Synopsis

This is the original synopsis for my final project.

Synopsis – Butterfly Effect

While out with his mother and the rest of his pack, a young Wolf Cub becomes fascinated

 with a brightly coloured butterfly. He begins to chase after the butterfly, enthusiastically. However, while encapsulated by the beauty of the butterfly, the Wolf Cub jumps after it, unaware of the hill below. As gravity takes over and he starts to roll down the hill, the Wolf Cub comes to a very immediate stop as he hits the leg of another (much larger) animal. As he composes himself and shakes off his dizziness, the Wolf Cub realises what he has crashed into. A huge Stag. As the Stag (threateningly) steps toward the Wolf, the Cub steps backwards in fear. However, just as the Stag gets too close, the Wolf Mother jumps in between the two and growls menacingly at the Stag. The Stag quickly gives up and leaves. The Wolf Mother gestures to the Cub to come back to the pack, but just before, he imitates his Mother and growls (in a very cute way) towards the Stag’s direction. As the pack begins to leave, the Wolf Cub gets distracted by the butterfly again and starts to follow it, away from the pack. The Wolf Cub follows the butterfly as it flies into a small, hollow tree trunk. The Wolf Mother starts to look around the area for the Cub but cannot initially see him, however she then spots him as the Cub gets stuck in the tree trunk. He pushes his feet against the trunk to try to get out. As he pushes, the log comes loose and starts to roll down the hill, with the Wolf Cub inside.

The Wolf Mother notices her child rolling down the hill and starts to run after him. As she gets close, she comes to a separation in the ground and gets cut off from the Wolf Cub. The Wolf Cub then continues down the hill in the tree trunk until coming to the bottom, where the trunk breaks and releases him. From here the story breaks into two point-of-view. The first being that of the Wolf Cub as he tries to traverse the forest from dusk through to dawn. Here the Cub comes into contact with a number of other woodland creatures. He meets a rabbit which he tries to scare off in a similar way his Mother did the Stag, but it doesn’t work because he is too cute to be threatening. He then tries to find shelter in their rabbit hole, but he is quickly met with a disgruntled rabbit so the Cub leaves. In a similar way, he comes across a squirrel and attempts to follow it up a tree, but since he cannot climb the tree, he is unable to follow. The second point-of-view is that of the Wolf Mother as she searches through the forest to find her son. She first comes across the broken tree trunk, then footprints near the rabbit hole and finally, tiny claw marks leading up a tree. However, throughout her search the looming threat of hunters can be felt stalking the forest.

As rain begins to fall and the forest is only lit by moonlight, the Wolf Cub looks defeated, fur matted and drenched in rain. He makes his way through thick hedges, he comes into a small clearing in the forest. Mindlessly, he shakes off the rain coating his fur and looks up to see a hunter silhouetted by moonlight. The hunter turns and notices the Cub. The Wolf Cub once again tries to growl, but he is not threatening. The hunter raises his gun to meet the Wolf Cub’s gaze. The Cub tries to growl again, but the outcome is the same. The hunter loads the gun and aims directly at the Wolf Cub. The Cub bows his head and steps back in fear. The hunter holds the shot on the Wolf Cub. His finger on the trigger. A deep, menacing growl then comes from behind the Cub. The hunter raises his gun at the noise at the same time the Wolf Cub, cautiously, raises his head. From behind the Cub, his Mother emerges snarling at the hunter. She steps over the Wolf Cub and towards the hunter. Right before the hunter pulls the trigger, from all of the surrounding hedges, growls can be heard as the rest of the pack emerges from the hedges as well. The hunter panics and looks around in fear. He immediately runs back where he came from. The Wolf Mother lifts the Cub by the scruff of his neck as they go back home.

The Wolf Cub sits at the entrance of the cave, looking out at the sunrise. A butterfly goes right up to his face and then flies away. He gets excited and is about to go after it when he looks around at his Mother who looks at him as if to say “Really?”. The Wolf Cub decides not to go after the butterfly and sits back down. His Mother sits down beside him as they both watch the sun rise.