CINE.syb | Synopsis Booklets

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Theme.Object Collection

CINE.syb |
Synopsis Booklets

Synopsis booklets are a paratextual film ephemera from the silent era to talkies. It is a cheaply produced booklet folding together printed text, illustration and photography, touting a storyline and publicizing featuring artists. They feature spectacular combinations of text, drawings, full colour photo illustrations, typographical flourishes, ornamental decoration, and film stills; thus creating a different register for materiality and circulation histories. The booklets feature advertisements for film equipment, studios, and lists of former or upcoming productions. Through a side-by-side display of narrative and industrial attractions, these cheaply produced ephemera are located, like the films they promote, at the intersections of the fields of visuality and aurality of the narrative spectacle, art and commerce.