I analysed the opening of Gone Girl, which is a film
directed by David Fincher. I think the start
of the film is brilliant – it is gripping and you want to watch to see what
happens. It starts with the man lovingly stroking his wife’s hair, as she affectionately
looks up at him. However, the voiceover could not be more different. He speaks
about wanting to ‘crack open her skull’, in an eerily calm voice. The contrast
between his affectionate actions but violent language grips the person
watching, as they can tell this is an unusual storyline and wants to know what
happens. After this short scene and voiceover, in my opinion the opening goes
slightly downhill. The rest of it is just still videos of calm landscapes, each
obviously having some significance to the film and storyline. However, whenever
I watch this trailer I start to lose interest in this section – the music is
slow and there is no more action, so it is hard to stay focused and really
gripped on the story. To keep me more engaged, I think in between some of the
landscape scenes there could have been half seconds of dramatic danger, giving
inside of some of the action that will come later in the film.
The main images that have been prioritised in this opening
sequence is the wife lying close to her husband as he strokes her hair. This
also comes at the beginning, so we meet the two main characters, what they look
like and their relationship. All the scenes – all the landscapes as well as the
live action - convey calmness. However, the language being used by the man
contradicts with this, making it much more interesting. The man’s speech also
implies this film may come slightly under the horror genre. The language is gruesome,
and not your typical romance film.
Before any scenes are shot, the black screen is placed,
which shows clearly the different titles, and people who were involved. Different
camera shots included an arc pan – which was the main shot type. There are also
several still shots to show the scenery.
You write perceptively about how the audience is gripped by the horrific contrast between what Affleck says privately in the voice over and what the audience sees him doing, establishing the thriller genre clearly; you note that the two main characters are presented early on, but also question the way that the tension and suspense seems to drop as the husband is seen wandering outside the house and just staring up at the bedroom window.You could have commented on the text that identifies the star talents, Pike and Affleck, as well as the star director, Fincher.
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