Analysis of thriller : Gone Girl

Hey,

Introduction to 'Gone girl';

Gone girl takes place on a warm summer day in Missouri on the main characters Nick and Amy's fifth wedding anniversary. Amy mysteriously disappears and Nick quickly becomes the prime suspect for his wife's disappearance. Based on a best selling novel.


 In my opinion this scene creates suspense and is of importance:

Nick and Amy's argument.

Here is a link to the scene I analysed;

Nick and Amy's fight scene

The scene starts with the dialogue;
"Last night I went from desperate to pathetic, I became someone I don't even like."
 It then escalates to Amy and Nick fighting over their marriage. 

The first shot that is important and of significance in this scene is when we see Amy looking at Nick and then look down, she then travels towards him while the voice over says"I became someone I don't even like". This makes the audience wonder why she thinks this and what is she going to say to Nick. The long shot and the voiceover helps create a sense of curiosity and makes the audience wonder what is really going on in Amy's head and how the next scene is going to unfold


We can then see the scene develop into an argument where we see Amy and Nick scream at each other after Amy suggests them starting a family. Nicks body language imidiantly changes and becomes defensive  The two person shot where we can see them both, shows the audience how much control Nick can have over Amy because of the height difference, he is clearly towering over Amy and with the help of the music increasingly getting louder, this allows the audience to see how something bad is about to happen to the weaker person which in this case is Amy. The dialogue between one another becomes more aggressive and ultimately leads to him abusing Amy by throwing her to the ground. This creates suspense because an audience does not know wether she is okay or if he is going to hurt her again. The theme of abuse is very common in a thriller and is often within a relationship or with enemies. Stereotypically as an audience we can predict that there is going to be more scenes to follow that unveil their relationship in a negative light but as the audience is curious the shots, music and dialogue all make us wonder what is going to happen, which is why we continue to watch. This is extremely important to make the audience feel this way when creating a thriller and this scene defiantly makes the audience think and feel something. We want them to watch on and enjoy the film.


Here we can see an over the shoulder shot of Nick touching Amy's face after he threw her to the ground. Her facial expressions and body language shows us how she feels about him and allows the audience to know that the two of them are going to have more altercations to follow. At this point the music is more intense which enhances the scene and mood of the characters. There are also fade to black transitions between shots to add tension and drama to the scene. The transitions are important because it takes us into the next shot in a more creative and dramatic way, that intrigues the audience. The shot it set in a dark room, this compliments the way that Amy is feeling towards her husband but also how dark the argument is, how Nick is and this foreshadows what we as the audience can expect to see later on.

Here we can see a low angle shot, this is the perspective of what Amy can see. This show us the strength and uncontrollable nature of Nick and Amy's lack of control of the situation. For the filmmakers to choose this angle is important as it helps show how aggressive Nick is and the little power that Amy has. The significance of the light behind Nick shows how good life could be for Amy if she was away from Nick, how it is bright on the other side, not dark and miserable. This part of mise-en-scene is important because it allows for a certain atmosphere, that helps portray Nicks character. 

This shot is complimentary to the previous scene as it is after Nick has physically abused her. Her body language and facial expressions help us know that this hasn't happened before and she is extremely shocked. It is a high angle shot, this would be Nicks perspective of Amy. It is important that we see them from both of their views, so we know how they each feel. The shot is dark, once again portraying the situation.  She says 
"What scared me is how much he wanted to hurt me more". 
The music at this point is quite so we can really focus on what she is saying which is important because it is the start of the thriller story that will escalate. 

I can see over the five shots that I have choose, as the scene goes on they get darker. This progression of lighting could show us how their marriage is going. It also tells us what is going to happen in the story and the rest of the film. The editors have used fade to black transitions and slowed down the clip of Amy falling. This is significant because it adds drama and lets the audience take in what has just happened. The editors and film makers make sure that the shots used, the music and miss-en-scene is correct and fitting to make sure that they are giving the audience something to get into and really think on. 

Gone girl was an excellent movie to look at in terms of suspense and drama because of the shots that were used. They are executed beautifully and really help tell the story and the emotions of what the characters are going through which is really important when telling a story in a thriller. Overall the movie and its scenes are packed full of climaxes, twists and turns which really help bring it to life.