10 Genius Techniques Directors Used To Get Great Movie Performances

2. The Directors Kept The Cast In The Dark (Literally) - The Blair Witch Project

Love it or hate it, The Blair Witch Project benefits immensely from the totally convincing trio of performances at its core, with Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard entirely believable as three student filmmakers lost and terrified in the woods.

But they were only acting so much, as writer-directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez continually tricked and toyed with them over the course of the eight-day shoot.

For starters, many of the Burkittsville townsfolk interviewed at the start of the film were actually planted actors, unbeknownst to the three.

But for the actual shoot in the dense Maryland woods, the actors were only given vague hints about where to go, using a GPS device to locate the clues. These clues were actor-specific and encouraged improvisation, while insisting that each actor not show their instructions to their co-stars.

Further still, the directors would harass the actors when they bunked down in their tents for the night, blasting sounds of children screaming through a boombox and even stealing their food.

And for an added troll, Myrick and Sánchez ensured to have the shoot end on Halloween night, meaning the actors emerged from the woods only to be surrounded by suited-up trick-or-treaters. Gnarly.