Gone Girl
2014
Director - David Fincher
Institution – 20th Century Fox
Gone Girl has just recently been released in October 2014.
Gone Girl is a film about a man’s wife who has gone missing. When his wife's
disappearance becomes the focus of an intense media circus; the spotlight is
turned on him and it is suspected that he may not be innocent. The genre of
this film is drama, mystery and thriller and therefore the trailer of Gone Girl
shows all three of these genres making it a hybrid film. The trailer for Gone
Girl appeals to the audience to see the film using many different techniques. I
believe the target audience for this film are both males and females from the
age of eighteen upwards. These males and females are from all different ethnicities
and occupations but as this film is American based I believe this film would appeal
to predominately American and British people. The age certificate of the film
being an eighteen only allows people of this age and upwards to see the film.
This means the film may include scenes of hard drug use, horror, explicit sex,
sadistic violence and sexual violence which are not appropriate for people
under this age. Even though a majority of people who are younger than eighteen
may watch the trailer of Gone Girl, this appeals to them in some aspect to see
the film. As the younger audience are rebelling and want to view the film due
to the fact the film may excite them and they too want to see what happens in
the film.
The establishing shot of a large group of people from the
local community where he lives with his wife are all standing together as a
force holding candles’ listening to a talk by the man whose wife has gone
missing. The audience can hear the diegetic sound of the man talking stating
about his wife’s disappearance; it is clear by his tone of voice that he is
distraught about the situation and he is doing all that he can in order to
relocate her. This is emphasised by a long shot as the audience are able to see
the large group of people standing together holding candles which the frame
denotes that it is evening time and the only source of light is candles. By
each person holding a candle this connotes that candles are a visible reminders
of possible triumph over darkness which in some aspect could be seen to the
audience that his wife could potentially be found as you have to experience the
bad days in order to have the good days. Overall the lighting is low key, this
helps with the fact that the film is about a women who has gone missing and
this is the first scene shown which helps to create a sense of mystery and
suspense as the audience have no idea yet about what has occurred with the
woman. The setting is on a large green which has a stand where the husband is
standing with her parents beside him. There is a large billboard poster of the
women who has gone missing face with big red font stating the word ‘missing’ in
capital letters. By the word ‘missing’ being in red and in capital it connotes
that danger has occurred and it is urgent that the women is relocated; this is
why her husband is doing everything he can to find her. This appeals to the
target audience as it makes them think that her husband has got nothing to do
with his wife going missing or the fact he has done something to harm her as he
is the one who is putting in the most effort to relocate her. The audience at
first may want to believe him as he has her parents behind him showing a united
front. This is a dramatic start to the trailer as the protagonist is pleading
for help to find his beloved wife.
The second frame of the trailer appeals to the target
audience as it denotes two middle aged people one male and one female who are
in a relationship standing in the doorway of a room in their house in which
they live in together. This frame is a scene from the film which has been shown
of the two protagonist characters even though it has not yet been revealed but
the male could potentially be the antagonist. The audience can see that the
male is going into kiss the female who is his wife. His two fingers are placed
under her chin and her head is at an angle facing upwards going into kiss her
husband. This is a two shot and the audience are able to see the two characters
and the type of relationship they have which connotes a loving relationship but
the male has more authority as he is holding her chin up to kiss her whilst
leaning his head towards her. Focusing on the costume the characters are
wearing is that the male is wearing a dark coloured shirt and the female is
also wearing a dark coloured v-neck jumper.
The theme music in the background of the trailer is of a man singing and
the line he is singing at this particular moment of the trailer is ‘a face I
will never forget’ Theme music is a key passage of music linked to what is
occurring in the film helping to create a mood. This appeals to the audience as
it could be seen in some aspect that it is as if the husband is singing to her
saying that his wife’s face is one he will never forget as she had such a big
impact in his life and now that she has gone missing that is life is completely
ruined and he will miss her deeply. The colours used are similar to the first
scene and are all dark colours with only one source of light coming from a light
in the room in the background. Both scenes so far, only having minimum lighting
which emphasises a sense of mystery and suspense again to the audience as
everybody thinks that the husband is the last person involved with his wife’s
disappearance. From just these two scenes and frames I have chosen to analyse
from the trailer it is unknown to the audience yet what has actually happened
to his wife. This in turn really appeals to the audience to go and watch the
film in order to find out. At this moment the audience are stuck in two minds
when watching the trailer trying to make a decision for themselves into what
they think has taken place and if her beloved husband who is shown loving her
has done something bad to her or if he is indeed innocent.
The trailer then goes on to a frame which denotes her
husband who is previously seen trying to find his wife whom means so much to
him and giving talks to the local people about trying to find her now running
away from a large group of people who are represented as the media press. This
implies that maybe the truth has now come out about her disappearance; which he
is now trying to run away from. This frame is a wide shot so it is focusing on
the surroundings as well as the object of the frame which is the male at the
front who is her husband. This connotes that the husband feels isolated and
nervous of the truth that is about to emerge. The costume the husband is
wearing are smart formal clothes of a shirt, blazer and dark trousers,
throughout the trailer he is always smartly dressed even through the
disappearance of his wife this displays that he takes pride in his appearance.
