Podkayne, Sing it bother.
pepperlandgirl, thank you. I’m glad I’m not the only one that was bugged by it. It just offends me to the core as a Doper.
Exactly my thoughts…in fact, there was a whole marketing campaign leading up to the launch of The Blair Witch Project that framed it as a series of real-life events. The campaign created buzz that the film was able to build on and do so successfully.
Here, with White Noise, things seem much along the same track, no? They are introducing this phenomenon of “EVP,” which some people believe as legit, but which has no scientific underpinnings. I strongly believe that people who see that campaign are going to recognize it as the premise on which the film is based, rather than as scientific and established fact. However, folks who already believe in the supernatural are perhaps going to have another creepy belief to add to their list of beliefs.
In other words…this isn’t going to have an impact on anyone. Skeptics and logical rationalists will recognize it as the premise of a film, while fans of the supernatural will Google it and file it in their brains alongside translocation and the Loch Ness Monster.
My impression of The Blair Witch Project:
“Where’s the fucking map?”
“I don’t KNOW where the fucking map is, you tell me!”
“I can’t believe you fucking got us lost. This is fucking bullshit!”
“I’m not the one who got us lost. You’re the one who lost the fucking map!”
“I didn’t lose the fucking map, YOU lost the fucking map!”
Repeat for two hours. It’s like being on vacation with my wife.
And you just know there’s a guy at a studio right now trolling the web for possible script ideas, so it won’t be long until somebody starts working on a script for:
TimeCube
based on a real website
I think that you may have meant to say, “Based on a really bad website”.
I dunno. The ad campaign makes me think of “War of the Worlds”. I think it’s an interesting marketing tool. And I hate marketing.
Also, I miss read this:
As
Which is true in many, many contexts!
I’m personally surprised no one has done a movie about that time-traveler guy that did the rounds in 2000 or thereabouts. John Titor, I believe. At least that guy put on a semi-credible front, unlike the EVP guys who are no more than ghost hunters and aura photographers with tape decks and good microphones. Or the Time Cube guy, who is just batshit insane.
Dio I think that this “portray it as a real thing” thing actually works to our advantage, in the long run. Think about it – White Noise advances itself as based on “real phenomena” and then every tabloid news program and Entertainment Weekly special spends its time identifying it as a “pseudodocumentary” or enlightening the consumer how wacky the EVP folks really are. You just know Access Hollywood is going to do an expose about “The Real EVP Hunters” and of course they will come off as glorified ghost hunters and aura photographers with tape decks and good microphones.
And for the sliver of people who get into the movie not knowing it is crapola IRL, then maybe the movie will invoke them to actually open a few websites to see if it is real. The movie will shine a light on these guys and most people will end up coming away more educated about it, and therefore more skeptical.
It is the same as what happened with the lunar landing hoax TV special Fox aired a few years ago. Sure they aired it, but not before a hundred NASA guys and debunkers had their say. The optimist in me says that more people were convinced that the moon landing was real from the brouhaha than were convinced that it was fake from the TV special.
It must be real. They have a website. Actually, not just one site, but a whole webring. It’s not like any old nut is putting up a web page.
The documentary is real. It’s not a pseudo-doc in any way (Meaning, the people and their stories are real. I’m not going to touch the subject of EVP being real or not). I am a member of the aforementioned AAEVP. The AAEVP has been around since the early 1980s. Universal Studios approached them while doing research for “White Noise” and the people you see in the documentary are AAEVP members.
Well that explains that, but really that makes it worse, not better. That’s exactly the kind of dishonest and irresponsible tripe that pisses me off when I see it on television. It gives the impression that “EVP” and other “paranormal” phenomena are actually taken seriously by scientists. It’s the willful dissemination of ignorance.
Am I the only one who immediately pictured that little girl in Poltergeist turning back from the TV and saying “They’re here?”
