Sion Discourse in REC Imaginario Catastrofista En REC Bajo El Yugo Del Discur- So Televisivo
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° Comunicación y Medios N 36 (2017) ISSN 0716-3991 / e-ISSN 0719-1529 www. comunicacionymedios.uchile.cl 71 Catastrophe imaginary under the yoke of televi- sion discourse in REC Imaginario catastrofista en REC bajo el yugo del discur- so televisivo Andoni Iturbe-Tolosa University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain. [email protected] Abstract Resumen The present article focuses on the analysis of the El presente artículo se centra en el análisis de first part in the REC saga, one of the most im- la primera entrega de la saga de cine fantásti- portant fantasy-horror film franchises in Spanish co y de terror más importante del cine español. cinema. We believe that REC is paradigmatic for Creemos que REC es un ejemplo paradigmáti- the manner in which it links the catastrophe ima- co que entronca tanto con el imaginario catas- ginary with media discourse, and thusly, we op- trófico como con el discurso mediático, por lo ted to analyze this emblematic movie by exami- que se opta por la vía de la intertextualidad y el ning its discourse structures and intertextuality, análisis del discurso para analizar dicha película allowing us to underpin a close interrelation be- emblemática: estructuras de discurso que nos tween cinema and television. The investigation permiten apuntalar hacia una estrecha interrela- concludes that REC, in effect, is indebted not ción entre el cine y la televisión en el audiovisual only to traditional film narrative structures, but contemporáneo. La investigación concluye que, that it also draws on the conventions of contem- efectivamente, REC no es deudora solo de la porary TV reporting in its dealing with a fictional narrativa fílmica sino de los resortes del repor- news report. taje contemporáneo al tratarse de un reporta- je-ficción. Keywords REC; fantastic film; imaginary; TV report; rheme. Palabras clave REC; cine fantástico; imaginario; reportaje; rema. Received: 11-07-2017 / Reviewed: 02-10-2017/ Accepted: 23-11-2017 / Published: 30-12-2017 DOI: 10.5354/0719-1529.2017.46599 ° Comunicación y Medios N 36 /2017 A. Iturbe-Tolosa 721. Introduction different names to confuse staff and the press (Bombers and Rabia 6 were the originals titles The first part of the REC (2007) horror saga was to create the confusion): “This attempt to play a big cinematographic hit in Spain and coun- hide-and-seek was strengthened by the speed tries less nterested in the habitual consump- at which everything was done ” (Tato, 2014:45). tion of Spanish productions. The franchise’s The mystery around the product continues in- first production sold over 1,428,926 tickets in cluding with the script, which is not available Spain alone and brought in 8,196,213.75 eu- in the legal repository of the Spanish National ros at the box office. In France, it sold over Library of Spain in Madrid or the Spanish Film 500,000 tickets and had good results in Mexi- Library, or in any other format found by the au- co and Hong Kong (Tato, 2014:122). Proof of thor of this article. its international success came in the form of a Hollywood remake, Quarantine, premiered Tato (2014:46) says that the teaser was created in 2008. for the first pre-sales in the American film mar- ket. It was filmed October 19, 2006 in the same In the official book on the saga, Guillermo building in which the movie was going to be Tato (2014) emphasizes that the production filmed: “The teaser summarizes to a certain de- company Filmax went with less expensive pro- gree the essence of REC: the sequence shot, duction options given the movie industry mar- the sense of claustrophobia and, above all, the ket at that time that started to feel the con- descent into hell where both the characters as sequences of pirating and the beginning of a well as the audience will be confronted with widespread economic crisis. Finally, the bud- maximum horror”. get of the saga’s first movie was 1.2 million euros, financed by the Instituto de Crédito The TV ad went viral. In it you can see the Oficial, la Generalitat de Cataluña, el Institu- audience immersed in the movie in a theater to Catalán de Finanzas, el Ministerio español thanks to the collaboration of the Sitges Inter- de Cultura, Castelao Producciones and Filmax national Film Festival (Spain), that gave per- Entertainment, one of the most consolida- mission for the mounting of the cameras. The ted Spanish film production companies. The theater at the Sitges International Festival of agreement between TVE and Canal Plus was Fantasy and Horror Films was witness to the signed just a few days before the premiere, (real) reactions of the audience, that released having seen the film. their image rights to Filmax. As mentioned in the official