Grace's Film Studies Blog

In this essay I will be analysing a scene from the 1996 film 'Trainspotting', staring Ewan McGregor. In the scene the four main characters (Renton, Sickboy, Begbie and Spud) are in the process of a drug deal. The scene starts off with the characters outside on the streets on London and Mise-En-Scene is used to make the streets seem bright and colourful which directly contrasts with the Edinburgh streets because the Mise-En-Scene makes those streets seem dull and lifeless. When they are crossing the street non-diegetic sound is used because music is playing from an unknown source and also when they cross they street in plays homage to the Beatles when they crossed Abbey Road. The scene then cuts to the main characters in a hotel room making a drug deal and the placement of the characters in this scene says a lot about what they are feeling about the drug deal: Renton is sat away from the main group which could be showing how he is done with the drug life, Spud is stood in t

Social realism is the realistic depiction in art of contemporary life, as a means of social of political comment. What are the conventions of social realism? The conventions of social realism are: Location shooting Wide shots Non-professional actors Semi-improvised scripts Humour and seriousness The erosion of regional identities  Wider social issues explored Triumph over adversity What kind of political ideologies are most associated with this style of film-making? The ideologies that are explored in social realism are: Democracy  Capitalism Anarchism Conservation What is Hyperrealism? Hyperrealist art is art that tries to be as true to real life as possible.

In this piece of work i am going to be researching the context of the film Trainspotting. What was the Poll Tax? Poll Tax was a system of taxation introduced to replace domestic rates in Scotland from 1989. It was then introduced in England and Wales from 1990. it provided a single flat-rate per-capita tax on every adult, at a rate set by the local authority. Why was it introduced in Scotland first? The Poll Tax was introduced in Scotland first as and 'experiment' and that was solidified when Margaret Curran MP said: "Now we know for sure what many suspected during the 1980s- that the Tories saw Scotland as a test bed for the poll tax". Also Scotland was probably targeted because Thatcher would not have lost votes from Scotland. What were the main strategies employed to resist the Tax? Main strategies to resist the tax were people protesting and demonstrating, some people refused to pay it and some people went on strike.