Those VHS camcorders may not seem much, but they were notorious battery hogs. I am surprised they had enough battery for like 5 days of shooting. They would have needed an entire bag of battery packs. Since they also lost charge, even when they were not used.
shareA quote from Heather early in the film, "We have enough battery power to fuel a small third world country for a month."
So they evidently did oversupply on the battery front.
Also, how much did they really shoot? The film itself is only like 80 minutes long. It's reasonable to assume that we don't see all the footage they shot in the film as it's presented, but how much they shot in totality is completely speculative. Could be that they didn't shoot all that much more than what we see in the film. How much battery power would be required to shoot ~90-100 minutes of footage over several days?
shareThose bag packs were massive. It wasn't really explained how long they originally planned the trip to Rustin Parr's House or whatever they were even actually heading! It was burned down for decades in the reality of 1994!
You would assume to not camp in a unknown wooden terrain (with criminal history) over night without some kind of rescue management. But they brought tent all along from start. I found it irritating how fast on Day 1 they started so much arguing and being scary frustrated! It should have build up way more believable. The cast of 3 was unlikeable from start so a lot drama was lost... first gaining their sympathy!
Surely locals do get in the wood for recreation, jogging, walking dogs on the daily. 50 yrs nothing happened of that kind anymore? I read somewhere that you have to stay overnight for the witch to shift reality. Making them walk in circles. Time-travel.
But what did the all those many young kids in the 1940s do all alone in the woods without parental guidance for at least more than 10 hours? I mean most kids are totally bored done on a 1 hour wood trip! And you surely don't start a leisure breathing walk at 8pm!
But for young film students pulling THAT off. Hats all off!
Strange not hearing anything about them anymore afterwards. Usually being sought after directors/producers with triple million budgets.
They weren't "young film students." They were actors playing young film students (though they used their real names)
There's no Blair Witch or criminal history ... that's all part of the film's folklore and it's 100% made up
Lastly, they were provided with batteries throughout the shoot (which produced dozens of hours of footage). The filmmakers would leave them spare batteries and secret instructions each morning for the actors to find.
Remember, they weren't literally "lost in the woods." They were in a gully about 50 yards from the road.