Textual Analysis of Trainspotting [Danny Boyle, 1996]

STORYLINE


The storyline isn't really clear within the first few minutes of the film, but by 10 minutes it's clear who the main character is and that he wants to come off drugs. His group of friends and him are hooked on drugs and he wants to come off, but its obviously not going to be as easy as it sounds, as we find out during the opening that it's not his first time of trying to quit it.

ENIGMA CODES


Questions the opening sequence makes the audience ask themselves are:

Why are they running away, what have they done?

• Who are they?
• Why are they now playing football?
• Who's the baby? And why are they doing drugs around it?
• Who's the voice over?
• Why does he need all them things to help him come off drugs?

CHARACTERS

The characters are all introduced straight away, all in similar ways - with a freeze frame of them and their names.

The main character is introduced first, which is very important as that way the audience will know that he is an important character. The characters are represented as plain, scruffy looking people, not glamourised at all. They are all stereotypical of low/working-class people from council areas, and also don't seem to be very knowledgeable. The first (and only) female we see in the extract, we aren't introduced to, which makes the film seem to be male orientated. She is also dressed very basic and plain, she is wearing jewellery, but it doesn't look very expensive. The main characters are all male.

These factors taken into consideration and the totally run-down flat that they characters are in will not make the audience feel sorry for them, but quite pitiful. Even more so because of the baby that we see in the room next to the adults who are injecting heroin. This will have a lot of impact on the audience, as they will feel all different emotions about the baby, and the drugs... all within the first few minutes.

LOCATIONS

During this extract, we see a few different locations. The area the film starts at, from what we see of the town or city, seems to be quite dirty and not very well looked after. with natural lighting that helps bring the film to life and seem more realistic. Where the character's are playing football seems rather poor and basic, made up of fences and a couple of small goal posts. The lighting where they are playing football isn't natural lighting, but the mis-en-scene definitely creates a realistic atmosphere.

The flat is very run-down and in some ways, broken. There is a huge hole in one of the walls, and a lot of the other walls are half missing or fallen down, similarly there's wires hanging from walls etc... this all creates a very low-class feel. These are all things I would expect of a social realism film.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Camera effects:

This camera shot is right at the beginning, and works well as it creates a fast moving pace. The low-angle long shot lets the audience see the location and can clearly see whats going on. This is used to quickly set the scene and pace of the film.

 

The use of low-angle shots is used a few more times within the opening, this engages the audience well as it makes them feel as if they are there looking up at the character.

A tracking shot is used to follow the characters running away.

The above image is effect as a low-angle shot as it makes 'Tommy' seem more scared and surrounded.

EDITING

To keep the pace and effect of the opening sequence is done well by not using many different editing techniques.

At the beginning, a match-on-action is used, cutting from the characters faces to their feet as they are running. This quickens the whole scene up and creates more tension with the audience.

SOUND

There is a non-diegetic track building up in the background keeping the pace of the men running and building the tension with the audience.

Also, you can here the noise of the men running, which is diegetic, and this makes the audience feel more involved as the running then seems more realistic. Another diegetic sound is that of the car breaking. It makes everything seem more real.

TITLES

The titles sequence is very different from most films I've seen. I think it's effective how the title flashes, and I think this reflects the stability of the characters lives in the film. The white coloured text, I've noticed, is in a lot of social realism/drama films... so trainspotting clearly follows the conventions of this.