How I used features of "Gone Girl" in my film opening

1. How I used features of “Gone Girl” in my film opening

2. 2 characters
• In gone girl there are only 2 characters in the opening.They are the husband and
wife.The husband is the main focus of the opening as he is giving the narration
however the wife is important because viewers want to know what she has done
that has lead to her husband thinking the way he does about her. Only using 2
characters in the opening makes it easier for the viewers to start to connect with
the characters (conforming to the drama genre convention of ‘purpose is to move
viewers emotionally’) and it makes it clear to the viewers who the film is going to
be based around.
• Therefore I used this when planning my opening. I chose to only include Emily and
Poppy in my opening and not introduce the characters of the father and mother
because I think it creates mystery as the viewers are able to make their own
assumptions and it also makes it easier for the viewer to see the relationship
between the sisters as they are the main focus through the whole opening

3. Scene Setting
• In gone girl, shots of the neighbourhood that the couple live in are shown to
introduce the viewer to where they live and their surroundings.The husband is shown
driving around which shows that he is familiar with the area and reinforces the idea
that this is where they live.This is something that the viewers were keen to see in my
opening as it is a popular expectation that scene setting takes place in the opening so
that the viewers are able to place the characters in the world and make sense of
where they are.Therefore the girl on the train conforms to the stereotypical film
opening and meets the viewers expectations
• I used scene setting in the opening of my film at the start when I use a tracking shot
of Emily walking home, the wide shots in the hallway and basing the rest of the
opening in Poppy’s room.This allows the viewers to start to make assumptions of the
family ie their class, wealth and the type of life they lead. Using scene setting also
met my audience research as my respondents said they expected scene setting at the
start and it was something they liked when they watched the Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows film opening