Poster remakes: Total Recall

Umar Hassan

Production Contexts: Total Recall (1990)Arnold

Schwarzenegger plays the main role as Douglas Quaid

Supporting actors and actresses

included Michael Ironside, Sharon

Stone and Michael Champion.

The film was produced by the now defunct

production company Carolco pictures

producing the film.

Distributors Momentum pictures in the UK

distributed the film for the UK.

Total Recall was directed by Paul Verhoeven with

screenplay by Gary Goldman, Dan O’Bannon and Ronald

Shusett.

The World Wide Web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee.

Life in 1990

The UK was experiencing a heatwave in the summer with temperatures well above 30 degrees.

Thatcherism came to an end after 11 long years for Margaret Thatcher as PM.

Nelson Mandela was released from jail after 28yrs serving time behind bars.

The poster relies heavily on dark blacks and blues to give the audience that sense of anticipation that this is going to be a compelling ride.

The slogan “Get Ready for the ride of your life” suggests that once the audience watches it, they are ready for one action-packed ride they will never forget.

Total Recall (1990) starts off with a MCU of a woman who looks like her entire face is starting to come off.

The SFX of her face coming off as you can see by one of her ears popping out of her face with the hair immediately falling out gives the shot some dramatic effect to the scene.

The teaser trailer heavily uses a galactic blend of blacks mixed in with silvers and blues to create a tense atmosphere.

This shot is a great start to begin with the teaser trailer because it creates an uncertainty feeling with the audience watching.

Production Contexts: Total Recall (2012)With the first poster of the remade Total Recall, the marketing team totally ditched the dark atmosphere created in the 1990 film for a much more modern Hollywood sci-fi poster.

The use of futuristic colours mixed in with the white overlay doesn’t convey the atmosphere that was successfully created with the 1990 version.

Posters

The second poster used in the marketing campaign of Total Recall is a great improvement of the first because it gives us an idea into where the story is set in this case it’s London.

The use of the slogan “Is it Real, Is it Recall” is used to create drama and anticipation with the audiences who will be watching the remake.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II breaks all records in the entertainment industry. Making $1 billion dollars in 15days on sale, beating Avatar.

Life in 2012

2012 was the year when London was the host for the XXX Olympiad.

Microsoft releases it’s predecessor to Windows 7 as Windows 8.

Samsung overtakes Apple as the Most Valuable Brand in the World.

Although the remake of Total Recall didn’t include Arnold Schwarzenegger, it

did include the Irish heartthrob Colin Farrell living up to the high expectations

that Schwarzenegger set as Douglas Quaid.

Joining Farrell are Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel playing their

supporting roles as Lori Quaid and Melina respectively.

The film wasn’t produced by Carolco, instead the remake was produced by 4

different production companies. Original Film, Prime Focus, Rekall

Productions and Total Recall

Distribution was handled by Sony Pictures (Columbia TriStar) for the

UK release.

The remake of Total Recall was not directed by Paul Verhoeven, instead by Len Wiseman with screenplay by the original team, Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback supporting the original team.

Compared to the remake, the main trailer for Total

Recall is a vast difference to the 1990 version.

The start shows us one of the re-enacted scenes where

Douglas Quaid is strapped into the chair.

The use of the WS for Douglas Quaid going into this machine

makes it more dramatic by adding the moving chair that

straps him in.

The scene is so modern compared to the 1990

predecessor because of the sophisticated technology we

have today.

The teaser trailer for the remake is more sophisticated compared to the

conventional, straight-forward approach of the original.

The use of motion blur mixed in with the backdrop of the city

really gives the start of the trailer an atmospheric feel to it.

The start of the teaser trailer shows us flying cars gliding past with a WS of the futuristic city.

The colour scheme is more futuristic compared to the original teaser because the

marketing team wanted to give the remake a more futuristic

setting rather than a dark, atmospheric feel to the teaser.