I decided to write a synopsis for my film which was detailed. I find this helps me personally to understand the situation and how the film will work out, so that when I write a script, draw a storyboard, etc, it is more realistic because you know how the stylistics may hint at ideas in the storyline, etc.
So this is my full and detailed synopsis:
Set in modern England, the film focuses on two teenage girls who are bored one summer afternoon and decide to go exploring to entertain themselves. The film begins by the girls rummaging through some junk in their attic. On doing this, they come across an old key with an odd mark on it, and along with this, a very old letter written by one of the girl’s ancestors. The moment they touch the key, a flashback appears, (in a sepia tone), of a young maid in Victorian clothing finishing writing the letter, and hiding the key in the same box that the two girls found it in. Being young, they are curious to find out where the key leads, but to do this, they have to analyse the riddles in the letter to locate the same image that is on the key.
They come across the symbol on the lock of the door and use the key to open it, revealing a bright light which they enter through and on closing the door behind them, find themselves in a different time and place. That being a town of the Victorian times. They look around and enter an old house, they climb down some stairs and come across the young maid seen in the flashback. She is startled to see them but upon seeing their clearly modern dress, (classifying them as outsiders), she drags them into the room, shuts the door and begins questioning them about the journey as she suspects they have found the key.
The young maid provides the two girls with clothing more suitable for the Victorian era, and allows them to go look around the town providing they are careful and come back to see her that night. So the girls leave, excited about what they may find and they go sit on a stone bench to think over what has happened.
As they are talking the weather changes; the sky grows dark and it begins to rain. The girls jump up off of a bench and begin to run back to shelter when they bump into a broad, well dressed gentleman named Mr Brownstock. He scolds them for hurrying but upon seeing the key the girl’s found tied around Zoe’s neck, he tells them he can provide them with shelter and something warm to drink, and so hesitantly, they follow him.
They walk through some dirty streets clearly for the poorer class and they are brought to a large wooden door which they enter to find themselves in a filthy little office. Mr Brownstock then begins questioning them on they key, how they got hold of it and where they come from. The girls, being innocent and confused by the situation, tell him everything, even the fact that they were from the future, and they learn that Mr Brownstock is the master of the house with the young maid in.
Mr Brownstock then accompanies the girls back to the house, and as the maid peers through a dusty window at them, she is horrified to see the girls talking to her master who she fears and knows the true dark nature of. The maid runs to the door and bids the girls get inside. Once in the house, the girls run to a window to see the maid and the master having a heated discussion.
Weeks pass as the girls become accustomed to the times and begin forgetting the modern world from which they come, and they receive no more visits from Mr Brownstock. One afternoon though when the girls have finished playing blind man’s bluff, they decide to explore parts of the house they haven’t yet been in, and they come across a pile of dusty boxes and a portrait of a beautiful woman who looks a lot like Zoe dressed in a masquerade gown and mask, in the master’s chamber. The master catches them here and explains that the woman in the portrait is his late wife and explains how she died. Slowly it begins to dawn on him that the girls may be able to help him in a wicked plan he has begun to create. He asks the girls about the future, what their medicines are like and if it can cure death itself. They tell him that there have been situations where people have been brought back to life, and the master misinterprets this as being able to bring back a corpse, and so he commands these girls to return to their original time and bring back a potion that will revive his deceased wife. Scarlett explains that it isn’t possible to bring back a corpse, Mr Brownstock looking tortured and crazy, becomes very angry, draws out his pistol and commands that they leave right now and find him something to bring back his wife within 3 days.
The girls are terrified and run to the servant’s quarters and tell the young maid everything that has happened. She understands and explains that on the third day there is a masquerade ball hosted by her master. She tells them to look back in the master’s chamber at the boxes to find something to wear for it so Mr Brownstock won’t recognise them. She also says that it is only after the masquerade ball that they can return to their own world for their safety as it is after the masquerade ball before, that the young maid stole the key and opened the door between the two worlds, and so after the masquerade this time, they can use that same key to open the door and return to their own world.
When the girls go back to the boxes, they open them to find them filled with masquerade masks and bright gowns and hats. The girls are excited by this and begin trying them on for something to do, and as they touch them, a flashback appears made up of lots of colour and movement which shows a ball where Mr Brownstock is stood on a platform with his wife and a baby. Mr Brownstock, dressed like a ringmaster, is shouting upwards with his hands raised above his head as if casting some form of magic, and whilst people down below are dancing and laughing, the young maid is sat in the corner looking around at everyone mesmerised by this ball. The flashback continuing, the young maid then stands up and creeps out of the ballroom and then a dissolve shows her appearing in Mr Brownstock’s office. She then wlaks over to a large mirror framed with gold carving and a small lock on the side. The young maid places the key in the lock and as she turns it, golden sparks fly from the lock and the young maid replaces the key back into her pocket.
As the film returns to the two girls, they are preparing with the maid for the masquerade ball. They look in the mirror to see a reflection of themselves with a cloudy background, and they realise upon seeing how changed they look, that they have forgotten their true homes. The image in the mirror is used with a dissolve to set the girls in the masquerade scene and a passage of time.
The girls are dancing around the ballroom and enjoying themselves, and Mr Brownstock, amazed by Zoe’s appearance and mistaking her for his wife, begins to move through the crowd to find her. Once they are face to face, he asks for a dance and surprised, she accepts. As they are dancing, Mr Brownstock notices a key around Zoe’s neck – the same he is wearing around his, and he realises that this is not his wife and he confronts her on finding the cure. Zoe panics and in a desperate act, snatches the key from around Mr Brownstock’s neck, and flees into the masquerade crowd to find Scarlett and the maid. Brownstock infuriated, shoots his gun into the air causing panic and shouts commands to find those girls.
By this time, the three girls have run out of the masquerade and steal a horse and carriage and make their way to Brownstock’s office. Whilst they are riding, Mr Brownstock pursues them on his own horse, shooting his pistol at them, but missing. Once the girls and the maid arrive at the office, they run in and open the mirror door. The maid then writes the letter and places it along with the key in a chest, just as they originally found it. They then run through the mirror door using the key around Zoe’s neck to open it, and at this moment, Mr Brownstock runs in and points the gun at them. Zoe then confronts him and asks if he would shoot someone of his own flesh and blood. He asks ‘what the devil they are talking about?’, and Zoe explains how he is her great, great grandfather. The girls then attempt to run through the door, the maid bidding them farewell, the master does not believe these words and chases them through the door. As soon as they have all gone through, the maid then shuts and locks the door on this side of the mirror.
You then see the other side of the mirror in the modern world and as the girls run through, they turn to hear a piercing scream and see Mr Brownstock dissolving into thin air. He attempts to turn and run back through, but of course it is lock on the other side. As he is halfway through the door, the girls shut it and lock their side. They hear Mr Brownstock’s scream fade away as he becomes lost in time. The girls then leave the doorway, bury the key in their garden and return to their lives as any children would, ‘for what can bother a grown-up, will never bother a child’.
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