WRITING SKILLS FINAL REPORT

A PROJECT REPORT ON

ANGELS AND DEMONS

BY
SYED WAJAHAT ALI (9718)

Submitted to
Respected SIR:MR.AYYAZ RAFIQUE

Submitted on
SATURDAY, 12TH DECEMBER, 2009

Section
9:00 am to 12:00 am M-1

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2
 CONTENT

1. WRITERS INFORMATION………………………………………………4

2. WRITER’S WRITING STYLE IN THE BOOK…………………………...5

3. SUMMARY OF THE STORY……………………………………………..6

4. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MOVIE AND BOOK……………………….8

5. MOVIE CRITIQUE……………………………………………………….10

6. PERSONAL RECOMMANDATION…………………………………….11

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 Writer’s Background
:-

Dan Brown, best-selling author of 'The Da Vinci Code' and ‘Angels and Demons’ was born on
June 22, 1964.

Brown grew up as the eldest of three children in Exeter, New Hampshire and graduated from
Phillips Exeter Academy. His mother, Constance, was a professional musician involved in
performing sacred music. Dan Brown was a Catholic Christian and he used to sing with the choir
in the church and was involved in Christian reading as well.

Brown then attended Amherst College, graduating with a degree in English and Spanish in 1986
and spent several years attempting to establish himself as a singer-songwriter and pianist with no
great success.
These endeavors did, however, lead him to live in Los Angeles where he taught Spanish at Beverly
Hills Preparatory School and where he also met Blythe Newlon. This lady was then employed as
Artistic Director of the National Academy of Songwriters. As their relationship developed Blythe
used her influence in attempts to further Dan Brown's musical career.
Four CDs of his music were produced but he was not very well received by the industry due to his
reserved personality. In 1993 he decided to return to New Hampshire and secured a teaching job,
in English, at Phillips Exeter Academy, Blythe Newlon accompanied him.

Dan Brown puts his writing career down to reading a copy of Sidney Sheldon's "Doomsday
Conspiracy" which he had found on the beach whilst on holiday in Tahiti in 1994, saying, "I
finished the book and thought, 'Hey, I could do that'."

In 1995 Dan Brown and Blythe, (now describing herself as an art historian), wrote, under the
pseudonym Danielle Brown '187 Men to Avoid: A Guide for the Romantically Frustrated Woman'.
The following year Dan Brown became a full-time writer, Dan Brown and Blythe Newlon were
married in 1997, he published his first thriller, Digital Fortress, in 1998. He went on to write
'Angels and Demons' and 'Deception Point'. In the early pages of 'Deception Point' there appeared
an Acknowledgement where Brown thanked "Blythe Brown for her tireless research and creative
input." 'The Da Vinci Code' which seems also to have benefited from such "research and input"
was published in March 2003 and sold 6,000 copies on the first day - going to the top of the New
York Times' Best Seller list in the first week of publication.

His popular books like ‘Da Vinci Code’ and this one ‘Angels And Demons’ have been transformed
into mega blockbuster hit movies. Tom Hanks is given the responsibility to be ROBERT
LANGDON.

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 Writer’s Writing
Style
The genre that Dan Brown writes is a bit difficult to define since he uses a blend of religion,
history, fiction, mystery and thriller in his books. Therefore his writings is an combination of all
the above mentioned flavors.

Although Dan Brown's books have exciting plots and are what one would call "page-turners", I
believe that his style of writing is rather mediocre.

In this book which is ‘Angels and Demons’, Dan Brown has used a more elaborative type of
writing. In his books, Dan Brown gives more attention to the place rather than the characters.
Usually places and environments are the trigger mechanism of the entire story where characters
are used just as a source of support for the story itself. Places are used to give the entire story a
direction but characters are just used for the steady flow of the story.

Dan Brown’s style of writing is more 3rd person in which he tends to tell stories as a narrator the
old fashioned way rather than adding different characters to explain to you the entire story from
their own perspective. Therefore his books contain less dialogues and more elaboration and
explanation from a third person’s perspective.

