Driven by internet buzz and shrewd marketing, the indie movie breaks. The blair witch project 1999 and its sequel blair witch 2016. The blair witch project created buzz at the 1999 sundance film festival, where it screened as a midnight movie. The blair witch project, an indie horror flick, changed the game for both movie marketing and online marketing back in 1999.
Campaigns for films such as the blair witch project sanchez and myrick. How the original blair witch project ushered in a new era of viral. Blair witch 2 is a 2000 american psychological horror film, directed and cowritten by joe berlinger and starring jeffrey donovan, stephen barker turner, kim director, erica leerhsen, and tristine skyler. Its curious to think that the most successful viral marketing campaign in.
The original blair witch project was the first movie that gained infamy on the internet. As blair witch 2016 takes to the box office, the drum catches up with of one of the creators behind the original movies website to find out how the film kickstarted a viral marketing trend that. Director eli roth has cited the film as a marketing influence to promote his 2002 horror film cabin fever with the internet. The buzz surrounding that movie was extraordinary, yet they had one of the lowest film budgets ever. Blair witch 2, follows the younger brother of heather donahue the documentary filmmaker who vanished while.
How the blair witch project made people think it was real. How the original blair witch project ushered in a new era. It was 15 years ago when the blair witch project was killing it at the box office, generating buzz and excitement over what we know now as one of. The blair witch project is a 1999 american supernatural horror film written, directed and edited. Inside the blair witch marketing campaign, and the difficulty of following a. The marketing, which went viral even before viral marketing was a buzz word, solidified the legend. His latest book, away with words, is available from harper perennial. The film was immediately greenlit upon pitch due to the surprising success of its predecessor, the wildly successful 1999 film the blair witch project. Revisiting one of the best viral marketing campaigns of all time. The runup to the release of 2008s cloverfield was marked with a slew of viral websites with only loose links to the film itself. Viral marketing campaigns for horror movies from the blair witch. The blair witch project was conceived by two florida filmmakers. The hype surrounding the blair witch project is a rare phenomenon in which a purely fictitious film sorry to burst the occult lovers bubble, but there is no blair witch myth. The blair witch project and theres something about mary.
The internet is now an essential part of all marketing strategies in the movie industry but it was the 1999 phenomenon that was the blair witch project that is credited with being the first movie. We take a look back at the way the web was used to make the blair witch project a hit, and the era of viral film marketing it began. Upon release, the blair witch project quickly became a phenomenon. Blair witch project still the greatest marketing campaign after 15. Usa today reported that the blair witch project was the first film to go viral despite having been. Mwp digital media and my web presenters are currently offline. Many audience members were unfamiliar with the technique before blair witch, leading to some consequences unique to the presocial media era the movies marketing campaign was designed to convince the public that the footage was real through extensive online lore around the fictional legend of the blair witch and missing posters featuring the actors distributed at screenings. Williams, and joshua leonardwho hike in the black hills near burkittsville, maryland in 1994 to film a documentary about a local legend known as the blair witch. The collected data found in this dossier lends more eerie authenticity. It tells the fictional story of three student filmmakersheather donahue, michael c. Pdf on mar 1, 2017, lioba frings published viral marketing campaigns for horror movies from the blair witch project 1999 up to rings. The blair witch project is a 1999 american supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by daniel myrick and eduardo sanchez. Although the movie itself may not have turned out as great as all the hype. The collected data found in this dossier lends more eerie authenticity to the whole affair.
It was 15 years ago when the blair witch project was killing it at the box office, generating buzz and excitement over what we know now as one of the best stunts in movie history. As blair witch 2016 takes to the box office, the drum catches up with of one of the. Blair witch, which appears to wisely ignore the ambitious but terrible book of shadows. How to create word of mouth marketing according to former marketing executive emanuel rosen, some books and movies became. Revisiting one of the best viral marketing campaigns of. Och om fler och fler foretag far upp ogonen for buzz marketing over internet kan detta resultera till att smaningom. Barrett to make blair witch, as the studio ramped up to release the duos buzzworthy splatterfest, youre next.
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