In addition to this, it appeals to the audience as it makes them think due to
the face it could also be seen in some aspect that the disappearance hasn’t
affected him a huge amount as you would expect someone who has lost someone so
close to them to be a mess and not look after themselves very well as they are
trying to emotionally cope themselves with the lost that has recently occurred.
This scene appeals to the audience as it makes them want to see the film in
order to find out why her husband is now running away and later on in the scene
gets straight into a police car. This infers that he has done something
malicious to her and he could potentially be handing himself into the police.
He could be saving himself the stress of the media press trying to get to him,
until the police find out the truth. Therefore this encourages the audience to
find out the truth about her husband and his effect on her disappearance.
The end frame of the trailer shows his wife dead underwater
which implies she has been drowned as earlier on in the trailer she is shown in
the bath. However the end frame is made even more dramatic by the use of
diegetic sound by the lead protagonist ‘I did not kill my wife, I am not a
murder’ he emphasises the word not. The audience are now left in real doubt
which encourages them to find out about her cause of death which appeals to
them even more as they are now unable to find out what has occurred unless they
go and see the film for themselves.
The characters being represented in Gone Girl are both males
and females who are of a middle age with a profession. The audience can see
that they are in a relationship and are married as the male states in the very
first scene ‘my wife has gone missing.’ This trailer denotes that they are a
wealthy couple as they live in a large house in America with modern interior as
numerous amounts of scenes are set in their kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. This
trailer to some extent shows a stereotypical married couple as it shows them
deeply in love about to kiss. However it
also shows the negative elements of a married couple with broken glass on the
floor which implies an argument. The audience then sees the couple arguing
later on in the trailer, which then makes the audience think that the male
could of potentially have killed his wife due to an argument that has occurred
between them. He is trying to cover up the fact he has done something to her by
giving talks to the local community where they live about finding her.
Therefore the representations of the married couple can be seen as regressive
due to the fact it shows them being in love and attending dinner dates together
with friends and family. As well as progressive due to the fact that he is
running away from the press later on in the trailer which connotes to the
audience that the truth has come out about his wife’s disappearance as the
truth is known to always come out in the end.
The psychographics of the type of people going to watch this
film are people who enjoy mystery and dramatic thriller films, that like
suspense as well as enjoying action films. This film could attract both primary
and secondary target audience as the primary target audience could be people
who go to the cinema to watch films of this genre (which are drama, mystery,
action and thriller.) For example films like Taken, The Girl With the Dragon
Tattoo and All Good Things. In addition to this, the primary target audience
could be fans who have read the book Gone Girl before as it was initially a
book before the film. The secondary target audience could be fans who follow
the celebrities starring in the film and the protagonist characters in the film
are Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. Ben Affleck has also starred in Gone, Argo,
Chasing Amy and Runner, Runner. Rosamund Pike has featured in Jack Reacher, The
World’s End and Johnny English Reborn.
Focusing on uses and gratifications the target audience will
get entertainment from this film as they escape from their own lives and focus
on the disappearance of this women and how it is affecting her husband.
Watching this film is a form of escapism and stimulates the senses and
adrenalin levels of the audience. As they may not have experienced somebody
going missing in their lives they get surveillance from it, as they are finding
out things from the outside world as it not common that somebody’s wife or
husband goes missing every day. However, a small selection of the target audience
may have personal identity with this film as they could potentially identify
with the characters on screen and relate to them in some aspect such as if
they’ve lost someone they love due to death, arguments or distance. Another
reason why my target audience would want to see this film due to personal
relationships as they have an interest in the characters’ lives, personal
relationships with family and friends and talking about the film could
potentially strength their relationships with people close to them.
The institutions which produced and controlled this film are
20th Century Fox. This institution is a large global film institution meaning
this film will be distributed worldwide. As this film could potentially be a
global success the trailer encourages the target audience to see the film even
more as Gone Girl was initially a book beforehand. This makes the audience want
to be part of this potential global success. Linking Gone Girl to Todorov’s
narrative theory he believes that all stories has three stages. The equilibrium
which is the first stage and everything is balanced, things are going well. The
disruption which is the second stage and something has gone wrong and the final
third stage which is known as the re-equilibrium which is when things are
balanced again even though it may be different from the start. From what can be
seen by the audience from the trailer of Gone Girl it could potentially convey
Todorov’s narrative theory. Due to the fact the trailer shows the couple in
love which is the equilibrium, then the wife goes missing which is the
disruption stage and the re-equilibrium is yet to be shown which again appeals
to the audience and encourages them to see the film.
Overall, I believe that the trailer of Gone Girl appeals to
the target audience as the re-equilibrium stage is not shown which creates
suspense and mystery for the audience. The audience can only see the enigma of
the film so the slow build-up of the trailer coupled with the dramatic start
and end of the trailer only showing the start and middle scenes of the film
leaves the audience in no doubt that this is a must see movie. As individuals
the target audience’s minds are enquiring and so for their own personal
fulfilment they need to know the truth about her disappearance. The soundtrack
in the background of the trailer ‘She – Elvis Castello’ is memorable to the
viewers of the trailer and also links to the romantic film Notting Hill, 1999.
The song has romantic connotations but in the film Gone Girl it relates to the
girl that has gone missing making the target audience feel emotional. Both Gone
Girl and Notting Hill are films about looking for a girl so this choice of
soundtrack is effective and clever as they both have similar storylines in the
films.
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