The Blair Witch Project: Special Edition

[trey]

Hi everyone. New here. I have a VHS bootleg of the film, and I'm trying to figure out just what it is. The run time is about 1:26:30 (as opposed to 1:21:00, the official release), and it has some extra footage. Without having watched it all the way through since I got it 13 or 14 years ago, the only differences I can recall are Heather's "I'm a bitch" scene when they're fighting in the woods, a short scene with them holding some wadded up film (which they call a "salad") in the car after shooting the graveyard monologue, and the fact that the in-town interview with the guy who explains the Rustin Parr/kid-in-the-corner bit is missing (since it was filmed later).

The tape actually begins with Curse of the Blair Witch, then has a title card that says "Feature Presentation" before the film. Afterwards, another title card says "Extras," followed by about six minutes of an Entertainment Tonight story on the movie. The picture quality is good, probably a 1st or 2nd generation copy, but the sound on it sucks, like the tracking was slightly off when it was dubbed.

Anyone here familiar with this version? From what I've read poking around this board, it sounds too short for the work print (which I would really like to get.. PM me if you can tell me where to find one), which I think is around two and a half hours. Is this the Sundance version? I thought that one was over two hours, too, or maybe I read wrong. I can only barely recall where I got the tape from, but I seem to remember the seller saying it was the earlier Sundance edit, or that could just be a false memory.

Any clues?

(ETA proper name of this release)

[twana]

"Salad in the car" scene - never heard of it.
Looks like you have a rare thing there.

No, it isn't the Sundance version .. which was over two hours long.

[trey]

Crap. I was afraid of that. I say that because of the terrible sound quality, and I was hoping that maybe someone here had a better one and/or a longer one. But if this is an edit that has stuff in it that the rest of you haven't seen... Looks like I'll be digitizing this after all (I started to the other night, then looked around online and found you guys). Once I do, hopefully I can find a place to upload it to and share with anyone who wants it. (I know, no posting links.)

I think I'll wait a week or two just in case someone pops up who does happen to have a non-crappy version, and maybe they know just what this one was or where it came from.

Oh, and has everyone seen the Entertainment Tonight footage already? Is it available in one of the download posts?

[trey]

I've found out a little more about this version (and changed the title of the thread to reflect it).  It's called The Blair Witch Project: Special Edition.  Here's the title card:


In addition to what I mentioned above, the tape actually opens with a few trailers for the movie before starting with Curse of the Blair Witch.

As for the "salad" bit, it's an extension of the "we've just shot our first scene!" dialogue in the car after the B/W monologue in the graveyard.  Here's a screen shot:

That's Heather holding up a wad of film, joking about how she's proud of the "salad" they made.  No explanation is given for how it happened, though.  Presumably, somebody screwed up with the camera.

As I recall (and I still haven't watched it all the way through recently), there are a lot of bits like this where some scenes are the same ones from the official release, but they run longer or shorter at various points.

I'm hoping somebody else here will pipe up with something about this version.  If anyone has a copy that doesn't sound as bad as mine, I'd like to get one.  And if no one else has seen this version, I'll try to see about getting it uploaded somewhere if people are interested.

[twana]

nifty - something I've never seen before.
it's Heather's salad!

[Tweek]

I've seen the "salad scene" before.  Can't remember where or when.

[voke]

After scanning through the Workprint that I have, it seems like you have a different cut of the movie completely, as the WP neither has the trailers/'special edition' opening credits or the salad scene!

I'm intrigued to try and find out what this is, if I gave you a little bit of help, would you be up for uploading this online just so a few of us can investigate a little further? The links would have to spread through PM mind, as we're not allowed to post copyrighted material publically onto the forums!

[trey]

I should be able to convert it into a reasonably sized MP4 or AVI, probably uploading it to a site like Sendspace or something similar. I'll have to figure out my settings first, though, and find the time to do it. I'll let the board know when that happens.

[mrtnflmngak]

Never knew about this scene. Cool to keep finding out there's footage we ain't seen.

[twana]

How are you digitizing a VHS tape?

