Gone Girl was released in 2014 and is classed as an American “psychological thriller” which was directed by David Fincher (who also directed ‘Fight Club’, ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ and ‘The Social Network’) and was written by and based of the book by Gillian Flynn. The film includes huge A-List stars such as Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike and Neil Patrick Harris and was produced by Arnon Milchan (who also produced ’12 Years a Slave’ and ‘The Revenant’) and Reese Witherspoon. Gone Girl was produced by Regency Enterprises and TSG Entertainment and was distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was released on October 3rd and in its opening weekend produced $37,513,109 and having an overall box office of $369.3 million. Having a budget of only $61 million, this was a very successful film. The BBFC certificate was an 18 due to it including Sex & Nudity, Violence & Gore, Profanity and Alcohol use.
The trailer for Gone Girl is and a minute and a half and opens straight into the main plot of the film with non-diegetic music playing over the top. The first trailer is mainly made up of a montage of “snippets” from the film. The beginning of the trailer portrays the film to be a romance with the music used and the shots from the film are all from a happy marriage with a worried husband about his missing wife. It then becomes apparent that this is not a happy film and there is aspects of crime and thrillers. The trailer ends with Ben Affleck saying “I did not kill my wife, I am not a murderer.” This then presents to the audience that the film would be more of a thriller due to the build-up of crime shots throughout the trailer.
Gone Girl opens with the 20th Century Fox logo and instantly the audience is faced with conventions of a thriller film. Non-diegetic eerie music is played from the start instead of having the normal 20th Century Fox introduction music, emphasising to the audience the seriousness of the film. Following this, Regency Enterprises’ logo is then faded onto the screen. A voice over is then introduced to the audience still with the introductory credits showing and the music playing in the background. The introductory shot is a close up of a woman in an intimate location such as a bedroom. As the voice over is talking about his wife, the audience are led to believe this is his wife. She is shown to have minimal makeup and holds eye contact with the camera for an extended time which gives creepy and scary idea to the audience; the continued music and voice over talking about murder adds to this.
The first shot then fades out and an long establishing shot of a river with the title Gone Girl is presented still with the same music just slightly louder. A montage of shots, the majority being either mid or wide shots, of what seems like a town is then shown which portrays the idea to the audience that this location may have some significance to the film. Along with the eerie non-diegetic music, there are asynchronous sounds which add to the overall effect of the montage making it seem more realistic. The montage then ends with a mid-shot of a street and the camera tracks upwards following a clock. The camera stays on the clock for a few seconds once again implying a sense of significance and mystery.
Ben Affleck is then introduced in the next part of the opening through a mid-shot of him standing outside his house wearing scruffy clothing. The eerie music is still playing adding to the mysterious effect and with the camera switching to the side of the main character showing him looking onto an empty street, this overall creates a sense of unease as he has no purpose that the audience are aware of. After waiting outside his house for nearly fifteen seconds, he finally starts walking back inside. A title appears on the screen saying “July 5th – The Morning Of”. With all these previous features of the opening so far, this title gives the audience some definite idea that the film will involve mystery and thriller conventions.
The trailer for Gone Girl is and a minute and a half and opens straight into the main plot of the film with non-diegetic music playing over the top. The first trailer is mainly made up of a montage of “snippets” from the film. The beginning of the trailer portrays the film to be a romance with the music used and the shots from the film are all from a happy marriage with a worried husband about his missing wife. It then becomes apparent that this is not a happy film and there is aspects of crime and thrillers. The trailer ends with Ben Affleck saying “I did not kill my wife, I am not a murderer.” This then presents to the audience that the film would be more of a thriller due to the build-up of crime shots throughout the trailer.
Gone Girl opens with the 20th Century Fox logo and instantly the audience is faced with conventions of a thriller film. Non-diegetic eerie music is played from the start instead of having the normal 20th Century Fox introduction music, emphasising to the audience the seriousness of the film. Following this, Regency Enterprises’ logo is then faded onto the screen. A voice over is then introduced to the audience still with the introductory credits showing and the music playing in the background. The introductory shot is a close up of a woman in an intimate location such as a bedroom. As the voice over is talking about his wife, the audience are led to believe this is his wife. She is shown to have minimal makeup and holds eye contact with the camera for an extended time which gives creepy and scary idea to the audience; the continued music and voice over talking about murder adds to this.
The first shot then fades out and an long establishing shot of a river with the title Gone Girl is presented still with the same music just slightly louder. A montage of shots, the majority being either mid or wide shots, of what seems like a town is then shown which portrays the idea to the audience that this location may have some significance to the film. Along with the eerie non-diegetic music, there are asynchronous sounds which add to the overall effect of the montage making it seem more realistic. The montage then ends with a mid-shot of a street and the camera tracks upwards following a clock. The camera stays on the clock for a few seconds once again implying a sense of significance and mystery.
Ben Affleck is then introduced in the next part of the opening through a mid-shot of him standing outside his house wearing scruffy clothing. The eerie music is still playing adding to the mysterious effect and with the camera switching to the side of the main character showing him looking onto an empty street, this overall creates a sense of unease as he has no purpose that the audience are aware of. After waiting outside his house for nearly fifteen seconds, he finally starts walking back inside. A title appears on the screen saying “July 5th – The Morning Of”. With all these previous features of the opening so far, this title gives the audience some definite idea that the film will involve mystery and thriller conventions.