Overview of Trainspotting poster

Immediately the audience is presented with a minimalist looking poster. The poster is made up of tonnes of white, grey and orange.  Little presence of characters or mise en scene would suggest the film is likely to be social realism. This is as in social realism the characters and their stories are the main focus of the film rather than the special effects of perhaps a sci-fi.

The blurred images and pop-art feel to this poster will attract an audience interested in the more complex, intellectual film. The poster reveals very little regarding the narrative and focuses more on the characters. This causes an enigma and naturally the audience will want to find out what the film is about.

The poster has the look of a tube station/ public poster. This represents urban, run down areas; this indicates that the film will contain a darker more intense narrative.  This once again can be associated with social realism.

The dark shade of orange is the only colour that really stands out on the poster and is used to highlight the film title ‘Trainspotting’. From the poster the audience can clearly see that the film is unlikely to be about actual trainspotting. This once again attracts the audience as they will be intrigued to find out where the film title is derived from.

The characters shown on the poster all appear to be showing a different emotion. The upside-down images and unsettled look on the main protagonist hint, along with the distressed look suggests that the film may have something to do with substance abuse.

Although the dark shade of orange may not be obvious to many audiences, some may be aware that it is a similar colour to liquid heroin. This when combined with overall look of the poster suggests that heroin may play a significant part in the films narrative.

Overall the minimalist, discreet hints within this poster can be clearly associated with social realism. It also gives me the urge to go and watch this film due to the enigma’s presented. In conclusion I have been inspired by poster and intend to refer to this poster when creating a poster for my trailer.