[trey]

It's what I do. Professionally, I mean. At home, I use this: www.grassvalley.com/products/advc110 coupled with iMovie.

[twana]

but .. but .. how do you read the VHS tape to copy it?
through a VCR somehow?

[trey]

Yes. The VCR plays the tape, cables run from the back of the VCR to the A/D (analog to digital) converter, and then a FireWire cable connects the converter to the computer. iMovie (or other editing software) captures the video, and then you can edit it, convert it to another format, put it on a DVD, or whatever.

[twana]

A/D .. I see.

[voke]

Jun 19, 2013 11:04:39 GMT -6 trey said:

I should be able to convert it into a reasonably sized MP4 or AVI, probably uploading it to a site like Sendspace or something similar. I'll have to figure out my settings first, though, and find the time to do it. I'll let the board know when that happens.

Thanks very much! I'm looking forward to seeing this. 

[trey]

(Warning: long post ahead)

I've finally finished (uh oh...) watching my copy of this. I'm still wondering if it's the Sundance version. And from poking around the board some more, I'm still confused about the differences between what appear to to be three (or four, if mine's unique) versions of the film. Can someone who's seen all of them clarify these for me?

Theatrical/DVD version: run time 1:21:00
Sundance version: run time _________?
Work print: run time 2:30:00
Special Edition: run time 1:26:30 (minus bonus features)

I'm confused because I've seen conflicting language on the board, sometimes with the Sundance one being said to be 2.5 hours and the work print only being five minutes longer than the DVD one. So seriously, which is which? (I almost typed "witch.")

I watched the DVD and my version side by side, stopping each time there was a difference to make notes. I thought there would only be a few, but there were A LOT. Here are my notes from just the first fifteen minutes:

No Artisan or Haxan logo at beginning; instead says "Haxan Films presents"
No rounded TV frame around the picture.
0:01:31 - Missing Heather's "I can see you" line
0:01:42 - a few more seconds with the cameras outside: Heather says "Hey, nice camera, man!" and backs up into the house's steps
0:02:25 - Missing the scene with the "so much f***ing battery power" line in the car
0:02:30 - extension to Mike getting Powerbars: Heather asks him if he likes them
0:03:03 - in the restaurant, Josh sets up the camera away from the table while Heather is talking, then jumps ahead (skipping Heather's claim that she doesn't want "cheese") to a far shot as the waitress comes to their table
0:04:50 - in the car, Josh and Heather hold up a wad of film and call it their "salad"
0:05:38 - Missing the scene with the guy in the yellow cap talking about the Blair Witch
0:06:30 - old man's speech isn't interrupted by the guy in the yellow cap, just goes straight through
0:06:39 - Missing the rest of the guy in the yellow cap; replaced with additional scene with the blonde woman and little girl talking about some missing men
0:08:00 - extension to Heather going through Mary Brown's gate and accidentally breaking it
0:10:41 - Josh on the bed joking about not dying, leading into the scene of them clinking bottles and congratulating each other
0:13:45 - slight cut from the middle of the fisherman scene where the older one says he wasn't drinking and that it's related to Coffin Rock
0:13:52 - short scene of Josh sitting on the windshield of the car while Mike drives
0:14:18 - more footage driving through the woods, Heather asks Josh how much film he's shot

There's a lot more, but what I need is for someone who has the Sundance and work print versions to see how this list compares to their copies. I don't want to upload something if there's no need. And I'm still having trouble getting it down to a decent enough size without the picture quality going to s***, but I'll talk about that later.

[trey]

Seriously? The board automatically censors posts? Lame. Especially when you consider this compilation:

[Tweek]

Jun 26, 2013 14:47:42 GMT -6 trey said:

Seriously? The board automatically censors posts? Lame.

Lame?  Perhaps.  But necessary.  Anyone of any age can read what is posted here.  Only a few words are censored.  You just happened to find one of them

[rewak]

Checking the workprint most of what you've pointed out is in there but the runtime is way off, the WP only runs for 1:22 and there isn't anything missing in the movie beyond the guy explaining the Rustin Parr story which you said is also missing in your version so there must be additions in your copy later on in the movie. It'd be really cool if you could get a copy of your movie up to share so all the versions could be compared

[trey]

This guy:



They filmed this later and dubbed Heather's voice in; she didn't shoot this.  Presumably this was inserted in order for the ending with Mike to make more sense.

