Every so often I will pull out movies from my DVD collection and attempt to sum up the entire movie in one line. This was a challenge I used to pose to my students in the days when I was teaching. The idea is to distill the entire movie into a one sentence description after experiencing it. It applies to plays as well… in fact, pretty much anything that has a narrative story structure.
The original point of this exercise was to hone in on the essence of the story so that when you are creating it would always be there to guide you forward. Film makers do it all the time to pitch a movie idea to investors.
Last night I was thinking, what if we took a step further and create these one line movie sum ups as no more than 10 word slogans? Here are some I came up with. Now these may be different from a movie “pitch”… or are they?
“Dump your crappy family and see the universe!” – Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
“Become a slut… it’s your path to popularity and success!” – Grease
“Oblivion – the self created scent from beauty to your undoing.” – Perfume
“Blindness is caused by not knowing who you’re with.” – Oedipus Rex
“Will shave for revenge… and your next yummy meal.” – Sweeny Todd
“Screw yourself into glamor, fortune and death by consumption” – Moulin Rouge & Evita
Now, it’s your turn.
EDIT: I may add a few more as I think of them.
“Veterans, double murder earns free trip and upper management position.” – The Godfather
EDIT 2: Perhaps I should call this SLOGANIZE A SYNOPSIS.