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]].

One way to see where a show or movie tends to use this is when there are [[Hilarious Outtakes]] and a certain line changes depending on the take that was used.

* A lot of ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean|]]'': A lot of Jack Sparrow]]'s mannerisms were not actually written into the script, but improvised by [[Johnny Depp]]. Sparrow's epic ending line "Now, bring me that horizon" was also an improv.

* [[Buster Keaton]] generally worked from an outline instead of a complete script, and was famous for playing baseball with his crew while waiting for inspiration to strike.

** In ''[[Three Ages]]'', Buster attempts to jump from one rooftop to another using an improvised springboard and doesn't quite make it. Instead of reshooting they kept the fall and created a sequence involving multiple awnings, a drainpipe and a firefighters' pole to get the character to ground level in one piece.

* Certain short, one-or-two-minute scenes in the ''[[Austin Powers]]'' movies were edited together from literally hours of footage of the actors improvising off each other. One scene of note was the initial scene at the Evils' table in ''[[Goldmember]]'', where [[Seth Green]] and [[Mike Myers]] [[Overly Long Gag|just kept on playing]] until the cameras ''ran out of film''.

* In ''[[Give My Regards to Broad Street]],'' many of [[Ringo Starr]]'s lines are ad-libs. Possibly the majority.

{{quote| '''Ringo:''': Is it cold in here, or are we just practicing to be Canadians?}}

* [[Peter Sellers]] often improvised on set, though he was more careful than most to do so in character. [[Stanley Kubrick]] used three cameras to shoot his ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]'' scenes so the best material could be edited together; most famously, much of the hotline telephone monologue is said to be improvised, as is the behavior of his [[Evil Hand]] in the second-to-last scene.

** When Sellers is doing the aforementioned evil hand scene, you can see the guy who plays the Russian ambassador trying his hardest not to [[Corpsing|burst into fits of laughter]], complete with shaking and much biting of the lip.

** The most spectacular Sellers example might be ''[[The Party]]'', which was mostly improvised from an outline provided to him and the other actors with the director's help.

* Pretty much all of [[Bill Murray]]'s dialogue in ''[[Tootsie]]'' is supposedly improvised.

* One of the most famous comedy line improvs appeared in the movie ''[[Wayne's World|Waynes World]]''. During a scene where the main characters Wayne and Garth are sitting atop their car watching airplanes take off, when suddenly Garth asks a strange question:

{{quote| '''Garth:''' Did... Did you ever find it attractive when [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]] dressed up like a girl bunny?<br />

'''Wayne:''' No.<br />

** As it turns out, the entire exchange was improvised. [[Dana Carvey]], Garth's actor, visibly snickers right before asking the initial question and [[Mike Myers]] bursts out laughing after responding. The director decided it was too funny to cut and so left it in the final version.

* Most of the dialogue between [[Bing Crosby]] and [[Bob Hope]] in the "[[Road To]]" movies was completely ad -libbed, to the point that Dorothy Lamour often found herself unable to get in her lines. In ''The Road To Morocco'' Hope and Crosby share a scene with a live camel which decided to spit in Hope's face. The "attack" and Crosby's resulting ad-lib went into the film.

* While not a great film, ''[[The Score]]'' did have its moments. Several of them were the back and forth between Robert [[Robert De Niro]] and [[Marlon Brando]], who were purposely given only key points to hit in dialogue and then simply left in front of a camera.

* 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 postcreditspost-credits sequence.

* In ''[[Mars Attacks (Film)!]]'' no dialogue was written for the Martians so [[Frank Welker]] made up his own language for them.

* In ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'', the whole anecdote about the girl and the barn was ad -libbed by [[Matt Damon]].

{{quote| Um, well, ordinarily when you make glue first you need to thermoset your resin and then after it cools you have to mix in an epoxide, which is really just a fancy-schmancy name for any simple oxygenated adhesive, right? And then I thought maybe, just maybe, you could raise the viscosity by adding a complex glucose derivative during the emulsification process and it turns out I was right. }}

** 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-- — 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.

** Ford did the same thing in the original ''[[Star Wars]]'', not learning his dialogue for the scene where he tries to respond to a call to the detention cell.