I think EVP is utter bullshit, but at least the movie looks fun. I love to be scared even though I know that ghosts won’t be jumping out at me from my bathroom mirror. I agree with you about how they are trying to make EVP seem real but I think that most people are already retarded enough to think EVP real before seeing that trailer.
Wow. It hit GQ already.
Or the girl in “The Ring”.
I love movies that make you frightened of static! 
It was the first thing I thought of.
Whether you like it or not, there are actual scientists who study that sort of thing. EVP is as real a phenomena as UFOs, ghosts, angels, ESP, psi abilities, the Jersey Devil, and a whole host of other conclusions drawn from strange observations. You may not like that some people do take the time to seriously investigate them, but they aren’t hurting you, so why so angry about it? There are a lot of nutjobs, yeah, but there is also some serious investigation going on as to why these things happen. I don’t believe in these things specifically, but I also believe we don’t know everything there is to know about the world from a scientific standpoint, by a longshot, and it doesn’t bother me in the slightest that there are people out there trying to find the causes of phenomena like that. (And yeah, it’s a “real” phenomena, it happens. It might not really be dead people speaking, but the phenomena itself is real. That’s what it is.)
I don’t see you ranting about the people out in the desert or climbing mountains trying to find evidence of Sodom and Gomorrah or the art from Noah’s flood, and to me, the stories in the Bible and all of religion itself has just as much a lack of grounding in reality. I’m more inclined to believe in ghosts than that, because at least the ghosts don’t come with a set of man-made dogma and arbitrarily rules I have to follow to properly believe in them.
I’ve listened to a four-hour interview with the heads of the AAEVP – these are not malicious people out to rape money from gullible idiots. They are at least sincere in their research no matter how valid it is or is not. Just because you think they are wasting their time in what they do, or that people that believe EVP may be possible are total wacko nutjobs or slobbering idiots… well. I just don’t think it deserves all the venom given the widely accepted “no basis in science or reality” millions of people already have. Pit The Passion of the Christ for portraying the image that the crucifixition and ressurection really happened, why don’t you?
Wow, a thread in which I can truly provide a dissenting opinion. 
I’ve been a member of a statewide paranormal interest group for a couple of years now. I’m what you might call the “believing skeptic” – that is, while I do believe there is evidence to suggest that something paranormal exists, I don’t necessarily believe every single incident is representative of paranormal phenomena, either. I prefer to rule out all possible natural explanations first; if there’s even the possibility that something could be the result of a natural event, then I discount it. Period.
I don’t share this approach with a lot of folks in the organization. Many people take photos, see an “orb,” and immediately attribute it to the presence of a spirit. Wha? Excuse me? Does it not matter the environment (indoor OR outdoor) is heavy with dust? A lot of folks also talk about paranormal phenomena with a voice such that it is fact (i.e. “An orb is a byproduct of a spirit trying to manifest by pulling energy from around it.”) Um, says who? Just where is this proven, scientific fact?
Yes, among a group of people studying strange anomalies, I’m somewhat of an anomaly myself among my peers. I take it very seriously, and it’s my belief that until people take a more scientific approach to it and quit passing along pure conjecture as fact, those of us interested in this phenomena will never be taken seriously by the scientific community.
Now that I’ve provided a bit of background about myself and my beliefs in this area, here’s some specifics. I’ve been on countless “hunts” and several private investigations as a part of this group. The vast majority of the time, anything I’ve captured on film (I was primarily interested in photographic evidence in the beginning because I’ve always enjoyed photography) can be attributed to natural phenomena. I believe “orbs” have natural explanations – lens flare, dust, bugs, snow, rain, whatever. While others have captured “mist” or “ectoplasm” pictures, I’ve never done so. Not saying it doesn’t exist – just that I haven’t captured it.
