Improvisation – The Art of Thinking on Your Feet FAST

(Video: Improvisation – The Art of Thinking on Your Feet FAST)

The art of improvisation has quite a long history. It has been seen in many creative media forms, such as the theater and experimental and mainstream films.

Take for instance, popular silent filmmakers like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin utilized improvisation as it helped in developing their gags and provided them ways to alter the plot and make the situation funnier.

• Nowadays, improvisation is not only implemented for acting and filmmaking but widely used in classrooms as an educational tool.

• It is also used in many businesses as a way to improve communication and quick analytical skills on your feet.

• It can also help diffuse tension and improve teamwork since the dynamic of improvisation requires the team effort of two or more participants working together.

• It is extremely useful for coming up with new ideas and implementing them for the very last minute without any planning.

The overall premise of improvisation is allow you to think on your feet. That’s why learning how to master improvisation will be one of the invaluable skill you can have in your arsenal.

Here are guidelines on how to do improvisation.

1. Cut to the interesting stuff.

Plenty of good jokes and stories need a good setup. However, setting them up can take a while, and that could be a problem in improv because you need to set the tone early on.

For example, instead of a drawn-out conversation with a partner where you exchange pleasantries, ask each other’s names, talk about the weather, and then talk about what you’ll be having…

You can start the act by saying something like “Hannah here and I don’t plan to go home sober.”

1. Don’t deny the offer or the set up.

One of the reasons that most scenes turn out bad is denial. This is especially the case when you are working with another person. When you deny any action or dialog (referred to as “offer”) that can help further the scene, the performance suffers a grinding halt.

There are two distinct types of offer: the strong and open offers.

A strong offer refers to any action or dialog that blatantly gives a direction into which the scene needs to go to. Meanwhile, an open offer leaves a lot of possible directions for the scene to go to.

3. Never ask open-ended questions

Open-ended questions are considered scene killers by many improvisation professions since your partner will need to pause for a few moments and think of the best answer.

Questions like “How are you?” are considered open-ended. Doing so is like forcing all the thinking to your partner which is a “big no-no” as the act is a team effort.

Ironically, open-ended questions are great for normal conversation, but not for improvisation with two people building a scene together.

4. Offer lots of details

Details add color to your story so you should make sure that you provide a good amount.

Depending on the audience, it may even improve relatability, and all those will help your audience develop a clear picture of the scene.

For example if you’re a superhero movie fanatic, notice how in the trailer Deadpool described the female antagonist in a scene as a “less angry Rosie O’Donnell” instead of merely saying that she looks surly.

5. Relax; do not force yourself to be funny

It is a common misconception that people who do improvisation need to be funny in order for the act to work.

The secret behind an effective improv is that the harder you try not to be funny, the better the scene turns out to be. Maybe even see this as sarcasm, where you are in denial of being funny with a poker  face when you obviously are funny.

What you need to do is to pique the interests of the audience. As soon as you have come up with an interesting scene, funny moments come out all by itself.

6. Weave a good story

This is perhaps the number one rule you need to remember when you want to know how to master improvisation, but is the hardest one to master.

The idea behind an effective improv performance is to have a completely random story to work, especially with two unrelated characters in a totally unrelated plot.

To do this, formulate the interaction and relationship between the character or objects in the scene that would make it most interesting.

For example, let’s use something random, like the word “paper” that you’re given to work with. “Paper” by itself is boring. Ask yourself how can you make the scene interesting with a lamp. Perhaps, the paper has some secret meanings on it with a location to a treasure, or even it is a magical paper that whatever you write on it comes true.

7. Make your partner look good

When doing an improv scene, you need to make your partner look good as it also reflects on you.

Most of the time, people enter a scene with a great character and concept in mind. This is actually great, but you also need to consider your partner as he or she may have no idea whatsoever regarding your character or concept. This can catch your partner off-guard and the scene suffers drastically.

Give your partner something to work for and bounce off that back and forth.