If you ever talk to an improviser about improv, within the first twenty seconds you know what “Yes, and” means. It is more than a commandment, it is more than rule, it is more than a law, and it is the founding axiom of all improv. No “Yes and” No Improv.
“Yes and” is shorthand for agreeing with whatever your partner says and building upon it. And let me radically edit my previous post. “The first line in the improv scene is the greatest line ever. It’s brilliant, angels weep at it’s beauty, scientists use it to calibrate their instruments.” Yes’ing to it is easy because the line is so beautiful.
The And is the hard part. The And is the critical part. The And is more important than the yes.
Because And is when you have to come up with the following – Your state of mind, your wants, your partner’s state of mind, your partner’s wants (based on what he gave you). And you have to add to the physical nature of the scene.
Without the Yes, you don’t have a scene. If you are lucky it will be a spectacular failure (more on this in a future post). With just “Yes” you are forcing your partner to do all the work.
For example, I was in a scene with one very good player, we were in prison and he was ready to break out. I agreed with him,
Dave (not his real name): Tonight Louie, we are breaking out of the joint.
Me: OK, how we gonna get out?
Dave: Use this window…
And Dave paints a scene where this is the most minimally secure prison in the history of Western Civilization. And I’m riding his coattails.
I agreed with him, and asking the question of how we are going to get out made him do all the work. It focused the scene on the plot, and we just explored the ‘prison’ with it’s open first floor window, unsecured door. It was quite a lame scene and it was my fault.
Dave: Tonight Louie, we are breaking out of the joint.
Me: Dave, ain’t nobody broken out of this jail in 40 years.
Dave: Use this window…
Me: Mitchell went out that window in 1983 and was never seen again…
Dave: That means he escaped… /We can try the door
Me: That’s not what the guards say../ Stevens went out that door in 1986 and was never seen from again…
Or
Dave: Tonight Louie, we are breaking out of the joint.
Me: I’ve grown accustomed to this place.
Dave: We can use this window.
Me: All my friends are here….
In the alternative, I agree with his premise “I’m in prison and I want to escape…” but I add to the scene by telling him it’s impossible, but being completely misguided in my concept of a successful escape, or in the second scene I have my own wants which are different from his. This focuses the scene back onto the players and creates a natural dynamic tension, where the character’s relationship is explored more.
Heck, here’s an idea of how an outright “No” can still work in a scene.
Player A: We have to fold these sheets, take this corner.
Player B: No, those aren’t sheets, that’s dog-sh** (I want to try to keep this blog clean).
So Player B is a jerk-ass, but not a total one
Player A could say:
I got it at Macy’s, I like the color – Turning the scene into a discussion of each person’s taste.
I can’t see anything without my glasses – a Mr. Magoo type scene.
Well since I lost my job, this is the best we can do – An economic misfortune scene.
So, while the Yes gets all the praise and the press, it’s the and doing the hard work.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
general rules...
The purpose of this blog is to have me work out my struggles with IT, improv, improve my writing and general communications. I'm above average in IT & Technology, I know what I'm writing about - if you are here for that please feel free to hold me to a higher standard. But for the improv writing - cut me some slack.
For Improv, I'm a noob, been doing this for about 6 months and it is mutually easy and difficult at the same time. For me to work out my thoughts and learning processes, I will be reviewing and critiquing scenes. I plan on praising my fellow improvisers or partners. But I learn from failures and disasters, sometimes they are my fault, sometimes they are yours. Most of the time, mine.
I will also separate the performance, the style and the improviser from the person. You could be a great improviser, receive and distribute gifts like a pro, but I just might not like your style of improvisation.
When I act like a jerk, I want to intentionally be a jerk. If there's anything that I've written about you, a friend or a stranger that you feel is unfair. I'll be more than happy to edit, delete, correct, update or post your reply. Unless I want to be a jerk, then you are S.O.L.
For Improv, I'm a noob, been doing this for about 6 months and it is mutually easy and difficult at the same time. For me to work out my thoughts and learning processes, I will be reviewing and critiquing scenes. I plan on praising my fellow improvisers or partners. But I learn from failures and disasters, sometimes they are my fault, sometimes they are yours. Most of the time, mine.
I will also separate the performance, the style and the improviser from the person. You could be a great improviser, receive and distribute gifts like a pro, but I just might not like your style of improvisation.
