The opening sequence of Gone Girl starts with a plain black screen and simplistic white writing. We then get shown the production company logos for ‘Twentieth Century Fox and Regency Enterprises’ which provides the pedigree for the film. The names of the director, the cast and other creatives also appear, which may support the audience’s choice of seeing the film.
Font choices are an important elements of the visual appeal and contribute to the graphical cohesion. In this film opening the font is simple but clear; the text is white and is against the dark background of the videos, this is constructional as it makes the text clear and comprehensible.
The film opening of Gone Girl signals the film genre which seems to be a drama thriller. It does this in many different ways, such as through the establishing shot which shows the protagonist, a close up shot of the back of a woman’s head which leaves the audience in suspense until we see her face a few moments later. The genre is also signalled through the soundtrack, such as music, which is calm but yet gloomy and mysterious.. The use of the voice-over at the begging sets up the scene and genre of the film, the man’s voice is tranquil and smoothing to the audience, however the words he is saying, such as “cracking her lovely skull” are dark, ghastly and gruesome in comparison to his voice and the music which is being displayed.
The different types of costumes, lighting, text are some other factors in appealing the audience. For example the lighting and colour is dark and tedious. This shows what the movie will be about. The setting shows a town that is isolated which portrays the abandoned and the genre of the film. In the film a low angled camera angle is used to emphasise the run down building and sign, following this a variety of establishing shots are used to focus on multiple old and worn out signs and shop fronts around the town.
Most film openings introduce the main narrative elements to launch the film but do not give away too much in order to retain the enigma. The start of Gone Girl does not go straight into the narrative, it starts by showing different places within the town to build up suspense and excitement. During the end of the opening sequence we see the main character. The character first appears in the centre of a wide shot which establishes that he is a significant and superior character.
I found this film opening extremely unique and eye-catching. This is because of some certain elements such as the opening scenes and soundtrack which therefore grasped the audience by portraying the genre and the theme.
In your analysis of the opening sequence of 'Gone Girl', you show awareness of the genre conventions such as the titles and roles in the credits, the ways in which the thriller genre is signalled, the drama of the voice-over, the use of colour to build atmosphere and the way in which enigma is created.Very good work, Olivia.
ReplyDelete