Joe Bunting

Crash and Burn Synopsis

I’m working on a story, maybe even a film, about one of my songs “Crash and Burn.”  The idea is to flesh out the story of the song with words and images, but I’ve sort of hit a wall on it.  The story is not interesting enough.  The conflict is not big enough.  The antagonist is not scary enough. 

So what I’m going to do is post a summary on the blog.  That will help me process externally, and if you think of any way to make it better, specifically the antagonist (which right now is a psychological lack of self confidence), leave a comment.  The crazier the idea the better.  This will be a test to see whether anyone is reading this and how smart you are.

Synopsis

Bobby, a dorky kid in high school, is sitting outside, under the moonlight, eating Chinese food out of the carton, and writing a letter to the African boy from Kenya, Ndugu, his parents adopted. In the letter, he complains of loneliness, lack of interest from the girls at school, and tells Ndugu about Tiffany, his beautiful, popular crush, who doesn’t know he exists. He finishes his letter and goes home.

Before going to bed he says goodnight to his glass unicorn figurine, Robert, and a large, half nude mermaid figurine who he calls Cindy. The figurines come to life briefly to say good night to him (like in Elf… this might not be practical). To emphasize Bobby’s dorkiness, the figurines are very effeminate.

At school the next day, he sees his crush, Tiffany, walking through the halls with her entourage. Her hair is blowing back and she walks like a supermodel on a runway. She glances at him as she walks past while he turns full to stare. Then, he runs right into Frankie’s fist. Tiffany sees Frankie, her buff, BMXer ex-boyfriend, hit Bobby, and gets into an argument with him while Bobby is on the ground recovering. Frankie storms off and Tiffany helps Bobby up. She introduces herself, and flirts with him, mostly to make Frankie jealous. They lock eyes, and Bobby fantasizes about kissing her. It’s just a fantasy though, and they part ways.

Later, in class, Bobby writes another letter to Ndugu telling him about Tiffany and says he wants to win her over. He wants to give up the things holding him down. He wants to crash and burn. He seals the letter, dropping it off in the mailbox outside his house.

That night, Bobby practices asking out Tiffany with his unicorn and mermaid, and he begins a vigorous training regime. He reads GQ. He starts playing basketball. He takes up swimming. He puts on cologne. He combs and gels his hair. He wears preppy clothes. He learns French (”voulez voucous chez avec tois”). He looks like a new person. On his way out to a party, he grabs the only thing left from his old life, his unicorn, and puts it into his pocket.

The second half tomorrow.  Chime in if you’ve got any ideas.  Remember, the crazier the better.

Related posts:

Crash and Burn Synopsis, Part 2




Power in Shakespeare and Crash




Furthur Thoughts on Synopsis