Marketing

The Poster

This is the poster image for Trainspotting. There are five of the main characters stood in different poses looking quite mismatched as a group, on one end you see a man with a shirt and tie and on the other you see a man wearing a shirt and jeans drenched in water. Also the characters depicted on this poster are young and with the exception of Renton are smiling and seem to be in good moods, witch makes him stand out. This shows that this film is upbeat and possibly serves as a visible representation of the film becoming serious.

Initially themes represented by the poster from just the image are youth and fun, however when considering that Trainspotting, the title of the film, is a slang term related to taking a heroin shot we learn that drugs, in particular heroin, will play a major role within the film. All the characters are presented in black and white two colours that bare very distinct connotations, black represents evil fear and even death while white represents innocence and purity. Taken into the context of this film these colours could represent the dark world of drugs and the light world of normality. To present these characters in only these two colours represents them in a raw and concise manner.

Methods use to sell this Poster is a big bold printed quote from a review by EMPIRE magazine, which to some is a well known and trusted media source. The Fact it was also given a 5 star rating, maximum points, tells the audience this is really a good film. Choosing this quote also acknowledges rivalry between the British film industry and Hollywood.

Another method used to 'sell' the film is the use of a box office draw. In a box placed to the right on the title banner it says "from the makers of shallow grave" this is important because fans of this film seeing this would most likely persuade them to also watch this film.

Additional information is the age rating included printed rather small next to the title. This film has been certificated 18 witch means it most likely contains scenes of an adult nature, these being scenes to do with sex, drugs and violence.

The Trailer

This trailer, like most film trailers, is a montage of scenes strung together in a way to convey what the film is about. The first thing we hear is the non diegetic soundtrack for this trailer in witch drums and guitar can distinctly be heard, use of drums for this soundtrack conveys a buzz of energy whilst use of guitars shows this film is aimed at the young. Narration from the Lead character Renton (Ewen McGregor) is dominant throughout the whole trailer as he talks about life choices. different scenes chosen for this trailer reveal different aspect of the film also therefore making it clearer than the poster exactly what sort of film it is. Renton's scene with Diane showing relationship is an important aspect. Then the scenes where spud is in an interview acting very strange due to being under the influence of drugs and another scene where Renton shoots the dogs behind as a result making it attack its owner reveals a certain comedic value within the film.

This trailer establishes the 5 main characters as the poster does, however couples them with relevant scenes to give us a clearer picture of their personalities. Other information this trailer gives is that the film is distributed by PolyGram, and that it is from the creators of Shallow grave for the same box office drawn reason as the poster. Altogether this is an increasingly face paced trailer that includes very unusual aspects witch makes people want to watch it and find out more abut the distinct characters.