G321 - Analysing Thriller Openings: Gone Girl

Gone Girl (2014)

The opening of the film indicates that the genre of the film is to be thriller due to the repeated use of close ups throughout the opening. This method is a generic convention of thrillers as it helps to build mystery and ambiguity which eludes towards a complex narrative. The high contrasts of the dark against light colours also helps establish the film as a thriller.

This institution logo is not shown in the opening of Gone Girl which leads the audience to believe that doing so could create a false pretence about the content of the film. There is also the possibility that due to deriving from a book, the institutional logo has not been used so that credit for the story itself is not awarded to the wrong people.



The target audience of the film appears to be females from the ages of 18 plus. This is due to the protagonist being female which is more likely to attract a female audience. The film appears to be aimed at middle to upper class members of society and this is made apparent through the protagonist's location in a seemingly middle to upper class home.

The narrative of the film is revealed as revolving around the protagonist and her diary, shown through the focus on these aspects within the opening. It is also inferred that the use of the girl's home is to play a significant role in the narrative of the film, despite what its significance is being initially unclear.This creates ambiguity and raises questions, therefore creating intrigue within the audience.
 The opening of this film appears to be avoiding giving out a message so as to cause the audience to focus solely on what is happening within the clip and to allow the viewer to ask questions about such matters.  This is done via the use of close ups and a lack of information being revealed.

The opening sequence reveals that the characters in the film are likely to be middle class, young adults. This is shown through the protagonist's own age within the opening. In doing this, it creates a wider interest from more age groups and therefore increasing the potential age range of the target audience.

The setting of the film appears to be a modern British or American town through the representation of the protagonist and her home. Aside from this, there are no other hints towards location or setting and therefore it can only be presumed that the remainder of the film is to be based in similar settings.

The naturalistic lighting in the opening sequence helps to convey a sense of verisimilitude and causes the audience to feel involved with the scene. The scenes used are made to look and feel like reality through this naturalistic lighting despite the high contrast which is created through lightly coloured costumes and props, and a pale protagonist against dark furniture rather than through lighting and therefore the film becomes relatable to the audience, enticing the viewer to continue watching to see how the film differs from reality.

The most evident theme presented in the opening is that of ambiguity due to the lack of information that the audience receives from the opening. The simple young woman being the only character introduced at this stage causes her to become the focus of the opening and therefore the film. 

The lack of diegetic sound allows the audience to focus on the non-diegetic music which accompanies the opening scene. The lyrics of the music hint towards the narrative of the film, including "There's a knock at your door, you don't even recognise the stranger". This detracts from the verisimilitude created through the lighting and mise making it evident that it is important. This helps to make it more obvious that the film will not be as simple as it first appears.

Editing within the opening is minimal, using only basic cuts to switch between clips. Further to this, the editing is discontinuous to show changes in time and circumstance. This creates confusion within the audience and causes them to question the connection between the clips shown, thus creating more ambiguity and eluding towards a more complex narrative.

The titles within the opening are partially integrated into the opening as they do not obstruct the scene in any way yet are still evidently visible. They are extremely simple which helps with the opening's verisimilitude and the fading of the titles into the scene allows them to be overlooked.

The atmosphere created within the opening scene is one of happiness and reminiscence, created by the protagonist's smile and the apparent flashbacks to a previous time as she is writing in her diary. This atmosphere helps to create a heightened sense of reality which has already been created throughout the opening by the use of naturalistic lighting and relatable location.

The opening represents a relatively modern society in a positive light. The protagonist is presented as being a jovial person, making the modern day seem happy and peaceful. This foreshadows that there will be an upset of this equilibrium in some way later in the film due to Todorov's narrative theory.
 

The shots used within the opening are all very similar which insinuates that this will be mirrored within the rest of the film. The simple shots allow for the heightened sense of verisimilitude as they are realistic and the use of close ups makes it appear as though you are a part of the scene.

From the evidence provided I have come to the conclusion that this opening does a good job at establishing the genre through the use of close ups and the rising levels of ambiguity. It also has a very high level of verisimilitude allowing the audience to create a connection with the film and place themselves in the scene. I believe that all in all the Gone Girl opening is successful and would entice the appropriate audience.