Dan Brown also uses his elaborative writing style to explain you each situation in depth so that
when you read the story, it’s almost like the book is alive and you can feel the entire environment.
This is the reason why the readers is transformed to the place what DAN BROWN is mentioning
in the book as soon as he reads the book and ANGELS AND DEMONS is no exception.

One important thing to note in this book and in general in all of DAN BROWN’S books is that the
chapters are usually short.What this means is that he changes places and scenarios frequently to
give the reader a feeling of race against time feeling in which your mind is everywhere and you
have to keep the entire situation in your mind to plane your approach.

Finally Dan Brown uses the facts and manipulates it in such a way that a plain and simple date
like 25th December is transformed into an enigma.

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 Summary Of The
Story:-
The plot follows Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, as he tries to stop what seems to be the
Illuminati, a legendary secret society, from destroying Vatican City with the newly-discovered
power of antimatter.

CERN director Maximilian Kohler discovers one of the facility's most respected physicists,
Leonardo Vetra, murdered in his own secured, private quarter at the facility. His chest is branded
with a symbol—an ambigram of the word "Illuminati”. Instead of calling the police, Kohler
researches the topic on the Internet and finally gains contact with Langdon, an expert on the
Illuminati. Kohler requests his assistance in uncovering the murderer.

What Langdon finds at the murder scene frightens him: the symbol appears to be authentic, and
the secret society of legend, long thought to be extinct, seems to have appeared again. Kohler calls
Vetra's adopted daughter Vittoria to the scene, and it is later revealed that the Illuminati have also
stolen a canister containing a quarter of a gram of antimatter—an extremely dangerous substance
with immense destructive potential comparable to a small nuclear weapon, which explodes upon
contact with any form of normal matter. When charged with electricity at CERN, the canister's
magnetic field controls the drop of antimatter , ensuring safety; but when it was taken away from
its electricity supply, it automatically switched to its back-up battery, which will only power it for
24 hours, at which point the antimatter will fall, come into contact with the base of the canister,
and self-destruct. The Illuminati have placed the stolen canister somewhere in Vatican City, with
a security camera in front of it, as its digital clock counts down to the explosion.

Langdon and Vittoria make their way to Vatican City, where the pope has recently died, and the
election of the new pope is beginning. Cardinal Mortati, host of the election, discovers that the
four Preferiti(cardinals who are considered to be the most likely candidates in the election) are
missing. After they arrive, Langdon and Vittoria begin searching for the Preferiti in hopes that
they will also find the antimatter canister in the process. Their search is assisted by Camerlengo
Carlo Ventresca (the late pope's closest adviser) and the Vatican's Swiss Guard, including
Commander Olivetti, Captain Rocher, and Lieutenant Chartrand.

Convinced that the Illuminati are in some way responsible for the disappearance of the Preferiti,
Langdon attempts to retrace the steps of the "Path of Illumination", an ancient process once used
by the Illuminati as a means of admission of new members, prospective candidates were required
to follow a series of tricky clues left in various landmarks in and around Rome. If the candidate
followed the clues properly, he would be able to locate the secret meeting place of the Illuminati
and be granted membership in the order. Using his knowledge of religious history, Langdon sets
off on the Path of Illumination in hopes of uncovering clues as to the disappearance of the
Preferiti and the location of the antimatter canister.

The Path leads Langdon to four major locations in Rome (Vatican City is within the city of Rome),
each associated with what the Illuminati believed to be the four elements of all things in
existence: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Upon arriving at each location, Langdon finds one of the
Preferiti murdered in a fashion appropriate to the location's respective element: The first cardinal
was branded with an Earth ambigram, had soil forced down his throat and was buried; the second
was branded with an Air ambigram and had his lungs punctured; the third was branded with a

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Fire ambigram and was burned alive; and the fourth was branded with a Water ambigram and
was chained and left to drown at the bottom of a large fountain.

