Though similar to scenes of horror, the scene of dread contains different techniques and motives that work in tandem to create the iconic horror film experience. Temporally, horror resides in the here and now, the present shocking situation or threat. The focus of dread however, is on the future possibly harmful outcomes of a character’s position. Horror is meant to be shocking to the audience and dread comes prior and disappears when the character is met with the antagonist or outcome. The intentionality of both also vary when defining the anchoring point, what the viewer is afraid of and the concentration section, the item or action the fear is placed within. In horror, the points are given all at once where the being is doing the action that both the viewer and character are fearing yet in dread, those components are separated and the intentional object is less coherent. In Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez’s film “The Blair Witch Project”, the protagonists fear the Blair Witch but it is unclear exactly what she does to her victims.
Dread moments can create strong forms of immersion for the viewers experiencing the film within the cinema. These moments are hard to replicate in other settings and the emotions elicited for the events within the film are felt less intensely. Spatial immersion occurs when the character moves through a dark space. This change in light also affects the viewer when the only light source in the room dims significantly. This is present in the film when they record at night as they walk through the forest and when they enter the dilapidated building. Temporal immersion is when the viewer begins to think of the different outcomes in the future. This is present in dread scenes because there is a surplus of information but not spatially. Emotional immersion due to anticipatory fear focuses the viewer’s attention on the current action and keeps them engaged. There are several factors that create these forms of immersion and cue the viewer as to when a dread scene starts.
There are explicit cues like narrative foreshadowing that inform the viewer of a dread scene through the development of plot. This device contains cataphora or references to events made in advance that occur later in the story.
Verbal foreshadowing that inform viewers through dialogue. There are two means by which to distinguish the degree of foreshadowing. There is a degree of specificity which explains how vague or precise the information is and a degree of temporal proximity that shows how early on in the film the information is given. The first instance is when the student s interview the residents of Burkittsville and one man talks about the story of Rustin Parr, who is believed to have been forced to kill seven children by the Blair witch. The result of this information doesn’t happen until later into the plot and it is revealed in a vague way. In the final scene, we don’t see who kills them, only their body movements and an obscure face in the basement of this old house.
Cues of dread can also be implicit and lie within cinema techniques. Dread scenes don’t have an establishing shot and give the viewer the ability to understand the depth of the space. This can help to amplify the feeling of unease when the character is lost within the space. In the film, there is no extreme long shot of the forest so the viewer does not know the true size of it. They get brief glimpses of the map but that is lost half way through the trip. During the scenes at night, the framing is relatively close and they rarely film the forest due to the fear they experience when hearing unidentifiable noises. This leads the viewer to question what is truly beyond the tent, thus stirring anticipation Though shaky, they film medium shots of their body and keep the camera in one spot. They only move the camera when they try to find the direction of these noises in a quick pan.
Sound plays an important part in the film and have their own spatial awareness to indicate dread. The film begins with music playing from the car that in in the shot. As they make their way into the forest, the sounds that they first hear are the sounds of crickets and birds chirping but with every passing day that sound decreases. At night, the characters are confronted with sounds of twigs snapping, children crying, and eventually one of their friends screaming in pain. All of these sounds are out of frame where the characters are constantly questioning what they are and where they are coming from. These questions are asked by the viewers themselves further causing anticipation when they question the unknown. Various answers could be made and with more time passing between the hypothesis and answer, the more those feelings of anticipation are heightened. When the threat is the greatest to the characters is also when the crickets are no longer heard making a more tense and uncomfortable experience that furthers their isolation from the outside world.
The mis-en-scene is used throughout the film to restrict vision and enhance off-screen space. The lighting is manipulated in the film whenever it changes from day to night. The idea of traveling through a vast forest in darkness changes the pace of action and heightens other stimuli as well. The characters are either in their tent hiding and using still camera shots or running or quickly moving towards any sounds which causes the camera to shake violently. This is compared to when it is daylight and the camera makes slow pans across objects or track each other. Both the settings of the forest and house are disorienting and the characters don't have a strong sense of direction. The roads and hallways are both winding and does not give the viewer a feeling of forward movement within each space.
Feelings of dread can be amplified when the viewer shows sympathy or empathy for the character in a threatening situation. The viewer can experience empathy either through a somatic or imaginative response. In a somatic response, the viewer instinctively mimics the reactions of the character. In the film, this response might occur when Heather found the pile of twigs tied up in Josh’s now bloodied shirt. They could scrunch up their face in disgust similar to Heather’s regardless of whether we see her face or not. In an imaginative response, the viewer might put themselves in the character’s shoes and takes on their perspective.
Feelings of sympathy can occur when characters share the same emotion. This is achieved when the viewer sees the character as an individuated, separate from background characters, and and continuous agent meaning that they have multiple options when completing a task or goal. Then they should be aligned to the character through understanding their actions and emotions. The viewer also emotionally evaluates the characters which builds the alliance. Sympathy leads the viewer to invest more into the character and the weight of any threats increases which builds more anxious anticipation when the outcome of their well being is unknown.
While focusing heavily on dread scenes, the Blair Witch Project still contains elements of its gothic roots within the film genre. The forest in Burkettsville is believed to be cursed and to an extend where they warn the characters of the dangers that lie ahead. They visit the graveyard of the children who had died at the hands of the witch along with ritualistic cairns for the children. They eventually get lost due to one character throwing away the map however they started to feel like they were lost the day before. Tis results in the characters and possibly the viewers seeing the forest as an isolating area separated from time and space. There is no way to contact help and at one point walk back to the same area they had originally left. The characters start to go mad after having very little food, water, and sleep with the latter being caused by unexplainable noises.
These elements are then combined with the cognitive workings of a dread scene to create repeated yet still frightening moments of anxious anticipation. An example of this can be found during the sixth night when all three of the students are in the tent. They wake up in the tent to sounds of weird vocalizations and children yelling. During this time, the lack of spatial information is present and we a surplus of information that is coming from outside of the screen. This first cues the viewer that a dread scene is beginning. Both the viewer and the characters formulate hypothesis as to what that screaming really is however with additional time and no definite answer, the viewer becomes more intrigued as to the cause of the information surplus. Along with the spatial immersion of a now dark theatre, the viewer is further drawn into the film world where they are now anxiously anticipating the result. It is then where the dread scene shifts over to horror and the tent is being moved by an unknown outside force. The viewer is now focused temporally on the present as the characters are screaming and running.