REC book, the person responsible Fernandez (2014:275), having worked at Filmax for film communication managed that some and cited by Guillermo Tato, stood for the term news stations, in prime time, show the TV ad “concept products” as part of the production as part of the information material. In the se- policy, in other words, projects that had a pla- cond frame, an audience member closes his ce in the international market and guarantee a eyes affected by the fear that the film causes, recognizable quality standard without having to and in the third frame we see the same re- depend on the interests of a TV channel. Pro- action under the line “over 1,200,000 tickets jects, definitely, with mid-level budgets that sold”. would escape the interests of a multinational company. Horror movies became an indispensa- According to the directors notes included in ble part of the “Filmax concept”1 thanks to the the press kit, they decided to tell this story success of The Machinist (2004), The Nameless like a TV news report, “like a recording”. REC, (1999) and Darkness (2002). therefore, appeals directly to the relationships between cinema and TV and on the use of the REC came from an almost unbelievable commu- digital camera digital to conclude this “effect nication containment strategy including with the of the real”. The press kit production company, that at one time had two Catastrophe imaginary under the yoke of television discourse in REC also says that it tried to avoid mechanisms Luhman (2000) differentiates between diffe- 73 of suspense and cinematographic narra- rent events in relation to the news and the tion and let the action take place before report (events-explosion; events-appearan- our eyes as if it were real, unstoppable. As ce and events-results). The explosion events if it were alive. Like everything was really would be singular happenings that are unpre- happening” (…) We artificially created an dictable and natural (attacks, catastrophes, extreme horror situation and we let it de- natural phenomena). It would be original jour- velop itself. Grow. nalistic happenings (accidental events and discoveries). Its degree of exceptionality and Use of the digital camera has been a natural its non-media immanence cause the events progression of horror movies in which REC to override their interpretations. As Langer could be classified. The change to digital ser- (2000) says, this news continues to have an ved to increase the appearance of formal ca- amazing similarity with the mythology of the relessness and of verisimilitude despite the elements of the cosmos: earth, air, fire and difference digital filming caused even in 2006. water. Finally, they worked in progressive frames to create a greater TV texture. Thus, REC adop- Once again we cite the sentence of Balaguero ted its own style so that the audience –largely and Plaza in the press kit (2007): Spanish–, accustomed to the mechanics of the TV news reports, is immersed and familiar with tried to avoid mechanisms of suspense and this type of story. cinematographic narration and let the ac- tion take place before our eyes as if it were Spanish critics (2007) –we will focus on Ca- real, unstoppable. As if it were alive. Like hiers du Cinema España– called the film “a everything was really happening (…) So we species of horror parody of Aquí no hay quien decided to put all the horror pieces toge- viva2” or in the subjugation of “a vulgar ma- ther in one scenario and give them life. To de-for-TV documentary –“España directo” or let them act for themselves, without anyone “Espejo Público”– in a year in which from the changing what was going to happen. We ar- same pages tended to emphasize the idea of tificially created an extreme horror situation TV customs of other numerous films like Siete and we let is develop itself. Grow. Then it mesas de billar francés, by Gracia Querejeta was only a question of filming it. To record it. and Mataharis, by Iciar Bollaín. As if we were also part of the horror that we had created. This research falls into the framework of the relationship between cinema and TV in Spa- 2. Theoretic framework nish film work (Iturbe, 2016). REC cannot be understood solely from its filmic studies but We believe similar to Pedraza (2008) that the rather is a result of the intertextuality and the issues relative to the imaginary need a cons- intermediality4 with the TV world –specifically tant attention and updating given that it is a with the TV news report and with the ecosys- constantly evolving universe, especially due to tem of mass culture5. the relationships between the cultural imagi- nary and the imagetic and imaginary creations The film studies tend to use the Deleuze rhizo- of the contemporary communication media. me to analyze the writing process of various fil- Therefore, we consider the study of the ima- mic works.