Production Package - The Synopsis

I was in charge of writing a synopsis to go with the book we were producing. This took some time, as I had to tell the story, without giving the story away. It was also quite hard to do so for a feature film and making it one page long, so it ended up a page and a half, although, transgressing that to the book, and with a larger font size, it became almost 3 pages. It was subject to change quite a lot, as we changed and edited different parts of the script, so too did I have to do so with the synopsis. Whether it was rearranging or combining paragraphs or even cutting bits out altogether, I believe I have managed to tell the story, without giving every last detail away. Mainly I just summarised the scenes by grouping them together. This was the finished product:

The film starts off on a fishing boat just off the East Coast of the North Atlantic Ocean. Upon this boat a team of four archeologists, renting out space within the boat, are searching for an ancient city named Rl’yeh, believed to be hidden at the bottom of the Ocean they are on. They are searching for a place believed to constantly have a storm over it. Reaching the coordinates of the supposed ongoing storm, they become confused as all is calm. Suddenly however, a massive storm emerges, and they know they are in the place they are looking for. Despite the storm, two of the scientists Don and Hannah, rush out to an underwater submersible, and head underwater to see if they can find the city they are searching for. They discover an underwater city, which they believe to be Rl’yeh, exactly what they wanted to find, and head deeper to investigate. Whilst underwater however, the submersible starts malfunctioning, and before they know it, a giant creature sits in front of them, opening its eye causing them to scream and vanish.

One week later we see the city of New York. On the rooftops of the bustling city, a Detective, John Legrasse and his partner Aimie Fiber are in pursuit of diamond thieves. After a struggle, they eventually manage to capture the perpetrators, not without massive damage to police equipment, much to the anger of their Captain, Peter Michaels. As punishment for the destruction they have caused, and the two detectives reckless, but heroic actions, Michaels orders them to stay in the office and take on some new and important desk work. He explains to them that a record number of people have gone missing in New York within the past week, and he asks them to look through all of the reports and files of the missing people, and see if they can find any correlation behind the disappearances. The two detectives unwillingly accept.

Legrasse’s family, back in the suburbs are properly introduced now, as his wife Rachel, prepares to give their eight year old son Tommy a bath. Things do not go according to plan though, as whilst running the bath, the water stops. Instead of more water coming from the spout of the tap, a strange viscous substance arises, engulfing the entire tap. Intrigued, Rachel goes in for a closer look, and she is attacked by the substance. She wrestles with it, trying to get it off of her face, but sadly fails, and the gooey substance enters her body through every orifice on her head. Tommy, terrified by what he has just seen, checks to see his mother is alright, before her eyes open, and they are now pitch black.

As we continue, Legrasse and Fiber struggle to find any connections behind the missing peoples reports, and they get harassed by a colleague, Detective Richards. Afterwards the pair give up and go to their separate homes, but Richards, who takes a shower at the police station, suffers the same fate as Rachel. Upon arriving home, Legrasse’s family are nowhere to be seen, which panics him as it is so late. He tries to call his wife on her cell phone, but receives a strange voice talking in an unknown language, answering in her place. Legrasse quickly runs back to the station, getting Fiber to meet him on the way. Legrasse plays the message he heard over the phone to Fiber. They realize that there is a slight echo to the voice on the message. Looking into it more they discover that all of the people who went missing’s locations were on the same path of an underground sewer system. Figuring they need to get the message translated, they look up online someone who may be able to help, and discover an Anthropology Professor at Columbia University. On their way out, the pair are attacked by a naked brainwashed Richards, whose eyes are of a pitch black colour. After restraining him, they attempt to talk to him, but he continuously speaks in the same language heard over the phone. The two detectives decide they need to get to this Professor’s place immediately.

The pair arrive at the office of Professor William Webb at Columbia University. They play him the recording, and he recognizes the language immediately. He refers them to an ancient book, and tells them the story of the ancient God Cthulhu who ruled over Earth thousands of years ago, and that a cult might one day rise again to bring him back. Legrasse finds the idea of a giant monster implausible, but has reason to believe the story of the cult is true.

At an abandoned church on a cliff front, just off the main city of New York, hundreds of people gather, all with pitch black eyes, and sit in a church. Fore fronting are two people dressed in black robes, who then reveal themselves to be Don and Hannah, the first two to run into Cthulhu, however they now have pitch black eyes, and are heading the cult. They head to the cliff front, and chant a spell, causing the stars to glow and form a beam of light on the Ocean. At that point of the Ocean, the giant monster Cthulhu then rises, picking up a boat once coming out of the water, and throwing it towards the mainland. The boat comes crashing down in New York, killing many people. This process is repeated with multiple boats and whatever gets in Cthulhu’s way as he makes his way to the city.

Back at Webb’s office, a young man enters from a separate room at the back of the office. This is Gustaf, Webb’s best student and assistant. Gustaf enquires why the police are there. Legrasse and Fiber ask more about the cult and Cthulhu, explaining everything that has happened to them over the past few hours. Fiber then receives a call from Michaels, and the four gather together in Legrasse’s car, as they have just received word that boats are raining down on the city. Webb and Gustaf go with them after agreeing to help find the cult.

They reach the Brooklyn Bridge, and witness Cthulhu rising out of the water from under the bridge, causing much destruction as he does so. The four all run for their lives, Legrasse looking more terrified than ever before, and he pushes civilians out of the way in an effort to save his own skin. Whilst running, he spots his wife Rachel, who walks down an alley and he follows her. When he reaches the alley she is nowhere to be seen, and he breaks down completely. Fiber goes after him, but Legrasse is a wreck. He can barely move, he is crying, and he eventually accepts in his mind that his wife and son are probably dead. In his weakened and reckless state, Legrasse from the alleyway, climbs to the top of the building via the fire escapes to confront the giant monster nearby. He shouts at Cthulhu, grabbing its attention. A cat and mouse chase ensues, with Legrasse jumping from building to building as Cthulhu smashes each one he runs to. Managing to barely escape, Legrasse meets up with his team and they head into the underground sewer system for safety.

The group head on, following the sewer system, losing Gustaf in the process. This eventually brings them to a church, where a final showdown between the cult, the detectives and Cthulhu begins. But who will succeed?