This Is My Analysis Of The Opening Of The Film Gone Girl.

1. The Art of the Title: Gone Girl
(2014, David Fincher)
By Richie Batey

2. How Genre Is Signalled In Gone Girl.
• The genre is shown in the first scene and the
first thing on screen after the opening credits is
a man running his fingers through a woman’s
hair. It Starts with a man saying “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?” The difference in the tones and the
ways of writing emphasises the problems in
their marriage. It also shows that it is an
action/thriller film.

3. Titles In The Gone Girl Opening.
• One thing that opening titles do is they introduce the
main actors and they feature after the production
company idents. The titles shown in the Gone Girl
opening are reliable. The main characters of the film
(Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike) are the only actors
in the film shown before the name of the film with a
black back drop and the fact that they were shown at
a different time to the other actors show that they are
the main actors. The other actors are shown after the
title of the film is shown and each slide is done with a
fade that is slow and that makes the audience feel
anxious.

4. Production Companies In The Gone Girl Opening.
• The production company's are shown in the first
moments. The companies are, 20th Century Fox
and Regency Pictures. None of the idents have
sound behind them. The 20th Century Fox is
changed to be slightly blue and this fits with the
seaside theme and this shows they changed it to
fit the films opening another example of a film
that does this is the Simpsons movie where they
put Ralph in the zero of the 20th century film.

5. Mise-En-Scene In The Gone Girl Opening.
• The Mise-en-scene in the opening of this film
is done to scare the audience and make them
feel on edge for the rest of the film. The set is
very plain and the colours used stay
throughout with a grey for the house scenes
and a bleak blue. The colours used and the
use of fades between scenes compliment
each other. The use of fades and faded colours
create a nervous anxious feel.

6. Editing And Sound In the Gone Girl Opening.
• The only instrument in the opening of
Gone Girl is a harp which tricks the
audience into thinking it is calm but it is
rather mysterious. The background noises
are very creepy and mysterious like birds
chirping and the creaking objects and the
whole sound creates a dark feel. The idea
of the ‘Gone Girl’ opening is to excite the
audience and create a mysterious
atmosphere and it makes them wonder if
something will happen or not.

7. Narrative & Characters In The Gone Girl Opening.
• In the opening of ‘Gone Girl’, the audience is
captured by the silence. The first scene shows
Ben Affleck combing his fingers through
Rosamund Pike’s hair, which makes the audience
think he loves his wife and he is going to praise
her but he actually says that he wants to crack
her skull. This shows the audience that it is a
thriller.