Trainspotting (1996) Case Study- Financial Constraints

Budget-£3.5 Million
Director- Danny Boyle
Writer- Andrew MacDonald
Producer- John Hodge

 Synopsis

 This is a film of Irvine Welsh's cult Scottish novel trainspotting a series of interlinked stories concentrating on heroin-hooked anti-hero Mark Renton.


Image result for trainspotting

The rights to the screenplay

If you translate a novel into a movie, the author has to get the screen rights. Red Dwarf stole the rights to Trainspotting from Danny Boyle so he wouldn't direct it as they wanted to co-produce it because they knew in the future it may be worth a lot of money. The film making threesome were badgered by Hollywood producer Scott Rudin who offered £250,00 to film whatever they desired. A deal for two per cent of the films budget was agreed for Danny Boyle to give Red Dwarf. This was as long as Noel Gay stepped back from his duties in exchange for a share of the profits and a name on the credits. One issue is that Boyle found it difficult to turn down the money offered because he wanted to stay true to his initial idea and budget.

Pre-production 

Pre-production lasts 4-7 weeks depending on budget (Trainspotting lasted 7 weeks) and takes into account; Casting, location scouting and work with the art department for props and costumes.

Casting

 Ewan McGregor was earmarked to play Mark Renton. Elsewhere, there was careful discussion with the casting directors.



Setting/Location

 Trainspotting is set in Edinburgh but filmed mostly in Glasgow as it is more populated. Rehearsals began in a rented flat at the top of a Glasgow tower block. Meanwhile, a full crew had been assembled whilst a location recce had been set up to find suitable locations in which to film exterior scenes. One day's shooting lasts from 8am to 8pm. It cost around £500-£1000 for one day's filming.

 Things to take into consideration when choosing a location:
  • Lighting
  • Colour/brightness/darkness of the place
  • Temperature
  • Props 
  • Sound/if subtitles are needed
  • How long you will spend at that location (Some shoots last 35 days)
What is expenditure in a budget broken up into?
  • Location
  • Casting
  • Props/Costumes
  • Lighting/Cinematography/Sound
  • Crew
  • Renting
  • Hair and makeup
  • Logistics/transport/accomodation
  • Legal Costs


This task was to study a case study based on the film Trainspotting from 1996 and find out what they did when they went about casting people and finding the perfect filming locations and creating costumes and props by working with their art department during pre-production.

I learnt that all films during the pre-production stage will take many things into consideration when choosing locations such as lighting, temperature and background sounds as well as working out how there expenditure will be broken up into so they know how much they will have left once they get to the production stage.











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