The movie was shot for only eight days in October 1998. Most of the movie was filmed in the tiny Seneca Creek State Park in Montgomery County, Maryland, although a few scenes were filmed in the real town of Burkittsville. Some of the townspeople interviewed in the film were not actors, and some were planted actors, unknown to the main cast. Donahue had never operated a camera before, and spent two days in a "crash course". Donahue said she modeled her character after a director she once worked with, citing the character's self assuredness when everything went as planned, and confusion during crisis. The three actors filmed the whole movie with only two cameras. They recorded using Heather's video camera and a 16mm camera that can record video in black and white. The apparent use of handheld camera, and the coarse grained picture supports clearly the film's documentary feel. The strange recording method is also based on the actors who did not know the movie's story in detail. The three actors were dragged into the woods, and almost tortured with the cold weather, food shortages and spooky sounds.