When I act like a jerk, I want to intentionally be a jerk. If there's anything that I've written about you, a friend or a stranger that you feel is unfair. I'll be more than happy to edit, delete, correct, update or post your reply. Unless I want to be a jerk, then you are S.O.L.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Pimping is easy
This is my third or fourth attempt at blogging. But maybe I have something to write now. This blog should cover my improv, technology and cooking. Of course I forgot to incorporate cooking into the title. But since nobody is reading this anyway, who's to know.
I am not a perfectionist, but I can't leave well enough alone, always fiddling around and of course never finishing anything. So let's get to what's on my mind and see if this thing will work.
I've been doing improv for a little more than six months and it really fits into my nature of fiddling around, there is just so many things to work on at the same time.
The great thing about improv, is there are so may opportunities where the scene can radically switch between awesome and awful. There's no shortage of opportunities for self-reflection, doubt and regret. In addition every rule, tool and principle of improv is a double-edge sword.
"Yes, and" is one of the axioms of improv, it's the first thing they teach you. Agree with your partner and build on the statement/action/environment. And it works well when the initial idea is a good one, but when the idea is bad - it just kills the scene. Experienced performers can twist the "Yes, and" to a good idea, but it takes an incredible amount of confidence in your partner to recognize the shift.
The hardest part for improv is trying to figure out the difference between a "gift" and "pimping." In improv a gift is when one performer introduces an idea/object/gesture/environment which helps your scene partner. Pimping is taking advantage of your partner's "Yes, and" to force something quite difficult or out of character.
What I've been told about obvious examples are asking them to "read" or "sing" or talk another language on the spot. But that doesn't really seem "hard" to me as an improviser, nobody expects you to create a poem, sing a song or speak Chinese on the spot, but whatever the pimpee does, is going to get a laugh. And the pimp's reaction needs to stay consistent with the setup. If the Pimp says "That song was awesome, you need to sing it for me." Regardless of what dreck comes out of the pimpee's mouth, the pimp is going to have to love it (unless the pimp is just a total jerk, then you were going to get screwed during the scene anyway).
For me as an improvisor, it makes the scene incredibly easy. I don't (here's where I took a two day break - and it came clear to me).
The true drawback to pimping is while it gets the laugh, moves the scene it takes the pimpee out of improvisation. The pimpee is now "just" an actor. The Pimpee is just taking direction from the pimp - and while it can easily lead to a lot of laughs if the Pimp knows what he is doing. It could go bad really quickly where the audience laughs at the pimpee for freezing up.
Now of course there's the issue where somebody has to take control of a scene. But that's for a later post.
I am not a perfectionist, but I can't leave well enough alone, always fiddling around and of course never finishing anything. So let's get to what's on my mind and see if this thing will work.
I've been doing improv for a little more than six months and it really fits into my nature of fiddling around, there is just so many things to work on at the same time.
The great thing about improv, is there are so may opportunities where the scene can radically switch between awesome and awful. There's no shortage of opportunities for self-reflection, doubt and regret. In addition every rule, tool and principle of improv is a double-edge sword.
"Yes, and" is one of the axioms of improv, it's the first thing they teach you. Agree with your partner and build on the statement/action/environment. And it works well when the initial idea is a good one, but when the idea is bad - it just kills the scene. Experienced performers can twist the "Yes, and" to a good idea, but it takes an incredible amount of confidence in your partner to recognize the shift.
The hardest part for improv is trying to figure out the difference between a "gift" and "pimping." In improv a gift is when one performer introduces an idea/object/gesture/environment which helps your scene partner. Pimping is taking advantage of your partner's "Yes, and" to force something quite difficult or out of character.
What I've been told about obvious examples are asking them to "read" or "sing" or talk another language on the spot. But that doesn't really seem "hard" to me as an improviser, nobody expects you to create a poem, sing a song or speak Chinese on the spot, but whatever the pimpee does, is going to get a laugh. And the pimp's reaction needs to stay consistent with the setup. If the Pimp says "That song was awesome, you need to sing it for me." Regardless of what dreck comes out of the pimpee's mouth, the pimp is going to have to love it (unless the pimp is just a total jerk, then you were going to get screwed during the scene anyway).
For me as an improvisor, it makes the scene incredibly easy. I don't (here's where I took a two day break - and it came clear to me).
The true drawback to pimping is while it gets the laugh, moves the scene it takes the pimpee out of improvisation. The pimpee is now "just" an actor. The Pimpee is just taking direction from the pimp - and while it can easily lead to a lot of laughs if the Pimp knows what he is doing. It could go bad really quickly where the audience laughs at the pimpee for freezing up.
Now of course there's the issue where somebody has to take control of a scene. But that's for a later post.
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