Financial Constraints Case Study: Train spotting

Low budget film making advice:

resource film making- what resources you need to use 

budget- how much do you have to spend

list of location- where you can film for free using friends and family using people with interest in acting

list of equipment- any interesting props or objects that you own

local events- use of large crowds and events

Minimize locations- saving time and money 

wright role that are subtle to your actors

avoid needing to use extras

avoid exterior night scenes

avoid CGI and special effect unless you know how to do it

location scouting/ location recce 

actors and equipment available - work around borrowing equipment timings

Train Spotting Pre-Production:

budget was £3.5 million

Boyle, MacDonald and hodge were the directors and producers

it is based on a book by Irvine Welsh, It is a series of interlinked stories concentrating on heroin-hooked anti hero Mark Renton and his attempts to kick the habit despite a lack of co-operation from his similarly-inclined friends.

Getting the Rights:
They needed to get the screening rights off itv because the publishers already sold them to Noel Gaye of itv. they didn't have plans to film train spotting at first

film making threesome are being badgered by hollywood mogul Scott Rudin who offered them $250000 to film whatever project they wanted 

the rights are still problematics even more so when channel 4 which is financing the film refuses to give them a penny until they had the mess sorted.

a deal was eventually done for 2% of the films budget(£30000) and Noel Gaye backing out of hands on duties in exchange for a share of the profits and a name check on the credits.

Pre production started:
for most feature films the pre production usually takes around 4-7 weeks and the Trainspotting to 7 weeks for them to finish pre production; finding and paying for all departments.

Casting;
the first person he casted was Ewan McGregor

they sat down with a list of top talent of the time but for most of the parts the knew who they wanted to cast

Rehearsals began in the top of a small tower block in Glasgow

trainspotting is set in Edinburgh but filmed mostly in Glasgow to save costs

they found a location in the brewhouse
the cost of the bar would depend largely on the relationship with the brewery, it depends on how much they want them to film there and how much business they would loose from them having to close the pub all day so that they could film.
a location scout goes out to find the locations for filming whereas the location manager will have control over what happens at the locations
they got most costumes from a charity shop because it was cheap and full of stuff that would make them look like a junky and look like they were from a cheap and rough area
north face gave jackets to the film but most companies were reluctant to give them stuff because of what the film  was about.
Shooting:
the shoot lasted 35 days with around 5 days a week and includes a week of dreaded night shoots.
In scotland the night only lasted a couple hours and that only gave a little darkness but they then got more daylight to work with.
the producers decide where all their money goes and to who it goes to. if it goes to hair and make up or props and costumes.