Genre Conventions of 'The Blair Witch Project' Opening Scene

We are introduced to the narrative and character. This reinforces the genre as she is going in search of the mythical Blair witch. (The Blair witch is clearly the antagonist within the horror film).

Within the mise-en-scene, we see ghost and pumpkin images which are leftover from halloween but is used as iconography which reminds as halloween connotes spooky and evil.

When one of the characters mentions cutting themselves, the girl replies with “we’ll save that for later” as a joke. This foreshadows the horror to come later and the danger that they will face. (This is a common enigma used in horror).

In this type of horror, when it’s filmed in the style of a documentary, the realism and amateur camera shots make the viewer feel slightly disorientated and on edge. (For example, shaky camera shots).

Within the mise-en-scene we notice that they’re in a graveyard. This again foreshadows and symbolises the death that may occur later.

The characters seem quite typical of the horror genre as they are inquisitive but also naive. The naivety could symbolise their victim role within the horror genre.

The fact that the setting is in the middle of the woods is a typical convention of a horror as it’s deserted and isolated.