Genre specific trailer analysis

1. +
GONE GIRL
Genre specific trailer

2. +
Plot
The outline of this film shown through the trailer, illustrates a husband
being accused of murdering his ‘loving’ wife who had recently
disappeared. Throughout this trailer, the narrative is in a non-
chronological order with flashbacks of him and his wife, whereby the
male protagonist is constantly shown to be the ‘villain’ of the story.
Furthermore, through the continual cuts to media attention, such as an
interview and numerous flash photographs, the trailer exaggerates the
fact that ‘Nick’ is seen as Amy’s murderer by the world and is under a lot
of pressure to give the right message. The audience can easily assume
the genre of this film is a psychological thriller with mystery, as we want
to find out what happened to Amy. This is a genre specific trailer, as our
group wants to create a trailer that involves a disappearance of a
teenager with the main genre being thriller.

3. +
Antihero
 Nick, the main protagonist, is instantly shown to be the antihero of
this film. This was illustrated at the beginning of the clip, when we
hear a female narrator asynchronously say “Nick Dunn, you’re
probably the most hated man in America right now,” followed by a
low-lit long shot of Nick with a bin and then a cut to an interviewer
revealed as the narrator asking him whether he killed his wife. The
scene fades to black as we are left on a cliffhanger from Nick not
answering the question. The use of narrative with ‘the most hated
man,’ demonstrates how he has been accused of something severe, is
the lead suspect and is ‘alone’ against the world. This leaves the
audience to have their own perspective of this accusation, as we
continuing watching the trailer.

4. +
Loving
 We also see an amorous side to Nick’s character
after he’s being interviewed. This is shown when
the soundtrack changes from eerie to slow piano
music with added slow motion to a series of
flashbacks of the couple, particularly when we
see a 2-shot of the couple together embracing a
kiss and we hear Amy asynchronously narrate in
an echo, “marriage is hard work, but not for me
and Nick.” This combined expresses to the
audience how we may change our perspective of
the protagonist and whether he might not have
committed the crime. Furthermore, a cut to a
tribute to Amy with soft lighting, illustrates how
deeply he loves her by doing all these search
parties and with his saddening voice.

5. +
Twist
 However, this is briefly twisted after a detective
questions him and we see various deceptive shots
of Nick’s character, which adds a take of mystery in
the plot. The examples shown were from a
synchronous sound bridge of the detective saying
“you don’t know if she has friends, you don’t know
what she does all day and you don’t know your
wife’s blood type” and an over the shoulder shot of
Nick looking at an officer nervously after a blood
stain is seen. Thus, this can give an unpleasant side
to Nick, as previously stated, he doesn’t know
much about his wife. This confuses the consumer,
as we don’t know ‘what to believe’ anymore from
this juxtaposition, but makes us more likely to
watch the film to find out who had taken Amy.

6. +
Abuse
 From a series of other flashbacks, the
consumers are given a very negative
outlook on Nick with his relationship with
Amy. At 0.56, there was a wipe of Nick
passing Amy with a shot reverse shot and
an asynchronous narration of Amy saying
“I will practice believing my husband
loves me, but I could be wrong.” This
wipe of Nick passing her in the bathroom
symbolises his intimidating figure with
the colour use of black (denoting evil)
and her anxious facial expression. This
not only displays how Nick is neglectful
towards Amy but he could also be an
abuser.

7. +
Another suspect
 The audiences are given only one other hint towards a suspect to Amy’s
disappearance other than Nick. This was briefly shown during the middle
section of the trailer with a series of cutaways to a blonde man with glasses
as a reoccurring figure. He is shown to be a solemn silent figure and a
diegetic asynchronous narration occurs in the background stating “Amy’s
the kind of girl to attract admirers” and we also see a cut of a note saying,
“clue one.” This collated together implies how there maybe another
suspect at hand who took Amy because of their possible intimate past.
However, this is soon dismissed with more hostile cuts of Nick being
abusive near the end of the trailer when the cutting rate got faster and also
Amy’s diary narrating how horrible of a person he was. It makes the
audience question heavily if Nick is the actual murderer when he is found
to do all of these things but also when he denies it in an innocent format.
This can appeal to the target audience range of both females and males, in
the age gap of 15+, as both genders are fans of mystery and drama, but
there could be possible bloodshed illustrated in a scene with the police
officers, so is unsuitable for viewers under 12.

8. +
Red herring + cat
 Conversely, the trailer could be misleading the viewers for the plot reveal in the
movie. This could be the use of a red herring when the audience automatically
can assume Nick is the murderer from connotations throughout the trailer. The
use of the red herring can make the plot more interesting and adds the element
of mystery, as this protagonist is being accused for a crime and is shamed for it in
the media, but actually there could be an antagonist that’s behind closed doors.
Intriguingly, the last line we hear in the trailer is “You ever hear the expression:
the simplest answer is often the correct one?” “Actually, I’ve never found that to
be true.” This symbolises that the audience has constantly seen Nick as the cruel
character from simple facts/footage, but a female figure disposes that
information, foreshadowing that it may not be him after all. Lastly, we see a
reoccurring cat in the last section of trailer that ‘reminds us to not fall prey to false
beliefs;’ a known statement representing cats in history. This implies that the cat is
like an ‘easter egg,’ representing how the audiences are under false beliefs from
the trailer and that the movie holds a heavy plot that declines Nick as the leading
suspect. This overall shows ‘Gone Girl,’ to hold a suspenseful and anticipating film
for viewers to find out what happened to Amy, demonstrating the main genre of
thriller.