It was during a private investigation in an old home in an historic part of my city that I became a believer of EVP. The couple in question already knew they had a spirit in their home, and our findings wouldn’t convince them otherwise – they were just curious to see if we could come up with something. And it was during an interview with this couple, when I was present, that we picked up a voice that clearly said the word “Here.” The voice was picked up on three different recording devices – a digital recorder, an analog tape recorder using a new tape, and a video recorder. The video recorder is particularly significant because all parties are in the frame, yet when the word “here” is heard, nobody is saying a thing. This isn’t one of those really-use-your-imagination-to-figure-out-the-EVP voices, either. It’s loud, it’s clear, and it’s obvious.
I tried everything I could to explain it away. I couldn’t. I had to accept that there might be something to this phenomena, and so I delved deeper into it. I ditched the camera and started conducting EVP sessions myself.
Several times, I’ve picked up voices – sometimes what sounds like phrases – with no explanation. I’m present at these sessions, I’m asking the questions, and I am completely aware of external noise (appropriately notating anything as mundane as a dog barking off in the far distance). While the EVP I’ve captured has been unintelligible to me up to this point, there’s no doubt that there is the unmistakable sound of human conversation on the recordings.
The other phenomena I’ve encountered a couple of times as a part of this group is unexplained cold spots. Using an infrared thermometer, I’ve been able to confirm massive drops in air temperature with no obvious explanation – no vents, no open or cracked windows, no drafts, nothing. I’ve literally stood in a room where one half of me was sweating, and the other half was icy cold. Again, as a believer but a skeptic, it’s just amazing – there’s nothing to explain these events.
Let me end by saying that White Noise will probably take EVP to an extreme. Yeah, it’ll probably use the basic premise of EVP for the story, but in Hollywood fashion, it will probably go off the deep end. That’s fine with me; in fact, anything that can at least introduce this phenomena to the masses is cool with me.
Still skeptical? Try it yourself. Anyone can do it – all you need is something to record with and an open mind.
I am a non-believer but some of the “voices” on this website are pretty clear. I am thinking hoax maybe? Interesting, nonetheless.
No. Actually, there are not.
Not one of those things is a real phenomenon and no scientist takes any of them seriously.
I don’t care if they investigate it as long as they don’t go around trying to say this crap is true.
No there isn’t. There are hobbyists and enthusiasts who “study” this kind of horseshit and delude themselves into thinking there’s anything to it. None of it is taken seriously by scientists because none of it has ever been confirmed under scientific conditions to be real.
It’s not a real phenomenon. It’s people with too much time on their hands making pitctures of of static “clouds.”
You haven’t read too many of my posts then because I’m every bit as scornful of that kind of crap as I am of this. I don’t believe in ghosts or aliens or in gods. I don’t believe in miracles. I don’t believe there is any such thing as a supernatuiral event in any way shape form fashion or paradigm. I make no exception for gods and in the case of Noah’s Ark what on earth makes you think I would take such claptrap seriously? I will cheerfully and vociferously mock anyone and everyone who goes looking for Noah’s Ark, believe me.
The ethical questions are neither here nor there. An imaginary entity such as a “ghost” is not made more plausible because it’s a nice ghost. The issue is purely empirical. The concept of “ghost” cannot even be meaningfully defined or presented as a coherent scientific theory. What IS a “ghost?” What is it made of? Where is it in the human body? How does it perceive light and sound? How does it think and remember? WHY do they exist? These questions go on forever and that’s why they’re not a legitimate avenue of scientific inquiry. “Ghost” is a meaningless word which has no definition, makes no predictions as a theory and has absolutely no necessity as a hypothesis.
If they’re asking for money then they are con artists and thieves. This is a phony “science.” These people are no better than pet psychics or “channelers.” They are, without exception, either scam artists or they are deluded. Without exception.
Many people people who believe in bigfoot and flying saucers are sincere as well. I don’t care what they want to believe or “investigate” as long as they don’t try to scam people out of their money. My issue isn’t even so much with the believers as it is with an ad campaign that presents this stuff as thought it were genuine or taken seriously be scientists or as if a single instance of it had ever been confirmed as an authentic voice of a dead person. It’s irresponsible.
Keep thinking that.