Synopsis, What are they and what do they do?
A synopsis is a brief summary or general survey of something. For films they are used to give brief detail on what the narrative is about giving the audience information on what happens.
Example of Psychological Thriller Synopses
Seven - 'A film about two homicide detectives' desperate hunt for a serial killer
who justifies his crimes as absolution for the world's ignorance of the
Seven Deadly Sins. The movie takes us from the tortured remains of one
victim to the next as the sociopathic "John Doe" sermonizes to
Detectives Sommerset and Mills -- one sin at a time. The sin of Gluttony
comes first and the murderer's terrible capacity is graphically
demonstrated in the dark and subdued tones characteristic of film noir.
The seasoned and cultured but jaded Sommerset researches the Seven
Deadly Sins in an effort to understand the killer's modus operandi while
the bright but green and impulsive Detective Mills scoffs at his
efforts to get inside the mind of a killer'.
This synopsis gives us a brief of what the narrative but sets up various enigmas because we wonder how can a man commit so much murders. Tension is created through the use of vocabulary such as 'terrible capacity is graphically
demonstrated in the dark and subdued tone'.
The Black Swan - “Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a
New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her
profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her
obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a
suffocating control over her. When artistic director Thomas Leroy
(Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth Macintyre (Ryder) for
the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first
choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who
impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both
the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who
represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly
but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young
dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to
get more in touch with her dark side - a recklessness that threatens to
destroy her.”
Natalie Portman plays a dark and depressed ballerina who struggles to maintain a top spot as a ballerina. From just this synopsis we can tell that it is a very tense and dark film. It takes a simple theme of dance and turns it into a very competitive film which makes the main dancers work hard yet breaks them psychological. For Portman he hallucinates and has visions that lead to insanity.
What would my synopsis contain?
When doing this project and thinking about a synopsis it is better to restrict a lot of the key information but also make it appealing so others will want to watch this. The key feature for a synopsis is to give details of a film but also to create tense and set a mood for the film.
No comments:
Post a Comment