Blair Witch 2 - Artisan Removal Edit & Berlinger Extended

[Deleted]

That would be a sweet collaboration. A few improvements here and there, a nip and tuck here and there. There's always room for improvement, especially with another eye on it.

When I made my cut it took me a very long time but I kept doing it over because I wanted one final cut. What surprised me about you is that you were willing to create multiple cuts.. which I had never thought of before - never wanted either.

[Paxtn]

yeah, some people including myself want different things. Some want Witchcraft intro, some want Haunted, some want original credit theme alongside Witchcraft, I actually like the asylum scenes so extended cut remains the way it will. Then I wanted to make a completely 'raw' cut as close to the directors script so we have the Artisan tampering removal edit here for those reasons, and then I thought we can restore every scene we have here along with it. Yes there is jumps from poor to great shots but some things will need to be sacrificed in order to bring us closer to the original Blair Witch 2 we we're supposed to have. (none of this book of shadows shit)

[Deleted]

I understand. Believe me. And you did great given what you have to work with.

[Paxtn]

question though, would you want the artisan edit scenes and changes, like using finished artisan edit a a template to rework your scenes over, or just a complete recreation from scratch using theatrical scenes?

[Deleted]

Your extended cut would be the easiest source. It still contains asylum flashbacks, and all tour group gore is erased.

[Paxtn]

ah yes my editing program which makes me want to throw my fist through my screen many times over. If it crashes the entire project takes up to five minutes to reopen lol.

[Deleted]

Today I saw you master Jeff's ear to the door while removing 1.5 seconds of gore footage, and it looked perfect. That is something I did not have the capability to do because of my limitation of a proper editing program. And believe me I tried over and over and over at that exact point.

This is why I know you are capable of anything.

[Paxtn]

I appreciate the kind words. When I said "hundreds of hours of editing" in the trailer for Artisan edit, I really meant it. lol

[Deleted]

Jeff's hallway walk has always been a favorite of mine, and you removed his flashbacks perfectly, which are not easily removed.

[Deleted]

BWP will always be my favorite. Forever and ever. But it's not where my heart remains trapped.

My heart remains forever trapped in BW2.

I know it's weird, but it's somehow true. I can't explain why for anyone to understand. Something about the characters lost and never found as individuals themselves - opposed to Heather and Mike and Josh - who all knew exactly where they believed they were going.

BW2 characters were all searchers. Still looking for themselves somehow.
I find them beautiful in a way I have never been able to explain. Because straight from the heart never makes any sense.

[earthboundfan1986]

Aug 16, 2022 0:32:31 GMT -6 @entity said:

BWP will always be my favorite. Forever and ever. But it's not where my heart remains trapped.

My heart remains forever trapped in BW2.

I know it's weird, but it's somehow true. I can't explain why for anyone to understand. Something about the characters lost and never found as individuals themselves - opposed to Heather and Mike and Josh - who all knew exactly where they believed they were going.

BW2 characters were all searchers. Still looking for themselves somehow.
I find them beautiful in a way I have never been able to explain. Because straight from the heart never makes any sense.

I feel exactly the same about the movie

[Paxtn]

My edits being noticed by Ben Rock is such a great feeling. What a legend! Overall response to the edits in the Blair Witch Project official facebook group are very positive!

[Deleted]

Mr. Rock

[Paxtn]

Main post is currently being reworked for better understanding on the two edits.

[Deleted]

Jeffrey's a bad boy. He obtained everything in his warehouse off eBay never caring where it came from. "None of his concern". The savings are simply being passed on.

All his monitors are the "property of Pierson College".. or whatever. Bad Jeff bad!

But in truth we all order off eBay never knowing how things were actually procured by the seller. And there are some real crooked bastard sellers with 100% feedback ratings too.

I have started to warn eBay of their practices - sometimes not caring enough of what or whys. I have somehow always won every dispute, even after being decided against. I'm a fighter that way. I dig in deep for a protracted battle for any refund, even if it's for $5.

In short, I don't play.

