Structure Makes Your Improvisation Work!

So, going to see a performance of Improv at IOWest is amazing.  I suggest going Tuesday nights at 9 to see USS Rock and Roll and Local 132.  There have been several times I've brought friends fresh to improv and they could not believe that every word was made up - had never existed before this performance, and will never exist again (unless, the performance was filmed of course)   It is an amazing feat, as improvisors move, speak, emote, seemingly plot, and express theme, broader meaning, the whole deal, with NO discussion - nothing more than eye contact.  These teams I'm recommending do a form called The Harold.  This is a form developed at IOWest (when it used to be Improv Olympic) by Del Close, the original IOer.

What is the Harold?  An opening, three "first scenes" a game, three "second scenes" where the characters or locations of the first scenes come back, another game, and the final coming together of all three plot lines as they affect each other in often hilariously and profound ways.    A couple of details, the second beats may often be the longest beats in the piece, time to develop characters, situations etc.  The third beats are where everyone's story gets wrapped up. ; - )

Well what have we here?  Yes, we have structure.  What else might we have?  How bout a want and a need.  The way to have powerful themes is to begin with a callow character who actually changes in the third act.  The way I teach my students now is that this transformation occurs when the want collides with the need, and the Hero has to relinquish her want or "die".  In improv, it may be as simple as, girl who wants friends and tries to get them by being mean, realizes she should be nice.  But once we meet her in the first act, we want to see her come back in the second "beat" and see the consequences of her meanness.  It's only in the third act, as we wrap up in improv that we see our hero transformed, see her realize that because she needs friends, she needs not to be mean any more.  Okay, that's a super basic example, but improv CAN be simpler than Doc, but also can be more more challenging and complex.

Okay - so how does this apply to me and my doc you may be asking?

First of all, what this means, no matter how organic your doc (cause improv is the epitomy of organic) you will make it better by having a structure.

Let me tell you.....I always used to think that you just start shooting right?  Well after years of working on trying to edit docs for people who "Just Started Shooting" I realized that they had spent their valuable time and resources - and often the time of others - and even if the filmmaker started with a GREAT idea, if they didn't fully develop the structure for their film BEFORE they start - if they didn't think about who could take us into this world and have a transformation - then - unless you are INCREDIBLY f-ing lucky - you won't get that.  Sure, some people are in the right place at the right time, but you're too smart and too good to leave it all to chance.

So, number 1, step out on stage with all the players knowing the structure.
number 2, choose characters with strong wants, and strong needs.  Know they will stick to those through the first two acts.
number three, make theme - or saying something about something, more than the immediate scenario at hand - a goal.

If you can take these three things and apply them to your documentary BEFORE you start shooting, or at a far distant least, AS you shoot, then you have a shot to have the main elements that make a great film.

 To review - you want:

1) a hero who has a transformation   and 2) a film that transcends it's subject, that is about more than it appeared to be at first.

(What do Want and Need have to do with Structure?  That will be the next post! )

These are there things that make great documentaries delightful, and if you know about them, and are looking for them, even PLANNING where they will emerge BEFORE you choose a subject, or start shooting, BEFORE you're done shooting and start editing.

Some examples: Times of Harvey Milk and Unknown White Male along with When We Were Kings are terrific examples of Want Need, Structure and Transformation, and that delightful moment when you realize that this documentary you are watching is about more than what you thought.

So, take your check list, think about what you are doing, and really have fun with it, and make your film with more than "just" a good idea.

These are all the things we work on in the Doc Workshops - so please feel free to send an email for more information about the next workshops.

The Art of Improv and the Documentary Part I

Happy Solstice Dear Reader,

Some of you may know that I, Stephanie Hubbard, the "Documentary Insider", also actively study and perform comedy improv at one of the best schools in the country, iowest, formerly known as improv olympic.

This morning, I started thinking about the two art forms, Improv and Documentary and why I'm so involved with both.

And the most obvious thing is that they both rely fully on improvising: being able to create art on the fly, as it happens, being alert and involved, reacting in the moment - or rather the millisecond.

So, how might we apply principles of improv to documentary filmmaking?

1) Even though, in the art form of comedy improv, "Nobody knows what anyone will say," we do learn and agree on the form we will do. This typically involves structure. What is the structure? In the most successful long forms, (Here I will refer to "The Harold" a long form of improv developed at the Improv Olympic under the beloved Del Close, recognized as the father of improv by many) First, there is an OPENING, which will inspire, and in so doing actually encompass all that follows it. (A great opening in an documentary should both be at the beginning AND encompass all that is to follow.) Then there are three different SCENES. They are unrelated but inspired by the opening, and are typically two person scenes. The most important thing in these scenes is to establish RELATIONSHIP, who are these people to each other - from this comes all else. Then there is a GROUP GAME - typically inspired by the opening. Then we have second beats of each of the SCENES in the first beats - in these second beats you can have more people interacting with the characters established in the first beats. In improv we follow CHARACTER, not plot. These beats can be longer, developing aspects of the characters. Then we have one more GROUP GAME, then SCENES - or Third Beats, that have each of the story lines merge - it turns out that the woman in 2A is actually married to the mail man in 1C and so on. This is also the time that the characters TRANSFORM according to our point of view about the themes that have emerged from within the Harold.

Each scene is developed by the improvisors listening to each other and responding in the moment, but each improvisor is working according to the structure of the piece, moving towards transformation, and a conclusion.

Now how does this apply to Documentary? Well, just as we can really listen to our subjects and to the issues and themes arising from what it is we want to say in our documentary, we might benefit from having a structural road map we are following. And the road map we choose for a Documentary, might be strikingly similar - we have first act - that establishes our characters and their relationships. Our act two is longer, has more ins and outs, more characters perhaps, then we have our act three, or transformation act - also, we have a time when we know it will all come together to say more about the whole than we expected. This is because on some physiological level, the audience is satisfied by transformation and by elevating the conversation to more than they expected. And by doing this in your documentary, you will create a more powerful film.

Stay tuned, tomorrow - the importance of Not Judging, Being in the Moment, and Listening, all key elements of successful improv & successful documentary filmmaking.

To see the sort of improv shows I'm talking about, check out the schedule at www.iowest.com