Follow the Script

[York99]

... read between the lines a little...I believe that what its saying is more about the notion that "your scene is what it is supposed to be". Not literally that every minute detail of your scene is already mapped out for you,

I'm not suggesting that the whole scene can be mapped out in detail. The point with my example is that, while each of the ten pairs had the exact same info at the top, they ended up being VERY different scenes. Each can say they 'mapped' from the first few lines, but they came up with extremely different maps... so what does it really mean to map a scene?

I think the idea of judging vs. evaluating choices is a related discussion, but not exactly the same here.

It sounds like you're not really talking about mapping*. You're talking about making bold choices (character choices, scene moves, etc) at the top of a scene and fully committing to those choices. To me this is a completely different concept (though not in conflict with mapping).

And further than just committing, with the TJ and Dave example, you're talking about using what you've already created. This is the opposite of mapping. It's reverse engineering the map. It's taking all the crazy roads you made throughout the course of the scene, evaluating them, and then announcing what the map was for all along. It's what they might have called being 'economical' and 'using the whole buffalo' at iO. This is the point of that confusing ' playing the scene like you're looking in the rear view mirror' part in "Truth in Comedy" is talking about. And it's also a different discussion than mapping-- again as I understand mapping to be.

*At least as I understand the definition--which might be the cause of confusion here. If someone has a good explanation of mapping, I'd love to see it written out.

[TexasImprovMassacre]

yeah, I wasn't really talking about mapping (I don't think...at least not explicitly)

Hooray though, because the more we discuss the more I think I understand where you're coming from...for further clarification, I believe that the idea of literal mapping is something you introduced. I'm not sure I ever mentioned this as something I believe...

Regardless, I was under the impression that you were interpreting the quote very literally. I don't believe that anything is ever really mapped out, and I believe that you may be under the impression that I think that. I agree with you that each person plays each moment a little differently which ultimately alters the outcome. So that any scene start can go any number of ways.

I don't think that scenes feel like "they were already written and you're merely inhabiting them" because after a few lines you see where they are going...I don't think they're mapped out in that way, or really "mapped out" in any way. I see it as "i'm enjoying every moment of this journey, so it must be right" more than an "ah, hah! I know exactly where this is headed so now i feel safe".

With the exception of you maybe thinking I was under the belief that scenes were literally mapped out in some way, I think we're on the same page.

[York99]

Probably so. Still, I am still not clear on what the actual meaning of mapping would be, as applied to the very top of a scene.

When I think of mapping, I think more in terms of taking an existing scene and creating a new one by hitting specific beats from the first scene in creative ways. In that sense, the scene isn't mapped line by line, but it's mapped in the sense that you know certain beats (stops along the way or landmarks, in map speak) that you need to hit.