The opening scene of Gone Girl establishes mystery and suspense through its use of lighting, sound, and camera work. A man narrates in a calm tone about violent acts while caressing his wife, Amy, who seems distrustful. The town of North Carthage is shown to be empty and "for sale" through various shots. Later, the disheveled main character Nick is seen outside his home on July 5th, deepening the intrigue around what happened. Throughout, dim lighting, ominous music, and Amy's cunning expressions leave many questions unanswered.

1. Gone Girl (2014)
Film Analysis

2. Detailed explanation of the opening
scene 1/3
• The film starts with non diegetic music playing in the background whilst the audience is introduced to the producers of the film; 20th century fox
and Regency enterprises. Then there is a fade into complete darkness as the director of the film, David Fincher’s name appears on a pitch black
screen using a very basic white font. Some of the words are highlighted and are made bold while others are dull, which adds an element of
mystery to the scene. Once again the screen is pitch black as we hear an inner-monologue of a man whose voice is flat , emotionless and
extremely calm. He is speaking in a normal matter of fact tone and it seems as if everything he is saying is a normal daily conversation that one
might have with an acquaintance. However, there is a huge conflict between the violent things that he is saying and the tone in which he is saying
them. The next shot that we see is faded in from black to a blonde woman’s head resting on a man’s chest, with the man caressing her hair.
Whilst the man is shown stroking the woman’s hair lovingly the inner monologue states “cracking her lovely skull, unspooling her brain”. There is
this clash between what is being said and what is being shown in the scene which is oddly intriguing and makes one want to learn more. It is
when the inner monologue says“trying to get answers” that the woman (Amy Dunne) looks up straight into the camera; with her eyes questioning;
as if she can hear what the man is thinking . She seems upset and a bit pale. This may indicate her distrust on the person on whose chest she is
resting. One thing of importance is that only half of the girl’s face and shoulder is illuminated whilst everything around her, including the man’s
body, was in shadows. This created a sense of enigma. However the identity of the man is still kept unknown which evokes a suspenseful feeling
in the audience, leaving them questioning about it. As the man mentions marriage Amy’s eyes change expressions as she stares into the camera
with a penetrating gaze, she seems to be evil and blood thirsty like a vampire. And it is at this point that the audience gets the inkling that they
are husband and wife. Another thing to note here is that the shot throughout was a close up shot that is used to emphasise reactions. This
information also helps the audience in paying more attention to Amy’s facial expressions throughout the shot. This shot ends when the
monologue says “what have we done to each other?” And Amy places her head back on the chest of the unidentified man while still staring
unblinkingly at him like a blood thirsty hound and the shot fades out to complete darkness. This too evokes a feeling of mystery in the audience
as the man’s words are left hanging in silence and pitch dark. This is when the titles are introduced on a pitch black screen with music that has a
slight tremor and unnerving pitch to it creating a sense of nervousness and unsettlement as if trying to say that all is not well. Furthermore, the
names of the actors, who are playing the protagonist (Ben Affleck) and his wife (Rosamund Pike), are introduced.

3. Detailed explanation of the opening
scene 2/3
• Another detail that was introduced was the film’s title “Gone Girl” (2014) which was shown by fading into a water body
like a lake or river with just one ship in it heading towards the harbour in the early hours of dawn, using a wide shot,
which means that there is still darkness outside and an element of gloominess in the surroundings although we can
hear diegetic sounds of water, barking dogs, frogs and birds chirping in the background showing that the world is
awakening to a new day. The audience is made aware of the setting of the film, using a wide shot, that is North
Carthage, Missouri as the other cast members are introduced. The wide shot helps in making the audience aware of
their surroundings/settings of the film. Furthermore, the sponsors of the film; Coca Cola and Mayer are also shown as a
billboard and a shop name during this time. In the next few shots which are a mix of wide shots and close ups, a new
building and a new area was introduced as well as one or two cast members. The first time that we see colour in the
opening scene is when we see green grass. The connotations attached to the colour green are: growth and renewal.
We see grass right next to the sign board with the word “reduced” meaning that the house in the shot is put up for sale
but due to some reasons it has been put on a reduced price. Moreover, the house is grey, dark and huge however the
backdrop is a bright sky which makes the dark house stand out even more. The next two shots, which is a long shot
and a wide shot, just makes the audience aware of the emptiness and starkness of the town just like the emotionless
voice of the man (inner monologue).The whole environment seems to be that of a ghost town; lifeless and at a
standstill. Time seems to have stopped here. Whilst the shots showed the audience the whereabouts of the setting, one
thing to notice was that everywhere there were signs of “For Sale” meaning that businesses are closing and people are
moving out of North Carthage. Furthermore using an upward tilt a clock is shown emphasising the importance of the
time shown on it.

