gone girl analysis by maroosh shaheen

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 studio and the
distributor 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. The font used is Futura PT
Demi Font. Some of the words are highlighted and are made bold while others are dull, which adds an element of mystery to
the scene since it gives a feeling of something being hidden or unknown which goes perfectly with the theme of the opening
scene. Once again the screen is pitch black as we hear a voiceover of a man whose voice is flat , emotionless and extremely
calm. There is a huge conflict between the violent things that he is saying and the cold calm tone in which he is saying them.
The cold calmness of the tone of the voice shows that the man in the VoiceOver is being sarcastic. 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 VoiceOver 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 VoiceOver says“trying to get answers” that the woman (Rosamund Pike) 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 woman’s
face and shoulder are illuminated while 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, 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 VoiceOver 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 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 by using the same font I.e Futura PT Demi Font.

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 boat 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, close ups and mid shots, 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. Moreover this camera movement is also known to
follow significant actions that also makes the audience pay more attention to the clock.

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 profile of Nick Dunne (the man in the shot),
he is standing in the centre of the frame that makes the audience believe that he is a very important character
throughout the movie, hence, they pay more attention to him.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. Genre
• The genre of this film was thriller and mystery.This film does conform to
conventional thriller and mystery movies as the lighting used is dark and
dull which builds suspense in the audience as it gives a feeling of
something being hidden and makes the audience feel as uneasy as some
of the characters in the film. Moreover, in conventional thriller and mystery
movies a lot of close ups are used in order to enhance the focus on the
expressions of the characters and same has been done here. However, in
usual mystery and thriller movies the non diegetic sounds used are upbeat
and high pitched as they help in creating a greater impact but in this film the
non diegetic sound is low pitched but it still creates a very huge impact on
the audience as it is one of the key elements that help to add suspense in
the film.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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).

9. 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 .

10. 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.

11. 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.