This article compares the Spanish horror film REC to its American remake Quarantine. REC was directed by Jaume Balaguero and released in 2007 with a budget of $1.5 million, grossing $32 million. It used a documentary style filmed with handheld cameras. Quarantine was directed by John Erick Dowdle and released in 2008 by Screen Gems for $12 million, grossing $31 million. Factors that influenced the quick remake include trends in found footage films and financial motivations and Screen Gems' strategy of vertical integration across production, distribution and marketing.

1. PR2: Same Film, Different Time and Place
Rec and Quarantine Research Task
Quarantine Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUw2zNR5Dzc
Task 1
Find out the following information:
Rec Quarantine
Director Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza John Erick Dowdle
Year of Production 2007 2008
Distributor FilmAx Screen Gems
Budget 1,500,000 euros $12,000,000
Box office takings $32,492,948 $31,691,811
Sequels Rec 2, Rec 3 Quarintine 2: Terminal
Read the interviews with John Erick Dowdle and Jaume Balaguero and answer the following
questions
http://totalscifionline.com/interviews/2761-john-erick-dowdle-quarantined
http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/865/865683p1.html
Task 2:

2. 1. Explain Jaume Balagoro’s reasons for making REC in a handheld, documentary style
2.
Is it a coincidence that Cloverfield and Diary of Dead were released at the same time, or does
it relate to audience demand for horror filmed in this style?
Why do you think Screen Gems, the distributors of Quarantine wanted to get the remake out
so quickly?
For your article, you need to consider why film production companies produce remakes and the
factors that influence those remakes.
Factors which influenced the remake of REC
Financial factors
Trends
Genre and popularity
Synergy (related products such as DVD’s/books/TShirts)
The directors decided to use documentary style footage to bring the audience closer to the
action. The news programme makes the film a lot more realistic as the audience are familiar with
these new programmes which could lead them to forget that this is a fiction film. As there were
no sound effects or editing used the sound is also realistic unlike conventional horror movies
which use lots of sound effects to add tension and fear.
Jaume balaguero claims that rec was already completely finished by the time that he
found out that Cloverfield was filmed in the same way, he was even more surprised
when he found out that the diary of the dead also used a similar style. Jaume
believes that these films were recorded in a similar style due to the changing needs
of the audience. The audience are no longer interested in just the audio and visual
aspects of the film; they want to interact with the movie.
As screen Gems bought the rights to Rec 9whivch only attracts a certain audience
due to the subtitles and Spanish language0 then they feel the quicker they get the
American version released people will rush to see it due to it being fresh in their
minds.

3. Vertical integration (where a film company deals with the production, distribution and
consumption of a film)
In your magazine article you will need to comment upon all of the above
Task 3:
In the box below, write your introduction to your article. Use your findings from Task 1 and 2 to
help you
P2 describe the
relationship between
films and their
production contexts
with some appropriate
use of subject
terminology [IE]
M2 explain the relationship
between films and their
production contexts with
reference to detailed
illustrative examples and
generally correct use of
subject terminology
D2 comprehensively explain the
relationship between films and
their production contexts with
elucidated examples and
consistently using subject
terminology correctly
Article intro:
P1. Introduce your article by giving the titles of the films covered and production factors which
influence remakes
P2. REC.
Relate factual information about REC ; director, release date, distributor, budget and box office
takings. Describe the production values and context (handheld documentary style/plot synopsis)
P3. Quarantine
Relate factual information about Quarantine; director, release date, distributor, budget and box
office takings. Describe the production values and context (handheld documentary style/plot
synopsis. Explain similarities and differences with the original.
In this article I will be comparing Quarantine with Rec. I have to look at the financial factors of
both films, I also have to look at the trends, genre and popularity and the synergy of both films.
The director of Rec, Jaume Balaguero released the film in 2007 with the distributor Filmax
with a budget of 1.5 million Euros. Box office takings currently stand at $32,492,948

4. P4. Production Contexts
Explain why Quarantine was produced so soon after REC. Give examples concerning trends, genre
and financial factors.
P5.
Explain synergy and vertical integration and how Screen Gems are an example of a vertically
integrated company. Explain how Screen Gems have contributed to the overall success of REC due to
this.
Quarintine was directed by John Erick Dowdle and was released in 2008 with distributor
Screen Gems. the The budget for this film was notably higher than that of Rec, coming in
at $12,000,000. However, the box office takings for this film were slightly lower than
that of Rec with $31,691,811.
Quarantine was produced so soon after Rec because the producer believed that it would
generate a bigger target audience due to how big of hit Rec was with the English and
Americans. They believed that the audience would like to see the English version so they’d
get a better understanding of it as some people aren’t the biggest fan of subtitled films in
foreign languages.
Synergy is the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or
other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate
effects. Vertical Integration is the combination in one firm of two or more stages of
production normally operated by separate firms and Screen Gems are a good
example of this.