Narrative Questions - Trainspotting

1. Who is the hero, and who is the villain? How do you know?

We can see that the hero in this opening scene is the policeman chasing down the main character who is running away from him. This shows that the main character is a crook and someone who breaks the law. By seeing him run away it shows that perhaps he isn't that great at doing it and is maybe a rookie.

2. Where's the story set? What does it say about the genre?

The story is set in a urban area, as we see quite high-rise buildings, lots of shops and alot of people walking down the street. It instantly shows that it is quite a brit-grit and violent film as most are filmed in urban areas with gangs. We see many little avenues used and quite empty backroads, and that shows knowledge of the local area and that the villain knows his way around the area, such as most films as gangs usually fight for "their territory".

3. How many principle characters are there?

We see only 1 principle in the film, however there is a chance that there is another principle character. Two people are being chased by the policeman but the titles stop and show the name of only one of the character, who is the principle character. The other character runs off out of shot followed by the police and the main character stays in shot showing that he is the lone principle character.

4. How is the story told? Chronologically? What is the effect?

The story is told fairly chronologically. We start off with characters running away from the police and that leaves the audience with questions as to why they are running away. However, a monologue from the main character begins in the background and that tells the audience of the people in the gang and what their roles in the gang are. The effect of that is that the audience have initial questions in the head and some are answered but some are left unanswered and that makes them watch on to try and get the rest of the answers.

5. What questions are you left with?

We are left with the question of why the main character is running away from the police. We also are left with the question of who the man in the black van who knocks him over is. Another question is whether or not the other character who continues to get chased by the police gets caught or not.