After finding the bodies of the first two Preferiti (Earth and Air), Langdon hurries to the Santa
Maria Church and finds the Preferiti's abductor in the act of setting the third cardinal on fire. The
kidnapper, who is also responsible for Leonardo Vetra's murder and the theft of the antimatter
canister, is an unnamed assassin who is working under the orders of the Illuminati master
"Janus", whose true identity is unknown. Commander Olivetti is killed, and Langdon nearly dies
himself in this encounter with the assassin, who manages to kidnap Vittoria. Langdon manages to
escape and meets the assassin yet again at the final element's landmark (Water), but is unable to
save the final cardinal.

Langdon nevertheless attempts to complete the Path of Illumination in order to find the assassin
and rescue Vittoria. His search leads him to an underground tunnel leading directly into the
pope's chambers in the Vatican. Langdon frees Vittoria, and together they send the assassin
falling several hundred feet to his death. The two hurry back to St. Peter's Basilica, where they
find that Kohler has arrived to confront the camerlengo in private. Langdon and Vittoria fear that
Kohler is Janus, and that he has come to murder the camerlengo as the final step in his plot
against the Church. Hearing the camerlengo scream in pain, the Swiss Guards burst into the room
and open fire on Kohler. Just before he dies, Kohler gives Langdon a videotape that he claims will
explain everything.

With time on the canister running out, the Swiss Guard begins to evacuate the Vatican city. As he
is exiting the church, the camerlengo rushes back into the Church, claiming that he has received a
vision from God revealing the location of the antimatter canister. With Langdon and a few others
in pursuit, the camerlengo goes deep into the church and finds the canister sitting atop the tomb
of Saint Peter. Langdon and the camerlengo retrieve the antimatter and get in a helicopter with
only five minutes to spare. The camerlengo manages to parachute safely onto the roof of St.
Peter's just as the canister explodes harmlessly in the sky. Langdon's fate is not immediately
known, as there was not a second parachute on board the helicopter. The crowd in St. Peter's
Square look in awe as the camerlengo stands before them. Because of this "miracle", the papal
conclave decides to elect the camerlango as the new Pope. Langdon managed to survive the
explosion by using a window cover from the helicopter as a parachute, and landed in a near
river,some people rescue him and takes him to the hospital where he recovers.

Langdon returns to St. Peter's and views Kohler's tape with the College of Cardinals. Langdon,
Vittoria, and the cardinals confront the camerlengo in the church, where the truth is finally
revealed.It was the camerlango all along who plotted this entire scheme to become the POPE. He
also killed the Late Pope to be his immediate successor.

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Differences Between
The Book And The
Movie:-
The primary criticism for the movie was that it did not follow the exact same plot as the book did.
A lot of events never took place in the movie that were described with great details in the book
and one or two characters never showed up in the movie that were there in the book.

Some of the important differences are given below.

1. In the book the fifth ILLUMINATI Symbol is different than the movie. In the movie the
fifth illuminati symbol is a diamond shaped ambigram while in the movie it is the shape
of a key.

The Symbol In The Movie.

The symbol in the BOOK

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2. In the book all the four Preferiti(the chosen four who have the best chance of becoming
the pope) are killed by the Assassin and the Cardinal Mortati who was hosting the
election for the new Pope is made the new Pope. However, in the movie it is shown that
only 3 of the Preferiti are killed while the fourth one-Cardinal Baggia of Italy survives and
in the end is made the new Pope.

3. Perhaps one of the most critical deviation of the movie from the actual plot of the movie is
that in the book, the antimatter is created by CERN scientist Leonardo Vetra and his
adopted daughter Vittoria Vetra. No one knows about this titanic discovery that Leonardo
Vetra along with his daughter Vottoria Vetra has uncovered the antimatter technology.
However in the movie, it is shown that the entire CERN facility knows the discovery since
they themselves were involved alongside Leonardo Vetra in the discovery of the
antimatter while the adopted daughter of Leonard Vetra was not involved in the
discovery.

4. In the book, Kohler-The Director Of CERN- contacted Robert Langdon through a phone
call and faxed him the illuminati symbol since he knew that Robert Langdon is the only
man who can help him in this critical situation since he discovered the dead body of
Leonardo Vetra in his bedroom and also the canister containing the Antimatter is
missing which might have disastrous ramifications. He went to CERN facility with a
high tech Jet. Together with Vittoria, they went to Vatican because they believe that it is
hidden there as the Papal conclave for the Pope Election has convened. At first they
didn’t believed them but later on the guards find a video from the Vatican which shows
the canister. However in the movie, a representative of Vatican approached Langdon ,
showed him the illuminati symbol and took him to the Vatican in a normal airliner and he
goes there without Vittoria Vetra unlike in the book.

