The take-away from these examples? Book-ending your film with mirror shots or similar scenes is not just a cute visual effect. Rather, the story you have told in between these first and final scenes will make your audience reconsider the meaning of that familiar shot or setting the second time around and perhaps even contribute certain qualities or motivations to a character. It sounds obvious, but let’s mention it anyway; the final scene can determine the feeling with which the viewer leaves your story. Calling upon the viewers feelings from the opening scene can give the final scene so much more – shall we say – oomph?

h/t Screen Rant

Cinephile Vimeo user, Love of Film, created a clever little video highlighting the use of repetition in framing and blocking in David Fincher’s Gone Girl.

What struck me as the strongest feature of Gone Girl was not really the acting or the story. Not a whole lot happens, to be honest. But the mood is expertly set at the beginning of the film and kept all the way to the end. I would argue that Fincher’s use of repetition is responsible for this, and this eerie video backs it up. Locations and events – even movement – are used twice, which makes the viewer process where the characters are (both physically and mentally), how they got there and what changed along the way. It creates a sort of constant plane that the narrative operates upon. The effect is chilling.