Mia/Exercises in style (logline&synopsis)

Go back to Mia's page

An example - Raymond Queneau: Exercises in style

EYE project (animation) Synopsis 1 (starting point)

The screen is dark. We hear someone unlocking and opening the door. The person enters the room and turns on the TV. Old screen lightens the space. The same scene repeats two more times representing a daily routine. However, the third time the TV turns on by itself unexpectedly with a short glitch. The same bug appears again and the person hits the machine with the palm of his hand until it turns off again. The person takes a remote and turns the TV on to watch the news. But the glitch appears again and even adjusting of the antenna only helps for a short time.

TV programme actually becomes distorted and images start transforming into personal visual fragments, interrupted by abstract compositions. They begin to overlap which intensifies, layering is becoming denser with every second. Layers fill the screen until complete darkness and the camera zooms out. We see the TV transformed into a vacuum cleaner - black screen becomes the dark tube. Everything gets sucked in it, including ourselves...

EYE project (animation) Synopsis 2 (BREAKING NEWS)

Are the machines truly beginning to reign? Residents of the Masaryk Street in Ljubljana report on a disappearance of a young man, supposedly caused by a television that turned into a vacuum cleaner.

The residents of a house in Masarykova Street 15 report on an unusual incident that occurred in the evening of the 21st of December. Around 7 p.m. they saw their neighbour, 26 year-old Tim Novak, entering his apartment on the second floor. As usually, he came back from work, unlocked the door and entered the apartment to turn on the TV. ‘’I guess his TV wasn’t working properly,’’ tells us a lady that lives next door, ‘’because I heard him hitting the machine few times in attempt to fix it. This used to work on our old TV too, when I was little …’’

Apparently Mr. Novak managed to fix his television, since the noise was replaced by the news broadcast, the neighbours remember. However, after few minutes, the volume was getting louder and louder, disturbing the neighbours who otherwise describe Mr. Novak as a quiet and decent person. ‘It was like a horrible mix of TV commercials and awful music that the young listen to these days. And it got worse every minute, it was terrible!’ tells us a man from the 1st floor. People describe it felt like the TV took control over the programmes because such a blend of broadcasts could not be achieved manually by Mr. Novak and did not occur in any other flat that night. Neighbours remember the noise intensified to the point when it resembled the sound of a vacuum cleaner. ‘’But it all happened very quickly,’’ says Ms. Miklova, ‘after a minute or two, all of a sudden, there was complete silence again. For a moment I thought I should check if Tim was ok, so I stepped out and rang the bell. There was no response, I kept ringing and knocking on the door. I got worried and I entered the apartment … But there was nothing in the room! No sofa, no table, no TV, and not a sign of Tim, oh poor boy…’’ During the inspection, a big modern vacuum cleaner was the only object found in the apartment. Police are still investigating the case and promised to provide the public with a sufficient explanation as soon as possible.

EYE project (animation) Synopsis 3 (hybrid style - transition 3rd person to 1st person, drama)

Dark screen. The keys jangle in the lock. Door opens with a short squeak. The steps approach. Suddenly, someone turns on the TV. Old screen lightens the space and fills it with soft crackling mixed with a presenter’s voice. Darkness again. The same scene repeats. Darkness, keys, steps, TV – soft light. And again. But the third time, there is a surprise - the TV turns on by itself with a short glitch.

A hand beats on the TV few times in attempt to fix the malfunction. Finally, it’s back to normal. The person takes a remote and turns on the evening news, they are reporting on the financial crisis again. Suddenly, the glitch appears again! Even adjusting the antenna only helps for a short time.

The presenter looks funny today. Wait - did her hair just grow in a few seconds? And her hands … are getting longer, her voice distorted … This programme is getting weird, do they have a technical problem tonight, they haven’t had one in years. Look, is that my mum on the TV, when she turned 15, and my first school day, how did that get on the TV?! It just switched to animal programme for a second and now I am watching childish cartoons. Unbelievable. What is going on here, I can hardly recognize all the layers of what I’m seeing … Oh! And the sound, it’s become so noisy, so undefined. Am I actually listening to the vacuum cleaner? Am I being bombarded with images or are they being extracted from me? All this noisy darkness …

Loglines

• One day, TV breaks down - instead of playing music and news it plays memories, thoughts and imaginary situations. This intensifies until it becomes mere noise, just as a vacuum cleaner, sucking imagery and sounds from its surroundings.

• One day, the TV is malfunctioning – ordinary broadcast melts into imaginary visuals that overflow you until you are absorbed in it completely … to the point of noise, becoming a vacuum cleaner that sucks you in …

• One day, the TV is malfunctioning – ordinary broadcast melts into imaginary visuals that overflow you until the stage of noise, becoming a vacuum cleaner that sucks you in …

• A TV breaks and turns itself into a vacuum cleaner.

• Overflowing of imagery and sound from the TV turns into the vacuum suction - nothing can escape it.

• One day, the TV is malfunctioning – ordinary broadcast melts into imaginary visuals that overflow you until the stage of noise … Wait, is it actually a vacuum cleaner?