5. In the book,the Camelango Ventrasca-the closest adviser to the Late Pope and also his
murderer-burns himself in front of the entire Vatican City who is gathered to elect the
new Pope. He stands in the balcony and burns himself in front of everyone as his cover is
blown. Whereas in the movie, Camerlango Carlo Vantresca burns himself inside the
St.Peters Church in front of the oncoming guards who are coming to arrest him.

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In the Movie, they have taken out some characters like Kohler, Leonardo Vetra, reporter Glick
and Macri and their side stories like the Hassasin.Why he did the killings told by Janus(disguised
by camerlengo). They also never mentioned about the attraction between Langdon and Vittoria.

Movie Critique:-
Angels and Demons , an intriguing blend of mystery and race against the clock games. In this
Tom Hanks (as well as the remaining cast) performance was top notch and intense with a capital
“I”.

This movie has an edge of your seat, stomach clenching, fear for the heroes/heroines, automatic
response. Angels and Demons was not a typical sequel, it just had the feel of a movie all to its
own. A table-turning, trust no one but must trust everyone great suspense. One of the best things
in the Dan Brown books turned to movies, is that Robert Langdon isn't always right, he's always
coming to some false conclusion. But that’s a plus to his character, makes him seem more
believable, more realistic. Plus the fact that symbols can be interpreted in many ways, adds a
sense of authenticity to this claim.

But perhaps the below mentioned things can best describe the movie.

Threaten a someone or a whole bunch of someones, make us care about the someone; start the
clock ticking; throw up a whole ton of obstacles; throw in a loved-one, religion politics, and
perhaps some special effects. Blend them all together and you have the movie.

However as the main theme of ANGELS AND DEMONS says that everything is made in pairs,
therefore with appraise also comes criticism. The movie has some flaws like the characters are not
pick in accordance to the book.

But perhaps the biggest flaw is that the movie was ina way made for the people who have read the
book rather than the person who has no idea about the movie.It will take time for people who are
watching this movie without actually reading the book to grasp the basic idea behind it as it is
very complicated and the producers made no effort to make easy for people to understand the
movie who have not read the book prior watching the movie.

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 Personal
Recommandtions:-
This is the part where I will give my recommendations regarding both the book and the movie.

• Personal Recommendation Regarding The

Book:-
Although the book was very properly written with suitable characters and the proper
elaboration of all the places and events. However I would like to recommend that Dan Brown
sometime elaborated and exaggerated the situation so much that it became a drag, it was
almost like the Dan Brown was trying to exaggerate certain things and places which is not
always the right idea to do given he actual plot was already a bit difficult to grasp for the
general reader who does not have sufficient knowledge on the topic (just like me).

My second recommendation as far as the book is concerned is the lack of character mentioned
in the book. The story line is excellent yet the absence of enough characters makes me feel
that I am listening to a bed time story from my grandma. The lack of characters make this
movie a 3rd person narrative story which I don’t like that much.

All in all I must recommend everyone to read this book as it is very though provoking and
helps you teach some history lessons as well.

• Personal Recommendation Regarding The

Movie:-

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The movie was obviously the actual adaptation of the novel however it does not mean that the
entire movie was made in accordance with the plot mentioned in the book.

My first and foremost recommendation is that the movie should have been in the same
sequence as the book was since the book mentioned some background history on the topic
while the movie never mentioned it. Its fine for me to grasp he idea but the person who has
not read the book prior watching the movie might end up with a blank stare on his face since
the movie does not make any attempt to clear the idea assuming that the watcher has already
read the book which is not always the case.

Secondly I will like to recommend that the flow of the movie should have been a bit
slower.The actual flow of the movie was breathtakingly fast. It did not give the viewer any
time to think and analyze a scene rather the movie itself was a breakaway train

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