[rewak]

You're the only one then, it's the guy who explains the Rustin Parr legend, maybe watch the movie?

Any progress on encoding this? Try setting for MP4, H.264 video say 1500-2000kbps variable bitrate, AAC audio either 192 or 256kbps, you should come out with something of a good size and quality. MEGA would probably be the best place to upload it to, large file size limits, files don't get deleted so quick after inactivity, quick upload and download speeds.

[trey]

Thanks for the tip. I've been trying to get it encoded right, but everything I try either comes out to 1 or 2 GB, or if I do get it down to around 500 MB, it's horribly blocky and crappy looking. I'll try the settings you suggested and see how that turns out. And I hadn't heard of that site before, so I'll have a look.

[trey]

Jun 29, 2013 21:37:15 GMT -6 rewak said:

Checking the workprint most of what you've pointed out is in there but the runtime is way off, the WP only runs for 1:22 and there isn't anything missing in the movie beyond the guy explaining the Rustin Parr story which you said is also missing in your version so there must be additions in your copy later on in the movie.

Okay...  Hang on.  When you say the work print runs for 1:22, are you counting the closing credits?  Because when I look at my file, the actual movie (Heather's camera crashing to the ground, then blackness) does in fact end at 1:22:22, and then the credits (which are mostly scrolling ones as opposed to the theatrical version's still frames) run for an additional four minutes, bringing the total run time to 1:26:47.  Or maybe the work print everyone has been talking about doesn't have any credits at the end?

And I'm still confused given that I thought people said elsewhere on the board that there was a two and a half hour version.  Was that just a typo?

[rewak]

On the copy i have the credits start but aren't included in full, the timing might match up then but it's hard to know for sure because there's no studio logos at the start of the WP. Here's something i think came with the copy i found, it should be a list of all the differences in the WP but i haven't checked out each and every one of them myself or compared with the final cut to see if i could find anything else.

1. The famous text seen at the beginning of the film pops on screen rather than fading in.

2. When Josh arrives with the camera, Heather does not say "We're going to bump into shit." before she says "We don't want to fuck up the cameras before we leave." The scene is also slightly extended as Josh films Heather near the steps leading up to her house. Heather says "Hey, nice camera there!" before remarking that she's going to bump into the steps.

2. Mike's introduction does not have re-recorded dialogue over it, and the original song ("We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" by The Animals) is intact. Heather says that "we're totally grateful" to Mike for the equipment before cutting to the grocery store.

3. After Mike shows the PowerBar, Heather asks if Mike likes the oatmeal raisin PowerBars. He replies that he's never had a PowerBar before.

4. Heather's dialogue about wanting to avoid making the film cheesy is replaced by a static shot of the three talking after Josh sets the camera in a corner at the diner. The audio isn't the best so I can't make out anything other than Heather stating "I can't stress that enough."

5. The car scene after the cemetary scene is slightly extended as Josh and Heather mess around with a crumpled up "salad" of 16mm film.

6. The man who explains how Rustin Parr would make kids face into the corner is missing in this version.

7. The woman with the toddler has an extra moment where she talks about the murders at Coffin Rock.

8. After arriving at Mary Brown's house, Heather breaks Mary's stick gate.

9. Before toasting in the hotel room, Josh coughs and says "I ain't gonna die, Pa!" (which was seen in at least one commercial for the movie before its release).

10. The drive into the park is edited differently. Heather says the trail should be close, then it immediately cuts to the two fishermen.

11. The fisherman's dialogue about Coffin Rock is missing.

12. There's a brief but funny scene where Josh is on the hood of the car as Mike is driving it. After that, the drive into the park continues. A couple extra shots of the woods going by is shown, as well as Heather asking how much film Josh is shooting as they go along.

