Gone Girl (2014)

Trailer analysis

General Facts Directed by David Fincher Genre: Psychological – Thriller - Neo Noir Production companies: Regency Enterprises & TSG

Entertainment Distribution companies: 20th Century Fox Budget: $61m Box Office: £368.1m Synopsis: Set in the Midwestern USA, the story begins as a

mystery that follows the events surrounding Nick Dunne, who becomes the primary suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Amy Dunne.

Micro-Elements: Camera The trailer commences with an establishing shot, which sets the scene and the

basis of the narrative straight away. We see a group of people mourning the disappearance and possible death of Amy. The narrative is clear straight away by using a low f-stop to track the camera past an out of focus ‘missing’ poster.

In this scene, there is a stark contrast used in the lighting, as the scene is darkly lit; with just the visitor’s small candles lighting up their depressed facial expressions – something you’d expect in such a scenario. This lighting technique is similar to the commonly used ‘Chiaroscuro’ in the Neo Noir genre.

As multiple flashbacks commence, one scene is a mid-shot of the couple via a two-shot editing technique. They are both positioned in the middle of a doorframe, with Nick leaning to kiss Amy, although she seems reluctant – which is one of the many times she appears to be depressed in the relationship. A key part of this shot is that the only light (a lamp in the background) is behind them, creating a silhouette effect in the doorway, which a convention of the Neo Noir genre.

There are a few sequences of extreme-close up shots of different pieces of evidence, a convention of a Crime film trailer. As we were thinking of combining Crime with Neo Noir for our film trailer, this technique along with the other things I’ve noticed will help me make my film trailer look much better and much more professional.

Another key convention of Neo Noir trailers is distorting shots by using water. In the latter part of this trailer, we see Amy’s ‘dead’ body, as she turns pale white under water. This is a strong clip as it shocks the audience due to it being so unexpected.

Micro-elements: Editing Like the full film, flashbacks are used a lot; certainly more than your average film.

This makes the narrative fairly complex, as you lose your place at least once. However, that is what makes a good, archetypal Neo Noir film trailer. The flashbacks in this trailer in particular are used to show the differences in Amy and Nick’s relationship; when it was at it’s best and worst, signifying how it’s a tough, rollercoaster ride for both of them. (E.g. Cheating on your wife + the other side of your wife then faking her kidnapping/death)

The flashback and sudden cuts in the editing show the stark contrast between the happiness and the depression in their relationship; like it can all go wrong due to one mistake.

Another nice editing technique is when we see Nick at the conference to plea for help to find his wife. He then poses next to the missing poster, and shockingly breaks a smile in front of a large hoard of press photographers – this photo was obviously then plastered all over the news. Straight after the smile, a reaction shot of Nick’s sister who’s facial expressions sum up the face of all the audience after they see it; simply disbelieving that he has done that.

This editing cut is a turning point in the trailer (and the film) as he now becomes the main suspect for the film, all shots concentrating on how he could of actually killed his wife. This plot twist is a key convention of Neo Noir films and even their trailers.

Micro-elements: Sound• The non-digetic incidental music: ‘She’ by Elvis Costello – A well known, popular song that will

attract or please a large audience itself, simply because they like the song. In my opinion, it goes very well with the trailer, centering the focus on ‘she’ (a.k.a Amy). It is also a worldwide recognized audience, so will naturally attract to the large audience that Gone Girl with naturally gather from the fans of the book or the Neo Noir genre.

• This starts of as more ambient, background soundtrack than the leading characteristic of the trailer. A song so peaceful is a generic convention of sound in Neo Noir genre, as the sound is often slow paced. This brings the audience slowly into the trailer, as the clips are not fast paced, the incidental music is not needed to fast paced either, hence why at the start there is only a piano instrumental present. This is in the background of Nick’s speech to the media about a missing Amy. As he sounds distraught, and because he actually says she’s missing, this outline the basis of the film’s plot to the audience who didn’t have prior knowledge (e.g. read the book). After this piece of dialogue, the vocals of the song come into play.

• This stays at a relatively similar pace, until the incidental music dies down as Nick and Amy fight – a scene that completely juxtaposes the calm, joyful nature of the song. This emphasizes a turning point in the narrative. The non-diegetic music then becomes much louder, making it more agitated and aggressive (despite the complete opposite lyrics). This builds the momentum of the trailer, as the pace of the editing also increases.

• This leads to a scene where Nick is at his angriest. The incidental music cuts to silent as he smashes a table, possibly making the audience jump. From this moment, the incidental music is in the background much more, as we here the diegetic noises of camera shutters, reporters asking questions, etc. This builds up the momentum rapidly, like it’s about to exploded (like Nick’s mind?) – before it once again cuts to silent. This concentrates the focus on Nick’s quote: “I did not kill my wife. I am not a murderer.” Then the incidental music slowly fades out in a peaceful notion. Using a powerful quote at the end of a film trailer is another noticeable convention of Neo Noir film trailers, as it leaves the audience often in amazement, and questioning the film… which inevitably leads to them going to the cinema to watch it.

Micro-elements: Mise En Scene

When we see ‘flash-forwards’ Amy always seems to be depressed throughout the trailer shown through her lack of facial expression; yet she seemed much more joyful in the multiple flashbacks – symbolization of many marriages. This use of MES establishes the disruption in the film’s narrative, according to Todorov’s narrative theory. The unusual thing about this is that in the present tense, she is only smiling on the missing posters, obviously to spread a more positive image of the a missing person, but due to it being a un realistic impression of how she was feeling, it implies that the parents or even Nick didn’t know that she was so troubled (Hence why we don’t see her smile in the flash forwards)

There are many locations that use very low-key lighting, such as the streets, the bathroom, homeless centers, abandoned malls etc. Some of these are part of the the archetypal Neo Noir film locations in a list a created earlier in this blog. For the most part, the low-key lighting creates a dangerous, depressive mood at these locations. This symbolizes the generic mood of the Neo Noir genre.

A gesture code of Nick is him with this head down whilst walking through an airport, after a TV Show accused him of killing his wife. The camera positioning put Nick in the center of the frame as he does this, implying he’s the center of attention. This clip is placed after the narrative of the trailer builds up to the point where Nick looks suspicious.

Like an establishing shot at the start of a trailer, Gone Girl utilizes one at the end that juxtaposes the rest of the trailer. We see a peaceful coastline with a mixt of ‘positive, primary colours. Something very absent from the rest of the trailer, as you’d expect from a Neo Noir film trailer.