Danielle Duffy

Opening sequence analysis 3: Gone Girl

Gone Girl (2014)Directed by David Fincher

Rated 18+

Genres: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Synopsis: With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.

Introduction of characters

In this opening, the two main characters are revealed. Amy is shown resting on her

husband, however she does not look as relaxed as expected. The rather violent

dialogue makes me think that they are not quite the happy married couple; “When I

think of my wife, I always think of her head. I picture cracking her lovely skull, unspooling her brains, trying to get answers. The primal

questions of any marriage: What are you thinking? How are you feeling? What have we done to each other?” Already the narrative is coming through; the couple do not seem to have pleasant feelings of love towards each

other. Nick’s words suggest that he is a violent person: is he the one who has killed

his wife? This makes the viewer want to watch on and uncover more about their

relationship. When Nick is shown outside where I presume is their house, he seems to hesitate for several seconds; showing a sense

of unease and perhaps that he does not particularly like being and living with his wife.

Amy (wife)

Nick (husband)

Titles

Typically, production companies and actors names are present, and in a simple style: white, simple,

capitalised font against the black background. Titles are to inform the viewer and so do not have to

necessarily be impressive. The use of imagery to set the scene suffices for the plain text as the plainness

allows us to focus on the names of these people. Only the main characters who have the biggest roles

are accredited in the opening; perhaps because including all the other names would make the

opening very long and the viewer would be bored, and so the rest of the detail is left until the ending

sequence.

I especially like how they have presented the title of this film. The simplistic white font appears against the

fading dusk viewed from a bay, fading away. The fading effect of the text fits perfectly with the

meaning of ‘Gone Girl’; as the text vanishes like Amy has. The text is easy for the viewer to read and not

overpowering. In my production I will take into account the readability of fonts.

Establishing shots

There are some lovely establishing shots featured in this opening sequence. It’s

like the viewers gets a tour of the neighbourhood as each scene is shown for several seconds before jump cutting to the next. We see that the characters

live in a normal town, in a rather rich/middle class neighbourhood.

However the eerie music ruins the sense of ease the imagery creates. It is

mysterious and suggests things aren’t all they seem. It also establishes the thriller

genre. The movie’s theme of a disappearance is rather conventional of thriller, however the creator puts a twist

on the story.