Improv: Difference between revisions

'''Improv''', short for Improvisation, is the act of going off-roading from the set script and making up entire chunks of dialogue or characterisation. This is similar to an ad-lib (a short -- usuallyshort—usually one or two lines -- deviationlines—deviation), but here the connotations are that it happens frequently, if not actually the entire acting method. This varies wildly from individual lines to half of the script. When an entire production is based around improvisation, you're probably looking at a variant of [[Theatresports]].

* In the film of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' (as opposed to the TV series) this also comes up in what is probably the film's single genuinely funny scene. Buffy, played by Kristy Swanson, stakes the [[Big Bad]]'s (Rutger Hauer's) second in command, who is being played by Paul Reubens. The scene as written simply required Reuben to say "You're gonna wish you died" and then slide out of shot. Which he did. And then, two seconds later, stood up again with stake still in his chest, putting on a bunch of fake but hilarious "ah, ooh, eee, ah, ooh!" noises and even looking directly at Swanson for one second before going off at it again. The fact the shot was ad-libbed is clearly visible in Swanson and Hauer's faces: Swanson ''turns'' to someone offscreen as if querying what's going on -- andon—and the shot ''cuts'' to Hauer, on whom another camera was already rolling, and who has a vaguely amused look on his face and who ''shrugs'' as if to say "Just roll with it." Which they did, and the shot stayed in. A part of the performance even got into a postcredits sequence.

** He may have had more respect for the script of the ''[[The Fugitive (film)|The Fugitive]]'', but he did the same thing while filming it--adit—ad-libbing what became his character's defining line (and the film's most famous)--"I don't care!". And the fugitive himself, [[Harrison Ford]], deliberately did not learn the lines for the scene where he's interrogated by the police, wanting his responses and reactions as their questions and attitude change from helpful to hostile to be as realistic as possible.

* [[Saturday Morning Kids Show|SaturdayMorningKidsShows]] are often only semi-scripted, because they're live and the kids are going to throw everything off anyway. ''[[SMTV Live]]'' interspersed scripted sketches (with lots of [[Throw It In]] and [[Lampshade Hanging]] of forgotten lines) with unscripted chat, while ''[[Dick and Dom in da Bungalow]]'' was pretty much entirely [[Improv]]- [[Word of God]] is the hosts just had a running order, no script. A couple of actors played lots of recurring characters who would come in each week, and would have a few prepared jokes when they first entered, but they would then have to improvise as they interacted with the hosts and the children.

* Central to the legend -- iflegend—if not always the actual performance -- ofperformance—of comedy team [[Bob and Ray|Bob & Ray]]. Their act began literally as two guys batting it around on-air, and never stopped sounding like it, regardless of an increasing reliance on scripts as their performance workload got heavier.

* [[Improv Everywhere]]. One of the more famous demonstrations of improv, it's a (now ''huge'') [{{[{http|//improveverywhere.com/ organization of people}} who get together and "cause scenes" (that are all perfectly legal), with interactions of shocked bystanders being completely improvised.