gone girl analysis

Analysis of Film Opening

Gone Girl

Opening Sequence- (01:00)

The first twenty seconds of the movie opening consists of the logos of the production companies. The screen then fades to black, and the credits begin to appear. On the 24th second, as the directors name appears on screen, a sound bridge/voiceover begins with the protagonist Nick Dunne speaking about his wife. The first image which appears is a close up shot of the antagonist, Amy Dunne. As the second half of the first minute progresses, there is a slow fade to a black screen, and the names of the two main actors (Ben Affleck and Rosamund Puke) appear on screen. In the last few seconds of the first minute, an establishing shot of the sea appears. The title of the movie then appears above the shot.

Opening Sequence (02:00)

As the sequence progresses into the second minute, there is a montage filled with establishing shots of different parts of the city, along with the credits running at the bottom of the screen. It is not until the 37th second into the second minute until we finally see Ben Affleck’s character, with amid shot of him standing outside his residence. The second minute of the movie ends with a long pan/track of the protagonist going back into his house. Throughout the sequence so far the lighting has remained quite low key connoting that something very dark and mysterious may occur.


The third minute of the movie is quite ordinary, we see Nick Dunne in his car approaching a bar. The non-diegetic music which plays in the background is quite daunting and formidable. There is then a close of shot of Nick as he gets out of his car and looks upon the neighborhood. The lighting is noticeably brighter in the third minute, maybe showing nothing is wrong just yet. As he enters the bar and sits down, there is an over the shoulder shot as the dialogue begins, which then turns into a shot-reverse-shot of him and the bartender, who seems to be a friend speaking.


As the movie moves into it’s fourth minute, it is revealed that the bartender is in fact the protagonists sister. After another shot reverse shot of them speaking, the screen then fades to black and a voiceover of Amy Dunne’s character speaking begins playing. There is an extreme close up of a diary as she writes in an entry. The scene then fades to a short track of Amy as she is walking. The voiceover eventually ends and dialogue begins between her and the main protagonist. There is a mid two shot of them speaking, which then leads into a close up two shot.


The final minute of the opening of the movie continues from the previous minute, with a mid two shot of the two protagonists speaking. Throughout this sequence there is diegetic sound of people speaking in the background, this fits in with what we are seeing on screen as it is obvious they are at some sort of party/gathering. The whole minute focuses on the two characters flirting and getting to know each other better. I think this is a good way to end the opening of the movie because it raises many enigma codes, such as what happens between the two characters, does something go wrong?