13. After Heather says that the group is on track, there is a short scene where Heather expresses her concern about being behind schedule and losing daylight. Mike says "Is it time for another song?" and starts singing.

14. We actually see Josh jump across the small creek before Heather attempts to cross.

15. Heather says something about her camera is a lie before Mike shows off the "leaning stick" (the audio is slightly cut off).

16. The group arrives at the rock pile cemetary, and after Heather asks what part of the Bible Mary Brown was quoting, there is no audio of her trying out loud to remember it, nor is there any audio of Josh saying that the rock piles are an Indian burial ground.

17. After Heather says that the sounds are all around them, she remarks that she "can't see shit", before asking Mike if he is coming out of the tent or not.

18. After the argument and fight about Mike getting rid of the map, Heather tells him "Your ignorance has put our safety in danger." The scene continues as normal until Heather and Mike start fighting again. Their fight is a bit more intense, with Mike saying "Do you want to get fucking hit? Do you?"

19. During the argument about the compass, Heather yells at Josh about how she had been planning the project for two years. She then states that they are walking south no matter what. Josh apparently knocks her down while trying to grab the compass. She reacts by telling him that she will knock him out, then gets up and starts walking again before saying "Fuck you both." Josh calls Heather a bitch, which she replies "Okay, I'm a bitch. I'm a bitch, YOUR friend throws the map in the creek and I'M a bitch. Okay. O-fucking-kay."

(I can see why these last two parts were cut. These additions make all three of them really unlikable in that moment.)

20. Before arriving at the stickmen site, Heather yells that she can barely hear what Mike is saying.

21. There are a few additional shots of the hanging stickmen. Josh says "I've almost got shots of everything" as he goes around filming the stickmen. Also, his line "Jesus Christ. That's fucking creepy." doesn't accompany the shot of the large stickman, but rather is heard before it. Josh explains that he wants to get as far away from there as possible before night falls.

22. The creepy sounds outside the tent later on are a bit louder and more pronounced.

23. I'm not sure if this was a problem with anyone else, but in the theatrical version, I found it hard to tell who was saying "There's no fucking baby out there." In this version, it's pretty clear that Josh is saying it.

24. After finding their campsite destroyed, Heather and Mike begin arguing about leaving. Heather wants to stay to figure out what happened, but Mike insists on leaving right away.

25. The scene where Josh and Mike sing the National Anthem is extended slightly. Heather explains that she doesn't want to be an "humorless pain in the ass", but that she also doesn't get how they can sing at the moment.

26. There is a bit more of Heather crying before she collapses after finding out they've returned to the log they've already crossed.

27. The scene inside the tent after Josh yells at Heather is slightly cut at the beginning. It begins with Heather saying "The smallest comforts we can get are good".

28. After Josh disappears, Mike tells Heather that he just wandered off and how the night before had been a good night because they had been left alone. Heather shouts "Josh, if you're fucking with me, I swear to God I'm going to kill you." After Heather mentions how they can't find Josh because they can't even find the car, Mike explains that Josh is being a jerk. Heather tearfully asks "Why won't he answer us?"

29. When Mike asks Heather about her favorite thing to do on a Sunday, we don't see her unti she says "...but that might change."

30. Despite rumors to the contrary, Mike's confession to the camera is NOT in this version.

31. During Heather's confession, she says "I was very naive. I was very naive, and very stupid, and I shouldn't have put other people in danger for something that was all about me and my selfish motives." A few moments later, she says "It was never my intention to hurt anyone and I hope that's clear.", before saying her famous line "I am so scared." The rest of the confession plays out as seen in the theatrical version.

32. There is a short scene where Heather is crying inside the tent. She sobs as she says "Every night we just wait for them to come."

33. The sound of Mike and Heather being hit from behind is not heard in this version. Heather's scream is also cut short and is shifted so that she is still screaming when she is hit from behind.

34. The film in the 16mm camera keeps rolling for an additional few seconds.

35. There are no end credits.

[voke]

I should be re-uploading my copy of the Workprint this weekend, so PM me if you'd like the link once it's done!