Trainspotting: Misce-en-scene and cinematography analysis

The opening shot is a long shot of Begbie chatting up a girl in the night club. The camera is a long shot, which could tell us that they are not important, compared to characters like Renton, where there a multiple of close up shots. The board in the back lists different sexual positions, which is then later acted on when all of the boys (Renton, Begbie, Spud and Sick boy) end up going home with a girl and having sex. Begbie and the girl are the only people in focus, telling the audience that they are the main focus in this shot, and they should focus on what they are doing. The woman is wearing bright clothes, showing her happiness in the scene, whilst Begbie is wearing quite mundane clothing, with just black and white, which could show how boring and uninteresting his life is. He also is lower in stature, which could show how he has a lack of power in this scene. The camera is at the same eye level as Begbie however, which could be a subliminal way of showing that Begbie is still in control of the situation.

In this shot, we see Renton awkwardly hanging out on the side, as he doesn't feel confident enough to go and dance. In this frame, the camera is using a worm's eye view. This shows us that Renton is the prominent character in the frame, as he is the only character we know here. The poster in the background shows someone holding guns towards an unknown person, representing that they are going to kill the other person. With how the camera is positioned, Renton's head seems to perfectly cover the poster's face, making it seem as if it is Renton who is holding the guns, ready to kill someone. Even though Renton never directly murders someone, he does lead Tommy to die, as he stole his sex tape, which led to Tommy wanting to take drugs after his girlfriend left him. Tommy then contracts AIDS/HIV, and dies of an infected wound. This poster could be foreshadowing that Renton indirectly kills Tommy, due to a chain of events. Despite Renton having the physical height, and therefore power over the rest of the frame, the fact that he has some of his stomach showing through his shirt, possibly due to him being slightly overweight, can juxtapose his power, as his masculinity is damaged, due to him not having a perfect body.


In this shot, Spud and Tommy are talking about their girlfriends, and how they have been treating their boyfriends, using a close up shot, showing the audience that these characters are important. The girlfriends then walk over, and using a worm's eye shot, tower over their boyfriends physically, which could show that they have the power in their relationships, which at the time, would be unheard of in society. The colour of the couple's costumes seem to be similar as well, as a visual way of showing the couples. Tommy and his girlfriend are both wearing green and white, and Spud and his girlfriend are wearing black and white. When Tommy and Spud were talking, they were commanding and seemed to be in charge of their girlfriends, which in the 1990's would have been the norm, but as soon as their girlfriends turn up, they both cower away, and let the girls take control, which gives us an insight into the characters of Spud and Tommy. Their relationship is also foreshadowed here, as we see the girls are in control, so later on, when Tommy and his girlfriend break up, it is her who calls it off, reinforcing the power in the relationship, as she is the one who tells Tommy they are no longer together.

In this shot, we see a close up shot of Renton, as he plucks up the courage to talk to the girls he likes. He is walking towards them, in pursuit of finding someone who he can have sex with. The camera keeps the worms eye view from the previous shot, showing that Renton still has the power in the scene. The lack of people in the background compared to the last time we saw Renton in this place could symbolise how alone he feels. The shot only shows Renton's top half of his torso, which seems to be puffed out to make him seem more 'macho.' His stomach is no longer showing, which could be a representation of Renton's view of himself, with the audience seeing Renton how he wants to be seen. Renton seems to not want girls to see his stomach peeking through his t-shirt, which reflects his insecurities.