Thriller Film Analysis – The Da Vinci Code

Directed by Ron Howard

By Elliot Metaireau

Characters There are a range of different set characters in the Da Vinci Code, for example the stereotypical evil characters who kill people (with a gun) to find out something important to help their “plan”. Like here, this character makes out to look bad for a number of reasons. For example the clothing that characters wear could define whether or not they are good or bad, here, it shows that he is wearing a fairly dark cloak with the hood right up, this could mean that he is trying to protect his identity because he could of committed a crime or perhaps being chased, either way its obvious to say that he looks evil from this example. Also there is something about his facial expression of which separates him from being a good character, maybe because it looks as though he is smirking and doesn’t have full concentration on what’s going on around him could determine him being more evil than good.

On the other hand, Tom Hanks is definitely represented as more of a good guy throughout the film. One reason for this in the picture, is the use of a High Camera Shot, which clearly makes the character seem more vulnerable, powerless or innocent and these three things are also set to make the scene more dramatic, normally from the audience’s perspective, we tend to come across good characters as more innocent or vulnerable (as though they haven't done anything wrong) to when a bad character shows a clear sign of aggression. Another example to show why Tom Hanks is more good than bad is simply the way he is dressed, even though he wears a black suit and black comes across as dark, evil or gothic, the fact that he is in a smart suit shows contrast to this, therefore making him come across as a safer character.

Camera work In this camera shot, you can see that the surroundings or everything in the sides is darker or blacked out so that the audience are able to focus on what’s more important going on in the middle, the use of a high camera shot also helps us to see this.

The use of this High camera shot shows us how dramatic the scene really is. The fact that there was a killing already makes us think that it’s not going to get any better as well. Normally this type of camera shot shows how powerless a character is during the scene, the killing supports this point.

What makes this camera shot even more clever is the fact that there is a giant red circle going round the victim, this could identify that because it’s a red colour, could be dangerous to enter inside of it, hence making the killing or our focus on the victim a whole lot more important.

As well as the high camera shot, lighting has also been used along with it to give the audience more focus on what’s going on, for example there is a case of extreme lighting on the victim and very dark lighting around it and on the other characters, perhaps showing that there is more to just this killing.

In this camera shot, you can see that the surroundings or everything in the sides is darker or blacked out so that the audience are able to focus on what’s more important going on in the middle, the use of a high camera shot also helps us to see this.

By using a high camera shot, we can tell how important thus murder is or how it could potentially link with the plot of the movie. For example, with this camera shot we are able to see everything going on, like the positioning of the body, any symbols, etc. these type of things link with history and The Da Vinci Code is all about history and changing it.

Mise – en – Scene

This was a particularly strange, out of place scene during the film, the cars identified in the middle happen to be a bunch of police cars chasing the good guys in the aero plane. This scene has a lot of weird things that don’t really piece, like the fact that they are on a run away rather than a road seems a little crazy which adds some form of suspension. As well as this, if the aero plane in the corner was not placed in that position than the audience would of thought that it was a normal police chase on the road, so the use of mis en scene has used it well.

Another really strange thing about this setting is the fact that there is a police chase in broad daylight, normally the stereotypical car chases or filmed in the night time to give of sense of unease, but not in this scene. All though It’s not as “thriller like” it’s original and shows a clear purpose as to why they are being chased, perhaps if this happens now, then something bigger will happen on during the evening/night – time.

The most weird yet out of place thing that occurs during this scene is the fact that this heavy car chase looks as though it was filmed in the countryside. Like how it was filmed in broad daylight, its seems very strange that a car chase is happening in a remotely quiet environment, mis en scene shows this by adding in a lot of greenery within the background so it doesn't’t look like it was filmed in a stereotypical city in the night.