Thursday, 10 January 2019

Trainspotting cinematography

Lighting and colour - bleak unless showing heroin use, shows their outlook on life, especially without it, and also links to addiction. I.e. Mother Superior's red light and carpet, the green of the park
Camera - Perfect Day, showing people in a wide angle shot, highlights the people and the system he's abused to perpetuate his habit, while still gaining preferential treatment to save his life. Also go past two nihilistic punks who look at him confused - they don't think that's what nihilism is about
Baby scene/death - sets up disequilibrium, first time in the film that he's cared and has been deeply affected by something. Interrupts the status quo, possibly eliminates the idea of nihilism as he moves to London after and shows he cares
Used a wide angle lens without edges bowed out, makes things look further away, spend a lot of time at a low angle, like a 'rats' eye view down on the floor. When entering Mother Superiors, at same levelish as baby, but when the woman takes heroin we're on a level with her
People inject each other, comradeship, but Renton's in a different room as if not part of it
When showing people's opinions they're far away, as if it's not real. Colour is browns and greys, Renton in shadow in middle of parents
Friends-narrative-cinematography - friends are together by chance and use, no allegiance to each other (as shown in the end and that he can move away so easily when he's sober). His friends are almost antagonistic 'the problem with being sober is that I have to interact with my so called friends (park scene) and when Tommy takes him walking. And with Begbie he's using them as cronies, to respect him while he has none for them or their habit. Nihilistic, selfish. Heroin use is solitary, not communal like party drugs, so they don't even take it together, literally just score together
As Renton improves the camera gets closer and higher (as with Diane's conversation) he sees her for the first time properly as a person and not part of his surroundings. And when Begbie comes to visit him it's clear he's annoyed as the amount of reaction shots showing it increases. Shots on Begbie are steady while Renton's are handheld - unsure.


Mise-en-scene
'Who needs reasons when you got heroin' and other heroin shots - nothing in the shot but them, the main thing in your life. Even in pub when showing people's opinions
Let windows burn out via ISO to show the outside as a fuzz, irrelevant


Renton's bedroom when trying to quit - still at a low level and far removed from him. Almost like establishing shots in the room. No decoration. Tommy's becomes that as well, wide angle and barren with low angles as he's laying down, both from his perspective and not
But when Rentons clean its filmed closer, conventionally as he's talking to Diane and even before she turns up, as is his room in London even if it's still a bad place, and has warmer colours
Renton shifts to align himself with us (during the Begbie betting montage), not us getting on his side like is typical. Specifically the building up of cigarette packs like his stress, and Renton always wearing a suit even when relaxing - represents society even though he says 'if there was a society I wasn't part of it', foreshadows last scene where he says to choose the stuff he didn't before. The resolution is accepting society (maybe he doesn't feel the need to go back to it after seeing the value of society)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Nicholls' Modes of Documentary

Kapadia: Reflexive, poetic and expository Moore: Participatory, aspects of performative (Grierson - documentary is the creative interpre...