CASE STUDY 3 [REC]

 

CASE STUDY 3

 

REC

 

 

[REC] is a 2007 Spanish horror film directed by Jaumne Balaguero and Paco Plaza. The running time is 78 minutes

(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.

 

 

CHARACTER ANALYSIS

 

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.         

     

 

HORROR CONVENTIONS USED IN [REC]

 

[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)

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