I am the Blair Witch

These quotes that we are meant to analyze in terms of applying them to the "Blair Witch Project" hint at the absence of aura that the film creates. This is exactly what this film exhibits though; in an attempt to throw out all conventional filmwork such as the photography, cutting of scenes, and layout of the story, an aura is built up from the reality the "mechanical equipment" portrays. I don't think anything like "The Blair Witch Project" had ever been created before, so as this is a very original piece of art, that in itself helps emanate some aura of the film.
The first quote states that the "singularity of the shot in the studio is that the camera is substituted for the public". Also, as a result, the aura that the actors convey dissipates. However in the "Blair Witch Project", this is not the case. As much as the camera might be a substitute for the audience, it works both ways for the actors as well. The actors of the film see the same thing that the audience would. So there is a duplicity of viewing, and a different reality is shared by both. And therefore, the audience participates in this aura, which is somewhat reminiscent of the aura one would feel in a performance of "Macbeth" like the quote dicusses. On the other hand, an argument suggesting that the film loses in a sense some of its aura because it is a mechanical reproduction of the art of a Hollywood film is true. Like Walter Benjamin says in his essay "A Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", something that is the product of mechanical reproduction may not touch the actual work of art (in this case the film taking some of the elements of another film), and the quality of the film consequently is lessened.
The second quote I agree with more. Because of the cameraman's work in penetrating reality the way he/she does with the mechanical equipment at hand, its true that the final picture is really "pieced" together, and you get a more "real" outlook in the end; whereas a painter will paint reality as art in a whole. This tends to be less realistic because of the equipment used. In "The Blair Witch Project", not only did the use of equipment like their cameras present a reality through just a camera, but it also had the illusion as if one was perceiving reality through a set of eyes. And that it of itself brought another aspect of reality to the screen.
After analyzing those two quotes, I have come to believe "The Blair Witch Project" is more of an attempt to cut into reality. Walter states "the uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable from its being imbedded in the fabric of tradition", and with "BWP"'s attempt to try varying and unique means of photography, the reality created is inseparable from any other work of art. The crew of the film really did try and delve into reality and break it down into something that would translate to the audience in a way that was never really accomplished before. And now with movies such as "Cloverfield" and "Paranormal Activity", this type of integration of reality is being duplicated on the screen. These films are essentially the mechanical reproduction of "BWP", and that being said, those are the movies which lose a sense of aura--not "The Blair Witch Project".