Guardian Trainspotting

Trainspotting was made in 1996
Budget: £3.5 million
Director: Danny BoyleProducer: John Hodge
Writer: Andrew Macdonald

Plot
It was based on a Scottish novel trainspotting, focusing on a heroin addict and his friends, it concerntrates on the main characters life story and what he does whilst hooked on heroin. 

Rights to the screenplay  - 

To translate a novel into a movie form, the most important thing is to snap up the screen rights. 

Danny Boyle wanted to make it and they stole the rights for it and said that they could co-produce.

Red Dwarf production company did not originally want trainspotting.

Finance - 

The filmmaking threesome (Boyle, Macdonald and Hodge) are being badgered by Hollywood Mogul Scott Rudin (Producer of Sabrina and the firm), who offers them $250,000 to film whatever project they desire. 

Channel 4 said that they would finance it because they like the script. 

The author of the novel was on their side.

They also had huge amounts of pressure from red dwarf productions and Hollywood. 

The deal was eventually done for 2% of the films budget ($30,000) and Noel Gay, backing out of hands-on duties in exchange for a share of the profits and a name on the credits. 

This meant that red dwarf gave $30,000 for 2% of the movie rights. He had no production or pre-production control. 

"One of the key issues, clarifies Boyle, "was not to make a film that costs a lot of money. You can get carried away with people offering you money and end up making a film that's out of proportion with your kind of audience"

PRE-PRODUCTION - 

This is known as the run up period to the film Boyle explains.

It lasts from 4-7 weeks depedning on budget.

Trainspotting had 7 weeks which includes Casting, Location(recce/scouting), art department work, props, colouring, costume design, hair and makeup.

Rehearseals began in a rented flat at the top of a Glascow tower block (this was cheap because they wanted to keep the funds as low as possible) 

It was filmed mostly in Glascow but set in Edinburgh

They were also in Edinburgh alot for the pick-ups (scene-setting, dialogue free snatches shot to pad out the action)

A crew has been assembled - led by Boyle. (Camera, lighting, props, makeup  etc)

Hunting for suitable locations (Recce)

Lots of places visited on there locaction recce (Bars, shops, brewhouse etc)

CASTING - 

The castign crew already had their eye on Ewan McGregor, so they wanted to fit people around him 

Casting directors -  Gail Stevens and Andy Pryor

LOCATION RECCE - 

Brewhouse -

Correct equipment 

Enough space

Safety

Initial concerns - Light bulb is too bright and spotlight could hamper filming.

- Problem panning shot across the bar. 

-May need to add more bars and stools which means costs increase.

The bar was already equipped with booths and the bar can be refit with a long table and bench.

This all takes alot of time and money and has to be put into the production schedule.

90 extras will be needed for the scene and 10 of them trained actors for the punch up

Too keep costs low, only one section of the bar will be used , filled with tables to make it look populated.

The cost of the place depends on the relationship with the brewery.

Depends on how much business they may loose as a result of one day of shooting (8am-8pm)

Cost around £500-1000 for one day filming. 

The team only get too look at the place once - everything has to be taken into consideration such as set, props, cast and the venue, temperature of room, brief location manager of all problems and changes needed. 

Brew house was the only pub with a balcony. 

Had breathe finding a crematorium and a courtroomProbably because of the secrecy. 

nightclub - Turned out to be locked, leaving everybody to stand around for 20 minutes (wasting time and money)

Place needs to be painted purple to give it a neon affect

Keep club name 

Dialogue drowned by loud music's so subtitled added. 

Ladies loo - 

Lightbulb has a problem - remove them

Extras in and out

SET DESIGN - 

The look of trainspotting is drawn from real life but very exaggerated. 

You read the script, discuss certain aspects, talk about the general film and do research

Then planning sets, reference photographs and sketches.

Danny is informed before everything by a mood board - which includes tones, colours, themes and items etc. 

Sketches = Visualisation diagrams

Kave Quinn - Set designer of trainspotting 

PROPS -

Already worked on storyboards scene-by-scene sketches of how each scene will look on screen.

The final thing is deciding whether to use locations or build sets, and whether the locations are good enough.

6 weeks before production we buy things that would make good prop's

COSTUMES - 

Wardrobe Mistress Rachael Fleming is in charge of clothes. 

Some costumes are created and some are items from Oxfam and charity shops.

Some clothing may also be from friends, family and own experience. 

THE SHOOT- 

Lasts for 35 days (low budget)

Five days a week, some Saturday mornings and includes a week of dreaded night shoots.

Daylight doesn't stop until 11pm and is back again by 4:30am 

Time schedule is crucial! 

Work usually begins at 8:30 with catered breakfast. 

Macdonald and Boyle get there at 7am too run through the day

photographer

distributors

publicity 

keeps lots of agents

friends and family away from the set 

Producers role to control all of this however shouldn't have to do much during shooting.

They deal with the stuff behind the scenes.

Art director wants the light and set to be perfect 

What is the expenditure in a budget broken up into?

Costume

Set designer

Lighting

props 

Actors/cast 

This task was using a contextual case study, this means that I was able to use a real example of a film that I can then use in my exam as an example, this will help me as I am able to use my knowledge from the study, it is current and easy to understand as I did the research and know the content of the pre-production. 

The annual Cannes film festival took place in May 2017 accommodating the Hollywood classics as well as sparing a thought for all the independent movie makers.
The UK is a sombre (sad, quite, dull, negative) case study for the mid to low budget filming.

The number of domestic UK films costing from £500,000 to around £30,000,000 to make fell from 77 to 60, the lowest number between 2014 and 2015. 

At the other end of the scale Hollywood has produced some of the biggest blockbusters known to man such as Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Alien: Covenant. These hold a share of the £1.6billion market. Netflix revealed they are working on 90 original productions (Europe alone).
In summary, the future may not hold mid to low budget films as no on wants to produce these as there is more money in producing big shot films and TV shows.