* [[John Rhys Davies]] in [[The Lord of the Rings (film)|''The Lord of the Rings'']]. Many of his lines were this, including the one during the drinking game in Two Towers when he says that "It's the Dwarves that go swimming with little hairy women".

** Doubles as a [[Shout-Out]], since he was basing it on a line from ''[[Jaws]]''

* ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'' easily popularized the knowledge of improv games to general audiences.

* In the US version of ''[[The Office]]'', all the actors are given complete scripts, but are allowed to improvise as they go along. The absolute [[Crowning Moment of Funny|greatest adlib in the series]] is the kiss between Michael and Oscar, in Michael's failed attempt to show how tolerant he is of Oscar's [[StraightInvisible Gayto Gaydar|homosexuality]].

{{quote| '''Jenna Fischer''': "Those looks of shock/giddiness/confusion on our faces are real. We were all on the edge of our seats wondering what would happen next. I can't believe we held it together for as long as we did. I'm not sure we've ever laughed so hard on set."}}

* Finishing recording the first ever episode of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's [[Not Only... butBut Also]], the producer decided that since Dud was a pianist, they should record a play-out to go over the end credits. He had the credit roller set up, a grand piano placed in the middle of the set, and instructed Pete and Dud to say goodbye to the audience and then play until the credits ran out. Dud sat at the piano, Pete stood behind him, Dud struck a chord, sang a demi-falsetto "Now is the time to say goodbye..." and proceeded to compose their hit signature tune ''Goodbyeeee!'' on the spot.

* [[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.

== Music ==

** Jazz musicians spend HOURS working on improvisation. John Coltrane and [[Charlie Parker]] were well-known for extremely long practice sessions, sometimes lasting up to 14 hours.

** One of the landmarks in jazz improvisation came from saxophonist Coleman Hawkins's recording of Johnny Green's "Body and Soul" in 1939. Instead of playing the melody and then soloing, Hawkins stated the melody for about 4 bars and went on a long, intricate exploration of the chord changes for the rest of the verse and another one. Disliked by the general public at the time, Hawkins' solo is considered an evolutionary leap and a defining factor in modern jazz improvisation.

* In baroque and classical concertos there is a section called a cadenza, where the soloist goes on an unaccompanied flight of fancy, before leading the orchestra in to finish the cadenza. It used to be customary to improvise these, but in modern times, cadenzas are almost always written out beforehand, and in romantic concertos, the composer often writes the cadenza as well.

* Organists are expected to be able to improvise, and improvisation is a component of high-level exams in most conservatories.

* Blues, rock and to a lesser degree [[Heavy Metal]] are some other genres that tend to feature a lot of instrumental improvisation. Like in jazz, improvisation in these genres is usually based on the "pentatonic blues scale".

* In the music video for New Found Glory's cover of "Kiss Me", one of the band members hands a kid with a cape his guitar during the solo. The kid, who was one of the many extras that were recruited to simply run around the set in a crazed manner, just happened to be right in front of the band at that instant and froze in confusion, so he was given the guitar in an improvised moment.

* BBC radio show ''[[The Masterson Inheritance]]'' is improvised from a set of plot elements given by the audience. (It shares a few cast members with ''Whose Line...'')

* 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.

* [[Evelyn Evelyn]]: The "Ask Evelyn Evelyn" bit of the stage show. The sisters give their answers one word at a time, trying to form a full sentence by following up on each other's words... which mostly involves Amanda and Jason trying to think of words that the other could not possibly follow up on.

* Australian comedy team [[The Umbilical Brothers]]. A few of their routines are improvised, including suggestions from the audience.

{{quote| '''James Lipton:''' IMPROV!}}

* Paul Rugg's audition to provide the voice of [[Freakazoid!]] went way, ''way'' off-script. Nearly all of it was then animated as part of the first episode, "Dance of Doom."

* [[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.

* Literally every major city (at least, in America) usually has an improv comedy show. ''Second City'' has very much popularized the art that leadled to wider exposure on ''Whose Line''.

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