Mark Renton and his circle of heroin-addicted friends get by in Edinburgh's underclass (petty crime, overdoses, unemployment and the occasional attempt to get clean). Then, a drug deal offers one of them a way out. Danny Boyle's film is the most energetic portrait of self-destruction in British cinema.
Trainspotting is a 1996 drama and crime film directed by Danny Boyle. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (1 editing, 1 sound and 2 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, The Tree of Life uses several of the same techniques.
Cutting out bits of time within a continuous shot so the image suddenly jumps forward. This adds energy and urgency, shortens the scene and reminds you the film is constructed.
How this film uses it
Masahiro Hirakubo's editing uses jump cuts (abrupt skips forward in time) to match the rhythms of addiction. The highs are sped up and the crashes are drawn out. The editing makes you feel what heroin does to the brain's sense of time.
Where to see it
The opening chase sequence. Renton runs through Edinburgh and the editing keeps up with the breakneck pace of his narration. Within its first 30 seconds, the film has shown you how it's going to work.
Playing a cheerful or familiar pop song over violence or moral disaster. The gap between the song and the image creates dark comedy and political commentary.
How this film uses it
Boyle plays Iggy Pop, Underworld and Blur over scenes of squalor and degradation. The music is ecstatic, anthemic and cool, and the characters are destroying themselves. That ironic gap between the energy of the soundtrack and what you're watching sets the tone of the whole film.
Where to see it
Iggy Pop's 'Lust for Life' over the opening sprint. It's the most joyful song possible, and it's playing over a portrait of junkies. The irony tells you the film will never lecture you about what it shows.
Placing the camera where a character's eyes are, or shooting the scene the way that character experiences it. You see and feel things from inside their head.
How this film uses it
Boyle puts the camera inside Renton's head while he's on heroin. You get the famous toilet dive, the ceiling shot during withdrawal and the baby hallucination. You experience both the high and the horror physically, from the inside.
Where to see it
Renton sliding into the 'worst toilet in Scotland'. The camera follows him below the water line into an impossibly clean underwater space. You see it the way he does, so the excuses an addict makes to himself show up as something literally on screen.
Shooting with a handheld camera so the frame shakes and moves with the action. This documentary-style look, called cinema vérité, puts you uncomfortably close to the character.
How this film uses it
Brian Tufano shoots Edinburgh's housing estates and shooting galleries (where addicts inject) with a handheld camera. It's close, unstable and present, so you feel like you're in the room. You watch the poverty and addiction as a witness, which gives it moral weight and keeps it from turning into spectacle.
Where to see it
The group in Mother Superior's flat scoring and using. The handheld camera moves through the cramped room with no distance at all. You can't separate the physical space from the people in it.
Questions
Trainspotting: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Trainspotting use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Trainspotting (1996): Jump Cut Propulsion, Ironic Pop Music Score, Subjective Camera and Handheld Cinema Vérité.
Who directed Trainspotting?
Danny Boyle directed Trainspotting, released in 1996. CineCode also covers Shallow Grave (1994), A Life Less Ordinary (1997), The Beach (2000), 28 Days Later (2002), Sunshine (2007), Slumdog Millionaire (2008).
What films are similar to Trainspotting?
Films that share techniques with Trainspotting include The Tree of Life (2011), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Black Swan (2010), Schindler's List (1993).
