CASE STUDY 3
REC
(1 hour and 18
minutes) it follows a news reporter and a cameraman who joins emergency
officers into an apartment building where sometime strange is happening. It’s
currently has a rating of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and it has spawned three
sequels [REC 2], [REC 3] and the upcoming REC 4 Apocalypse.
USE OF SINGLE-CAMERA PRODUCTION
[REC]
uses and perfectly executes single camera movement which is mostly hand-held to
create a sense of realism, an example of this is that both main characters
Angela and Pablo are working for the news and the camera they use lacks the
“Film-look” which heightens the sense of realism and focuses on the horror
convention of “found footage”. Directors Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza have
used the “Blair-Witch-style single camera” work to perfectly build suspense
within the story.
Most
of the scenes featured in this film have continuous shots made by Pablo with no
editing used and most of the shots are out of focus because of the continuous
zooms Pablo does in this scene. An example of this is when they encounter the
old lady who has a strange illness and she bites the police officer. Intense
close-ups are used to show claustrophobia within some scenes of the film, an
example of this is when everyone is crowding one tiny corridor shortly after
the old lady was shot and when Angela, Pablo and the fireman lock themselves in
a small room while a zombie is right on the doorstep.
The
way the area is shot makes Pablo and Angela seem very much closed as the
claustrophobia kicks in. Natural lighting is used a lot within [REC] but also
there is not a whole lot of lighting within the film. An example of natural
light use is when the SWAT team closed off the building and a spotlight is used
against the windows which is covered by curtains set up by the SWAT. Near the
end of the film the main camera light is taken out by one of the zombies and
Pablo reduces to “Night Vision” which makes the scenes near the end all the
more suspenseful. Just before Angela and Pablo enter a room full of religious
icons a “Bird eyes view” shot is used to show all the zombies that are slowly
coming towards them from the bottom floor. In some scenes some of the action is
filmed out of focus due to the damage on the camera, an example of this when
the fireman tries to fight off the little girl off one the officers, she knocks
the camera off Pablo and the sound and quality becomes distorted. Pablo then
fixes the problem but the little girl is still attacking the officer.
ANGELA
When
we are introduced to the main character “Angela” she is a young and ambitious
woman who is very willing to get this new report she is currently covering. We
learn a lot about her personality before the screams kick in, when she is
talking to one of the firemen she is flirting but this is just for fun, and she
also uses a lot of body language to express her personality when she is interacting
to other possible main/supporting characters. Angela is also very talkative and
feminine which in horror are general character traits when it comes to female
characters, When the terror begins inside the apartment she turns into the
stereotypical scream queen but it is executed in a very different style as she
does not run away from the action and covers every detail of the events along
with co-worker/cameraman Pablo in other words she is still professional about
her work. Angela is curious about how everyone is feeling about the situation
that is happening so she starts interviewing them.
PABLO
Throughout
the entire film the audience is shown the events of [REC] through the perspective
of Pablo a news cameraman who is working with news reporter Angela. He is
off-screen most of the time but he interacts with Angela and the other
characters throughout the film. Pablo captures every event that is happening
within the film in full detail, and we enter his own world on what is currently
happening almost like a first-person perspective. Being that this is a “Found
footage” film this is a general character trait within the genre.
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
When
Angela and Pablo enter the apartment we are introduced to many supporting
characters. Fireman and policeman are at the apartment straight away and we get
a little bit of insight in what is currently happening, the head of the police
is the first victim in [REC] as an old lady who is known for having an illness
turns out to be a flesh-eating zombie. Other supporting characters in the film
are a mum and her sick daughter (another trait within the horror genre) who
later turns into a zombie herself and the innocence her character gave to the
film is gone. A confused elderly couple and a middle-aged man named “Cesar” who
fights alongside Angela and Pablo before being killed off by a zombie.
[REC}
uses a wide range of horror conventions, most of them can be brought into
cliché E.G. Found-footage, Scream-queen, first victim and the always recognisable
“Final Girl” trait. But [REC] has used these cliché and put a risky but
well-executed twist to them. A viscrual style is seen through the film with shock-value moments featuring really expilct gore.
Notes:
+ You have done a really good job of using examples from [REC]
+ There is an abundance of key terms used here which only increases the detail of this analysis
- Maybe you could discuss more about how "Cesar" becomes one of the main heroes alongside Pablo and his sacrifice in attempt to protect the heroes (could not think of a negative comment)
D1
Notes:
+ You have done a really good job of using examples from [REC]
+ There is an abundance of key terms used here which only increases the detail of this analysis
- Maybe you could discuss more about how "Cesar" becomes one of the main heroes alongside Pablo and his sacrifice in attempt to protect the heroes (could not think of a negative comment)
D1
