Trainspotting opening analysis

Trainspotting uses various elements of film form to convey to the audience straight away the themes and characters of the film.

The film starts off straight away in an action scene by showing Renton running away from the police frantically. This gives the film a fast pace and tells the audience that the film is going to have a fun tone. Starting a film with Renton running away could be seen as dramatic or maybe even intense, but other elements of film-making are used to subvert this. For example the music in this scene is chaotic and upbeat, allowing the audience to feel upbeat too. This perfectly displays the chaos of Renton’s life and thrill he gets from it: more specifically the thrill he gets from heroin. This is true because the music continues into the scene where Renton is taking heroin. It shows the audience how it feels to take it. This aligns us with Renton because now the audience knows what he is feeling. It also depicts the issue of addiction in a light-hearted manner. Maybe this is done to demonstrate how the thrill and fun is great at first, which is why it is shown at the beginning of the film, but gets worse overtime and becomes more complicated.

Furthermore, the audience are aligned with Renton because he provides the narration of the opening that is used to highlight Renton’s outlook on life. However, because the audience is distracted by the action of the scene and its fast nature, they don’t take in what he is saying. The monologue that Renton talks about choosing the normal things in life like “good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance” or “a starter home”, things that the audience is familiar with, allowing them to relate to Renton and, by proxy, helps humanise drugs addict to the general public by making the characters feel normal. However, as the monologue goes on it starts to become more cynical, talks about questioning your identity and "rotting away at the end of it all". These are messages that Renton is telling to the audience, but the fast pace and frantic action of the scene causes them to overlook them. This symbolises how Heroin to addicts is depicted in a horrible way but to them it is a fun and thrilling experience. Maybe the movie has a message that they shouldn't do heroin because in the end they will regret it.

Another element of film form that is used to introduce the characters is the editing and framing. For example, in the opening there is a scene where all of the characters are introduced for the first time to the audience by showing them playing football. Not only is this done to once again humanise the characters because of the dehumanising stigma around addicts by showing doing a normal everyday activity, but also to match the previous scenes energy: the adrenaline of running away from the police would be similar to that of a football game, so it feels natural to the audience and not like the film is slowing down in pace.Who they are is made clear because the big, bold, white text saying each of their names. More specifically these are followed by freeze frames, which are proceeded by moments that highlights their traits and personalities.

Each of these shots have the characters in the centre and foreground, to highlight their expressions and body language to the audience and also make it clear that the film is talking about them. For example, Begbie's intro shows him intentionally slide tackling another player and laughing about it. It is then followed by freeze frame of him laughing, to emphasise that Begbie enjoys hurting people and it doesn't bother him that much. This tells the audience he is a very crazy and violent person and foreshadows his behaviour later on as the film goes no and he has a recurring trait of brutally hurting people and being aggressive. Another example of this Spud, which shows him fail to save a goal and his friends shouting at him for it. The freeze frame displays Spud's stupidity by freezing as the ball goes past him, highlighting to the audience he isn't very good and probably shouldn't be playing with the others. This could be representing how Spud should not be involved be involved with Renton's gang because throughout the film it is clear that he is the most innocent one out of all of them because of his naivety and foolishness. This is also depicted through his clothing, having a random bits of clothing and the others all having full kits. This furthermore depicts him as being the odd one out, that he doesn't even look like he belongs, once again reinforcing the idea that he doesn't.