Film Studies - The Da Vinci Code (2006) Directed by Ron Howard. Department of English - Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University - Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India.

1. Paper N/o., Subject Code, Name : 204 : 22409 :
Contemporary Western Theories and Film
Studies
Prepared By : Nirav Amreliya
Batch : 2021-2023 (M.A. Sem. 3)
Enrollment Number : 4069206420210002
Ro. N/o. : 18
Submitted To : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English,
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University,
Vidhyanagar, Bhavnagar – 364001
(Dated On : 26th June, 2022)
Unit 4 : Film Studies
• The Da Vinci Code (2006)
• Directed By : Ron Howard
• Release Date : 19th May 2006 (USA), 14th November, 2006 (India)
• Adaptation Of : The Da Vinci Code (2003) Novel by Dan Brown

2. What is Film Studies?
Film Studies as an academic discipline emerged in the twentieth century,
decades after the invention of motion pictures, and it deals with various
theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to cinema as an art form and
a medium.
It is sometimes subsumed within media studies and is often compared to
television studies. (Reference : Dilip Barad’s Blog on Film Studies)
Established in 1919, the Moscow Film School was the first school in the
world to focus on film.
In the United States, the USC School of Cinematic Arts, established in 1929,
was the first cinematic based school, which was created in agreement with
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. (Reference : Wikipedia)

3. Introduction : The Da Vinci Code (Film) - 2006
 The Da Vinci Code is a 2006 American mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard, written
by Akiva Goldsman, and based on Dan Brown's 2003 novel of the same name.
 The film, like the book, was considered controversial. It was met with especially harsh criticism
by the Catholic Church for the accusation that it is behind a two-thousand-year-old cover-up
concerning what the Holy Grail really is and the concept that Jesus Christ and Mary
Magdalene were married and that the union produced a daughter, as well as its treatment of the
organizations Priory of Sion and Opus Dei.
 Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times (who had spoken very negatively of the novel) gave the
film three out of four stars, writing, "The movie works; it's involving, intriguing and constantly
seems on the edge of startling revelations." Of the storyline, he also commented, "Yes, the plot is
absurd, but then most movie plots are absurd. That's what we pay to see.“
 The film was banned in a number of countries, including Syria, Belarus, and Lebanon. In Jordan,
authorities banned the film claiming it "tarnishes the memory of Christian and Islamic figures and
contradicts the truth as written in the Bible and the Quran about Jesus". In Iran, it was banned
due to protests by Muslims and Christian minorities.
 There was a huge outcry in many states by the Christian and the Muslim minorities to ban the
film from screening in India for its perceived anti-Christian message. Possibly the largest reaction
occurred in Kolkata, where a group of around 25 protesters "stormed" Crossword bookstore,
pulled copies of the book from the racks and threw them to the ground. On the same day, a
group of 50–60 protesters successfully made the Oxford Bookstore on Park Street decide to stop
selling the book "until the controversy sparked by the film's release was resolved.
(Source : Wikipedia)

4. 1 : Field of Vision :
 What one sees from the camera, which is different from the place or setting in which the film story occurs.
Related to depth of field, the amount of space that is in focus in an image. An object in focus in the deep
background of a shot has a more expansive depth of field, while an object in focus closer to a camera has a
more shallow depth of field.
 The mentioned frame has captured the
visual field which can be interpreted as the
foretelling sign of the protagonist’s long
and dangerous quest to find murderer; the
long hallway in the background signifies
the quest and a huge and dark shadow-
like figure at the end of it may be the sign
of brooding danger, both the protagonists
are busy in searching clues which can lead
them to the culprit.
 Similarly, the paintings attached to the
right-side wall can be the signifiers of the
various clues full of mysteries which are
going to be discovered by the
protagonists.

5. 2 : Framing :
 The border of the image which demarcates the space of the action. The frame also creates the visual space
of the image and is an important element of meaning because it selects, limits, and expands what can be
seen and what contributes to meaning. Framing can be loose or tight, distant from the object filmed or close
to it.
 Contextually, the frame taken for
interpretation is quite conforming to the
storyline of the movie; Sophie Neveu is an
heiress of Jesus Christ and his wife Mary
Magdalene as hold and claimed by Priory
of Sion.
 The connection of the bloodline between
the two is depicted by the present
character Sophie and hagiographical
picture of Mary which is significant for the
further development of the story.

6. 3 : Mise-en-scène :
 A French term from theater that refers to the arrangement of elements (characters, props, set, space) within
the frame of the image.
 This primary frame implicitly
introduces the protagonist and his
profession as a symbolologist, the
audience packed into large hall
symbolizes the seriousness and
importance of the symbolology in
the psyche of people and also of
Robert Langdon which can be
adding to the pre-establishment of
the tone of the movie and the role
of the characters.
 This theatrical arrangement of
props, characters, sets, and the
large space covered within frame is
escalates the importance of the
matter around which the storyline
of the movie revolves.

7. 4 : Low-key Lighting :
 Which underlights a set to create shadows and less clarity of vision.
 The prime focus in the frame taken directly
alludes to the drawing of Vitruvian Man
made by the Italian polymath Leonardo Da
Vinci that is highly relative to the title of
the film as well as Brown’s novel of the
same title from which the storyline of the
film is adapted.
 The use of Low-key lighting darkens the
surroundings and thus projects the
murdered man named Jacques Saunière
Saint-Clair who is the curator of the
Louvre, head of the secret Priory of Sion
and grandfather of Sophie Neveu.

8. 5 : Expressionism :
 A style of filmmaking that uses technique in extreme ways to create heightened emotional and
psychological effects or to portray the world in a highly evaluative manner.
 Both the frames of the same sequence
have tints of Expressionism and its
professional employment in the scene; the
first frame has Jacques Saunière
positioned as a dominant character with
low-angle camera which signifies his
dominance over his deemed grand-
daughter Sophie Neveu who seeks to know
about her lineage which is extremely
disliked by his grandfather.
 The angry facial expression on the face of
Jacques Saunière is a depiction of
Expressionism which adds to the
effectiveness of the scene displayed.

9. Summing Up :
 Film Studies is an area of interest for the film critics and academicians who
pursue Film Studies as a career or a hobby. Indeed, the discipline of Film Studies
gives wider scope to analyze and evaluate movies since the art of motion pictures
was firstly introduced in the twentieth century. The chief aim of this discipline is to
seek for the social-ideological values, and it takes a series of critical approaches
for the analysis of production, theoretical framework, context, and creation of the
films. It opens the doors for the better understanding of any given movie. As alike
as the criticism of literary texts, the films are also interesting objects to be
criticized; the literary critic focuses on the words written in chosen literary text,
whereas the film critic focus on the frames and visuals of the chosen film.