Trailer Analysis : The Girl On The Train

At the beginning of the Gone Girl trailer, the first shot immediately introduces the viewers to the main protagonist in the film through a close up. In the close up the character who viewers later discover is called Megan, appears to be talking to somebody, however this person is not seen by the viewer, already setting a feeling of suspense for the viewers. The young blonde female is shown saying “A teacher once told me I was the mistress of self- reinvention.  Instantly viewers are left with uncertainty wondering who and what she is talking about, although through this quote, viewers are given a small glimpse into Megan’s life, perhaps indication that she has a wild imagination. Through montage editing, bits of the protagonist’s life are shown, given indications of what the character is like. At this point of the trailer the narrative is not clear although as the trailer progresses Todorov’s theory comes to light, as the rather happy although mysterious female has suddenly disappeared leading to an entire investigation in order to find her female appears to have been suddenly kidnapped.

 As the trailer develops, the next two shots are transitioned through panning as the camera pans across a rather large two – storey house in the middle of the woods. It then quickly transitions again to the third shot which is now a close up of the balcony of the home, where in fact the first female character viewers have been introduced to is leaning on, however, her facial expressions seemed to have now changed as she appears to be thinking deeply about something which is troubling her. The character is shown to be wearing only a bra and shorts alongside a dressing gown outside which could be an indication of how open the female is with her sexuality. In addition to this, music is also now added to the trailer which has a high pitch at the beginning, although starts oscillating throughout the trailer. The trailer continues giving viewers through fast paced jump cuts a small insight of the main character’s life, e.g. she appears to be involved in a very sexual relationship, through a close-up Megan is shown taking part in a very sexual act, however she is staring straight at the camera, appearing to be dead inside.

 As the trailer continues, main character Megan is shown running through a dark tunnel alongside a train rushing through a track at the same time through parallel editing indicating danger. However, at this point the trailer introduces crosscutting scenes as new character Rachel is watching character Megan run through the dark tunnel from inside the train observing her in a panicky manner, showing a link between the two female characters. The new female character Rachel is portrayed straight away as somebody who has something to hide. Through various close ups it is shown that she has inner demons, for example the obsession of her husband, Megan and also her struggle with drink, therefore immediately she is portrayed as somebody unstable.

As the trailer becomes closer to its climax, the shots become extremely fast paced showing hints of violence in series of chain events. At this point introduced the music beings to heighten becoming even more dramatically until the trailer’s climax.

Through mise en scene it becomes clear that the film has a dark storyline/theme as all characters involved in the film are wearing extremely dull, dark clothing adding to mood of the storyline.