WHY write a documentary synopsis?

Workshop #10

The Documentary Synopsis -  Is a concise summary of what your story is about, how you will tell the tale and why it is important.

Grape picking in Tuchan. 2020. Segur grape vines. Photo: Jeanne Pope

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Maurice, the head porter, checking the grapes before they are taken to the wine co-operative. Photo: Jeanne Pope

I am in the South of France, Tuchan, my small village, where the big grape harvest has just finished.

I had no idea I would be coming here. I could not stay longer  in the UK as I had out run my time at my brother's flat. He needed to come home. So I took my camera, computer and a small bag and a Ryanair Flight to Perpignan.

I am hanging out in the cafe, when Alain Perez asks me if I want to come out to the fields to film for the day. I know most of the pickers well as we are from the same village. There are others are from Portugal, Spain and Germany. I grab my camera, jump into the van, and...

 ...two weeks later I have finished the first part of my unexpected documentary - THE TIME OF THE GRAPES.

WHY WRITE A SYNOPSIS NOW?

It will give me a direction of where I am going. It also helps me tell my story in a concise way. This synopsis will become a part of my proposal later on. I have another month to continue filming before I start the preparations to return to China. I know more or less what I need to film, this short synopsis helps bring the idea alive.

The proposal entails more details which the synopsis is a part of. It also includes who the main subjects are, your creative team, the way you want to treat the images, the documentary genre, music, audio, visuals, budget; it is your solid documentary structure.

HOW TO WRITE A SYNOPSIS?

Create a log-line (one or two sentences which describe your documentary).

Write a longer summary of what the documentary is about. It does not need to be longer than one page.

• Use an active voice which gives impact
• Describe and explain your subjects and the location so it becomes alive

THE TIME OF THE GRAPES

This documentary follows the grape harvest and sagas of  Tuchan, a tiny Cathar community hidden in the rugged land of the haute corbières of South-Western France.

The backdrop is the two-week gleaning in forlorn and wild, often hidden and uncontrolled vines where wild boar live among prehistoric fossils, and Roman coins, pottery and quartz formations clutter the soil.

Each year the same team meet up from all over Europe, old friends, old stories and old loves. They knew each other well.

Alain Perez the Patron, son of Spanish immigrants who ran from Franco's civil war arrived in Tuchan like many others, and worked the land,  slowly buying vine after vine. The parents died recently, and Alain works the land with Maurice his right-hand man who also drives the pickers' truck.

However, the time of the grapes 2020 is different. Covid19 has created social problems, and the annual wine festivals are cancelled, there is more drinking, stress has gone up, and there is a lack of tourism. Gites and guest houses lie empty. The village in decline. The village hanging onto its monoculture - wine - which nearly went bankrupt 5 years ago.

In the bar, Le Globe, the meeting place, locals gossip and chatter over passing time, and the current village life; the ironic death of Marc, the village butcher killed whilst hunting boar, and  the suspense as halfway through the picking Alain gets an infection and is rushed to the hospital. Everyone worrying about his life as he has had a kidney transplant, and this could kill him, but the grapes must come in.

The local bar,  Le Globe closes for two days leaving the locals without a centre. Pierre the owner will sell up. Days move on. Life changes, but the vines do not. They yield, they bare the brunt of Tuchan's vicious winds, the baking hot sun, the mysterious mists, the hit and miss of a good season, or a bad one.

Using Observational Documentary to give immediacy, and mixing old archives and still images of the village people, I intend to give a portrait and homage to my home and this unique moment in time.

Maurice checking the grapes before they go off to the wine co-operative. Photo: Jeanne Pope

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Alain Perez, Patron. Photo: Jeanne Pope

THANK YOU and have a great week.

Jeanne

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Themes I would like to film