4. Detailed explanation of the opening
scene 3/3
• We then see a man (Ben Affleck) standing right next to two garbage bins with a car parked at the back, in front of a house,
facing the boundary wall. The shot used is a knee length shot and the man (who is supposedly the anti-hero in this film) in
the shot seems to be somewhat dishevelled and confused with drooping shoulders and arms hanging loosely by his sides.
He seems to be very upset and disillusioned as his gaze is empty and his jaw is slightly dropping. The next shot is a long
shot that shows the side of Nick Dunne (the man in the shot), the rule of thirds is used as Nick is not standing right in the
centre of the frame. The long shot also shows the empty road with a thicket at the back. The long shot used emphasises
the emptiness of the surroundings and also indicate that Nick might be feeling just as empty as his surroundings. In this
shot the audience sees that Nick is wearing jogging attire from a previous day as it is crumpled. Moreover, he is standing
and looking from right to left and then in the front as if trying to make out his circumstances. Using diegetic sound, the
audience can hear that Nick is a bit out of breath. As he turns around to head towards the house we hear a slight gasp as
if he is shrugging some thought off. The shot again changes and now a wide shot is being used, as the audience sees him
walk towards the house, in the bottom left corner we see that the date is shown “July 5th”, which is the next morning of 4th
of July, the Independence day of America. This combined with the monologue earlier, gives the viewers an idea that the
story might have something to do with independence of either of the husband and wife. However, the main character does
not show any signs of having celebrated the night before. The next thing that we see written on the bottom left screen is
“the morning of” but this sentence is not completed which leaves the audience questioning about what had possibly
happened. This evokes the element of suspense and leaves many enigma codes as there is an element of the unknown.
Lastly, Nick is seen walking towards his house with a gradual fade that ends the opening scene.

5. Sound
• The sound used in this opening scene is eerie and adds to the suspense and mystery of the
film but it is not high pitched like that in conventional thrillers. The sound used in this
opening scene is one of the most important elements in this movie and it is one of the major
micro elements that build up tension in the audiences and make them want to continue to
watch the film. In “Gone girl” both diegetic as well as non diegetic sounds are used. The first
non diegetic sound is that of the monologue (Nick). The tone of the monologue was very
calm and the tone was also slow paced however it contradicted with the words that were
being spoken. Diegetic sounds were also used while the audience was being made aware
of the setting of the film. As the audience could hear the sounds of the waves when the title
of the film was introduced. Moreover, the audience could also hear frogs, dogs barking as
well as birds chirping in the morning. These sounds were used to add a sense of normality
in the opening of the scene to make it more relatable for the audiences and they also helped
in distracting the audiences from the eerie soundtrack that was playing in the background
throughout the opening.

6. Lighting
• Throughout the opening scene the lighting is very dull and dark as
the setting is Dawn. Lighting plays an immensely important role in
the film as it further adds to the element of mystery. Most of the
lighting used in the opening scene is natural lighting to enhance the
normality of everyday life. However, the background sound
contradicts this feeling throughout the opening scene.

7. Camera angles and shots
• There was a lot of diversity in the camera angles and shots that were used. The
very first shot is an angled shot that shows the woman’s face in detail and helps the
audience in reading her expressions fully by ignoring the surrounding since the
camera focuses on her face only while keeping everything else in shadows. There
were many shots and angles used while the area was being introduced to the
audience. Different types of angled shots were used in order to help the audience
understand the eerie atmosphere and abnormality of the town in North Carthage.
Upward tilt was used in order to show the clock and that enhanced the importance
of time and made the audience realise that time holds a lot of importance in this
entire movie. Furthermore, long shots and knee length shots were used in order to
introduce the main character, Nick. These helped the audience in evaluating Nick’s
personality and his emotions at that specific time ie, (5th of July).

8. Costumes
• All of the characters in the opening scene are shown wearing dull and
grey tones. The girl was wearing a blueish grey shirt while the man, on
whose chest she was resting, was wearing a black or dark grey shirt that
almost merged in the background, highlighting only the girl. When Nick is
shown on the screen, since he is all alone in the last few shots , the
viewers realise that he is an important person in the film and he has an
important role to play throughout, hence they begin to analyse him more
carefully. Nick’s attire is pretty simple and again he is also wearing grey
and dark clothes. His jogging attire might also indicate that he has been
out for a jog which could also indicate that he might be disturbed and
might be running away from something in his life .

9. Representation of Blonde Women in
Media
• Generally blondes are shown to be dumb i.e, beauty without brains.
But here the blonde woman shown (Amy Dunne) has a very cunning
expression throughout the close up shot. The close up shot helps
the audience in paying more attention to the evilness in Amy’s eyes
as she squints them and looks intently into the camera while putting
her head down on the man’s chest again. This breaks the stereotype
as generally men are thought to con women especially dumb
blondes but here it is actually the woman who cons the man and
gets him framed for something he had not done.

10. Representation of Time
• The whole opening scene has been shot in the wee hours of the
morning i.e, dawn. Everything is grey, gloomy and mostly silhouettes
are depicted of empty houses, shops, streets, etc. This emphasises
that everything is in shadows and not clear. There is an atmosphere
of melancholy and despair. One tends to feel apprehensive and a bit
perturbed since so much grey is pretty unnerving.