Narratives around the underlying conditions of documentary: We experience a completely different fascination when we are witnessing the lives of other people, even though these people seem to be living in the same real world as we do. In this film, the fascination is not only that it combines the conventions of the documentary with the rough feeling of realism produced by the camcorder, giving a fictional situation historical credibility, but also makes full use of the Feature-related publicity and public channels in preparation to help audiences enjoy the film. These sources include a website with background information on Blair the Witch, expert testimony, and related "real" people and events, leading to the belief that the film is not fictitious or merely a documentary film, but is based on three tragically disappeared made from the original footage of the filmmakers. Everything is designed to market the film under that banner. If nothing else, Blair Witch reminds us that our own perceptions of whether a film is a documentary or not is highly susceptible to the opinions of others.
--Bill Nichols, "Introduction to Documentary"
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