[arg_discuss] Blair Witch

[Michael Monello]

Catching up from the holidays. Happy New Year everyone!

I too took the term "staged discussion" to mean astroturfing or faked  
postings to forums, which did not happen. While I didn't like the  
term it was the use of "hoax" that ruffled my feathers. Basically, if  
BWP was a "hoax" then every ARG that came after could be labeled a hoax.


> hoax  [hohks]

> –noun

> 1. something intended to deceive or defraud: The Piltdown man was a  

> scientific hoax.

>

> –verb (used with object)

> 2. to deceive by a hoax; hoodwink.

>

> —Related forms

> hoaxer, noun

>

> —Synonyms

> 1. deception, fraud, fake, imposture, humbug.


Blair Witch became a cultural touchstone, and at a time when few  
really understood the real power of community building and  
storytelling via the net at the time (remember this was even before  
blogs), and that set the stage for a great deal of sloppy reporting  
about what was happened.

The web presentation of Blair Witch was no different than any ARG  
past or present -- a website with a slowly unveiling storyline. At no  
time was there any claim anywhere on the site stating that anything  
was real. In fact, the history was littered with fictional names and  
events, similar to the way ARGs telegraph themselves. Here's a big  
one the very namesake county of the witch never existed -- there was  
never a Blair County, Maryland. Names of museums, prominent people,  
etc, were all fictions. It was spectacularly simple to poke holes  
through the story -- the only "evidence" supporting any of the  
fiction was found on the Blair Witch site. There was available on the  
site, however, a newsletter (published in blog format), detailing the  
production of the film. Basically a peek behind the curtain,  
something that current ARG's don't even offer while they are running.  
We did endeavor to keep the two spaces separate, so that the behind  
the scenes material did not blend in with the fiction, but both were  
open an available to all. Even after the film was bought by Artisan,  
we continued to journal the process on our site. The film and TV  
mockumentary carried the standard fiction disclaimers. There was  
more, but you get the idea.

While getting into details could fill a book, here is the view of  
what the Blair Witch Project encompassed from 100,000 feet:

An interactive and very deep story spread out over a variety of media  
- websites, a book, several comics, a feature film, a television  
special, three PC video games, a soundtrack CD that extended the  
story, etc.

Community and audience collaboration - a huge online community  
interacting on many forums for discussion (including but not limited  
to our "official" forum, story elements written and created based on  
how the audience interacted with the narrative, an insane number of  
fan sites that extended the story well beyond the "official" sites, etc.

Game elements -- pages from Heather's diary were hidden online and  
the audience had to work together to find them. Once they found a  
page, we would release another and the audience collaboratively  
pieced together the diary. When the audience found these pieces of  
evidence they would then be posted for everyone else. This part of  
the campaign was never written about because it was simply too  
difficult for most reporters of the day to wrap their heads around,  
and it just wasn't as sexy as all the fansites and fan-created  
content and general mania that was surrounding the project --  
nevertheless it was a vital part of the experience.

To be clear, I'm not saying that Blair Witch Project was the first to  
do any of this (BWP started in April 1998 and continued through the  
release of the film in July 1999), but I really do get upset when the  
ARG community writes off Blair Witch as some kind of "hoax" that  
doesn't really relate to the genre outside of some general elements,  
especially when it remains one of the most successful and widely  
known example of what we are all currently doing.

And I read that last paragraph and see that it comes off as  
completely egotistical and self-serving and it probably is, even  
though I don't intend it to be. That's why I generally avoid  
discussing it and usually just let it slide when it comes up, but it  
just bothered the hell out of me to see it in the whitepaper,  
especially considering I'm on the list here and would have been happy  
to discuss or verify anything relating to BWP for it if asked.

Best,

Mike
__________
Campfire: http://www.campfiremedia.com
Haxan Films: http://www.haxan.com


On Dec 22, 2006, at 8:49 PM, Hugh Davies wrote:


> Forgive my ignorance Micheal, but I haven't seen your discussions  

> outlining

> the elements of transparency in Blair Witch campaign in this list so i

> appogise if im skipping over well trodden ground. I can only guess  

> that this

> discussion happened over a year ago and thus before my time.

>

> I have to say, at the time of its release there was little to  

> suggest to the

> average punter that Blair Witch was anything but kosher in that  

> kind of

> social "saw it with my own eyes" urban myth way. I noticed Wikipedia

> mentions Blair Witch as "presented as documentary" yet many sites  

> refer to

> it lovingly as a hoax.

>

> I guess what I'm most curious about what term do you feel would best

> represent the nature of the Blair Witch text?

>

>

>

> ps

>

> For what is worth, I took "staged discussion" to mean stuff like  

> forums,

> documentaries and other media that are created to reinforce the  

> mythology of

> the original text.

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