[Paxtn]

Why is Jeff holding a gun? lol

[Paxtn]

look under tristens chin, you can see his pistol there.

[Paxtn]

Jeff was going to shoot his way out of the police station

[Paxtn]

[Deleted]

No firearm granted after arrest. Jeff tackled the nearest door guard!

Holy shit a new dynamic and ending!

[Deleted]

Knowing your soul is coursing with BW2, I simply finally ask you to explain yourself fully. To finally share your love.

Even I admitted that there is something mystical about BW2 that cannot be easily defined.

I expect your response to be no shorter than 50 words and contain no grammatical or spelling errors. The cut off limit is 200 words. We don't want to read any more than that, so choose each word wisely and precisely to make a real impact. No grammatical or spelling errors.

I believe in you.

[Paxtn]

I've always had an interest in media which has been changed or altered sometimes for the better or in BW2's case for the worse. I love to see where an idea started and how it ended up in the end, you'll see these sorts of changes in video games a lot and in some cases you'll find older versions of games or textures / models within them which have been left over in the games files as older and different versions than what you'll see in the final release. The same applies for movies with deleted scenes and extended versions which are released later after theatrical cuts.

Another movie which comes to mind is 'Event Horizon', this shares similarities with Blair Witch 2 with there being an ultra rare and now unobtainable directors cut with some really violent scenes which were removed from the film. This is how the director intended the film to be watched, and yet again someone has come along and demanded that things be changed and altered to fit their idea of what they wanted someone else's project to be. It's wrong and it sucks, but it happens a lot in the film and gaming industry unfortunately.

The above two paragraphs are at 200 words so those don't count, I'll now explain what I like about Blair Witch 2 as a film and as a fan editor below.

Blair Witch 2 is a strange film, I've never seen a community so split as to one side absolutely hating the very thought of the film, and the other side including myself absolutely swearing by it as one of the most unique and misunderstood films ever made. We have a director with absolutely no experience whatsoever in the horror genre picked directly to shoot this film, with only roughly 9 months to produce a sequel to one of the most influential horror films of our time, The Blair Witch project. It seems like the film was doomed from the start yet it's clear Joe Berlinger put his heart and soul into making BW2, as did the acting cast members and all the rest.

However... the final product we received was so wildly different than what was intended, though almost presented like a jumbled up puzzle with the original product somewhere buried deep within. It's like it was asking to be edited back to its original state from the moment it was released. We have Joe Berlinger basically explaining word to word with the directors commentary on how it should be, rather than how it is now. Almost like guide. I've never seen a film before which was so 'editable' and still worked. If you dig deep enough you can restore the true directors cut of BW2 somewhere within that puzzle so to speak. It's pretty crazy to me that Artisan even allowed Joe to have that directors commentary on the special features of the DVD, glad we got it though.

Blair Witch 2 comes from from the very end of an era, the tone and setting of the film reeks of late 90's / early 2000's at its core. I absolutely love the cast, the characters are like you said all looking for something. Take Kim for example, she is literally there because 'she feels the need to be' - her mind told her that is where she needed to be for whatever reason it was, she didn't know but she knew she had to find out. Each character represents a Blair Witch fan, for whatever reason they are fans is different to one another. I feel as if I myself could be the sixth group member on Jeff's tour and it would still work perfectly. The film acts as almost a love letter and hate letter at the same time to fans of Blair Witch. It's an interesting take on a sequel, especially avoiding the genre of being another found footage film (which is what fans were expecting of BW2).

In short, Kim is hot. The music is great, the descent into madness is a wild ride. I love how much BW lore the film throws at you (especially with the deleted scene with the group walking to the Parr Ruins house). The Blair Witch Project and BW2 are films which will only get better with age, these are things that can't be recreated in todays cinema. It's just not possible.


200 words was too short man, sorry.

[Paxtn]

I've updated the main post of this thread with detailed points on the Artisan edit. Change log will be updated soon as will the detailed points on the Extended Cut edit.

[Deleted]

Hey, this is cool man.

[Deleted]

I've created a new prologue for my BW2 personal cut. I was never really happy with my original beginning because it was so short.