Opening Scene Analysis | The Da Vinci Code

The opening scene starts with some non-diegetic music. It begins playing during the company logos and eventually builds up to the point where the main title of the film is shown. The music is mostly composed of string instruments which help create a sense of tension and/or horror.

There is also some obvious diegetic sound of the man's footsteps running through the corridors, it is echoing throughout the building which tells the audience that he is alone. This helps tell the audience that the man is running from something. Because we don't know who it is it also adds the sense of enigma. The music also continues through these scenes. However, the music is brought to a close once the gate falls shut. The sound of the gate closing is also diegetic and helps to introduce the dialogue between the two characters. When it then cuts outside the museum, looking through the skylight, there is some atmospheric sound which is used in order to cover up the important information that is being told. This helps add more enigma to the story. Once it cuts back to inside the museum, the music then enters again in order to create the sudden tension to when the man is shot.

After the man is shot we then start cutting between Robert Langdon's lecture and the museum. In the lecture, the sound of applause (diegetic) is the most obvious sound in the scene. Although when cutting back to the man in the museum, the applause is cut out. This tells the audience that the different scenes are completely different events. However, the music continues to play throughout the different scenes. This tells us that the two different scenes are happening at the same time. Paintings are shown throughout most of the opening scene. This helps show the audience that we're in a museum. There is one scene where the man runs through the frame and a shadow on the wall is following him. This represents incoming danger and adds the enigma because we don't know who, or what, the shadow is. Later, the robed character is shown to have a gun in his hand, This shows the audience that this is clearly the evil character in this scene as guns tend to have the connotations of death. However, once the robed character's face is revealed, he is positioned between two bars which could be showing that this character himself is trapped. The opening scene begins with panning shots between the different paintings. This, again, helps with showing the audience where the scene is set. A tracking shot of the man is used which leads into an over the shoulder shot to show the mysterious figure following him. A wide shot of a room in the museum. It shows the man is still running away and because he is shown to be quite small in the frame, it could show that something is crowding him in or the danger is getting closer.

There are some close-ups of paintings and the man. Having the close-ups of the man shows the emotion on his face, which in this situation, is scared and nervous. There is a bird's eye view shot through the skylight of the museum which shows how he is finally trapped. During the confrontation between the two characters, a high-angle shot is used to show how powerless the man is compared to the robed character. The transitions between the company logos are panned with what looks like a UV light. UV lights are most commonly known to be used in uncovering mysteries or hidden text. This helps show the style of movie.

Low key lighting is mostly used which is a standard convention of thriller films. It helps add the idea of the enigma. However, there are elements of high key lighting. For example, during the wide shot of a room in the museum mentioned earlier, the man is running towards the only light in the frame. This shows that he is trying to escape the situation or running away from the darkness.

Normal cuts are used throughout most of the opening scene. Shot-reverse shots are used during the dialogue between the two characters. This helps signify conversation. There is a sudden zoom on the "evil" characters face which causes the gun to become out of focus. This shows that he is focussing on what the man is going to say, which further highlights the importance of the information.