ImprovisationIdeas for generating characters and content
Improvising is inventing and creating content spontaneously. It's a great way to generate new ideas and for creating and developing characters, using a variety of useful techniques.
This improvisational exercise is excellent for creating entirely new and unplanned characters and scenarios.
Where, who, what?
Choose a location, eg a supermarket or a roller coaster.
Select characters, eg an astronaut or an I.T. manager.
Finally, choose a motivation for the character, eg they are looking for a partner or want to be famous at any cost.
Each piece of information should be randomly selected, so that they don’t necessarily match up. This can make for interesting and very humorous drama.
Creating a scenario
Where: a cave
Who: a bus driver
What: trying to save the world from prehistoric monsters
Who: a royal prince
What: desperate to be an international singing star
Who: a crazed scientist
What: trying to find a husband or wife
Be prepared for the unexpected when you improvise. Make sure that you don’t dismiss or ‘block’ ideas that arise but follow them through, however strange they seem. You never know what you may discover or create.
Adding a style
You could improvise in a set style of genreA category or type of something. Fiction and non-fiction are two examples of different genres. that’s very different to your original script or devised piece. You could:
sing the work as grand opera
perform the piece as a horror story
make your piece mute (no words) and in the style of a a slapstick silent movieA black and white film by artists like Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin in which the humour arises from physical comedy such as pratfalls and tripping.
