. It was hard to cut it down to 15 hours, much less 15 minutes worth embedded in a documentary.
Finally, it was thought and decided "this footage is so damn good, it could stand on its own as the film itself." So back the edit bay, shelve the documentary concept for now, with the idea TBWP could act solely as the found footage and could speak for itself.
This, with the notion that Heather's mother, Angie Donahue, who never gave up, would receive the raw footage from the authorities once it was released from investigation (as a cold case). She then would contract this little independent film company called "Haxan Films" who could assemble the footage as well as a thorough website and release it to the public in order that it might garner enough eyes in hopes to attract enough attention and hopefully reveal some clues as to whereabouts of her daughter.
For Angie Donahue, it was never meant for entertainment, it was meant to help find her daughter.
We're the ones who made it entertainment.
When Artisan took possession of TBWP to release nationwide, they asked what else might be in the can that could accompany and help promote it, with the response being "Well, we have all this doc footage of interviews and backstory."
That is what became the "Curse of the Blair Witch." That, ironically, was what TBWP was originally supposed to be.
Fast forward now to the Trial of Elly Kedward. I had sketched out a treatment based on her life in Ireland, and Ed had sketched out a treatment based on her life in America. Both based on theories. Combined, the two treatments revealed a full picture. Separate, they revealed great detail.
My ambition was to explore the life of woman herself. To research and discover what was it about her life, her person, a mortal woman, who would inevitably be accused a witch, prosecuted, left for dead, and a legend of which she became the target of blame of the atrocities since her banishment.
Since the theories in treatment, much has occurred. From many visits to Ireland itself in research that revealed some of her heritage, but only glimpses without much detail.
When the discovery of a diary was unearthed, that changed everything. Now we have a first-hand account of her life, and that is why the former treatment was discarded. Amazingly, some of the research facts on her life in those early years were confirmed, but this discovery opened a whole new universe of information.
There is an additional irony. All the pages of the diary that may have contained American period entries are missing. The binding shows many pages torn from the root. What those pages contained, if they contained anything, is not known.
