The Art of the TitleGone Girl (2014, David Fincher)

By Alex Davies

How GENRE is signaled in Gone GirlGenre is signaled immediately in the first scene and first thing on screen after the production company idents is a man combing his fingers through a woman’s hair. The opening sequence uses a voice over, a man speaking as a dramatic monologue:

“When I think of my wife, I always think of her head. I picture cracking her lovely skull, unspooling her brains, trying to get answers. The primal questions of any marriage, what are you thinking? How are you feeling? What have we done to each other?”

The contrast between the loving action and the violent words immediately puts the viewer on edge: their marriage and the amount of hatred between them is something to be revealed later in the film.

This film ends the same way as it begins, which leads to an important revelation in the film, which is an effect called foreshadowing.

TITLES in the Gone Girl OpeningOne convention of opening sequences is that they contain credits: the principal actors feature immediately after the production company idents.The titles shown in the Gone Girl opening are consistent. The main actors of the film (Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike) are the only actors in the film mentioned before the main title is shown situated in the middle of the screen against a black backdrop, which makes it clear that they are the main actors in the film. After the main title all the other key supporting actors featured in the film appear in bottom left and bottom right corners.

All the titles in the Gone Girl opening fade out and make the audience feel uncertain as if there is no certainty in the reality that we are watching.

PRODUCTION COMPANIES in the Gone Girl Opening

The production company idents are shown in the first moments of the film. These production companies are, 20th Century Fox and Regency Pictures. None of the idents have sound and the 20th Century Fox is tinted blue. This is to fit in with the opening since the flashes of the seaside town are presented blue, showing that the production company ident was changed to fit the film’s opening.

MISE-EN-SCENE in the Gone Girl Opening

Every aspect of the opening mise-en-scene is designed to disturb and upset the viewer.The set is lonely and contains cool colours as after the main title is shown it flashes to a sea side town with shades of blue and grey which doesn’t make the film seem welcoming. In addition, these colors have a tendency to feel like they are receding (or backing away from you), like the titles of the actors are.

As well, in all the flashes, the town in uninhabited and secluded. From this we assume that the film will be mysterious and ominous.

EDITING in the Gone Girl Opening

The only instrument in the background music during the opening is a harp, which seems calm, yet mysterious since the harp slowly comes in after the clip is shown. As well, the background sound effects in the opening seem unwelcoming and creepy, like crankling noises and hostile bird chirping, making the overall sound of the opening emotionless.

The vision of the ‘Gone Girl’ opening is mysterious how all the flashes of the sea side town are similar, which makes the audience have a realisation of unsteadiness, between them and whether something will happen.

NARRATIVE & CHARACTERS in the Gone Girl Opening

In the opening of ‘Gone Girl’, the audience is drawn in due to the silent indents. The first scene is immediately shown of Ben Affleck combing his fingers through Rosamund Pike’s hair, which makes the audience more aware and how they would expect him to say something pleasant about his wife, however says murderous thoughts. This draws the audience by them making this being a thriller.