Austin Improv

i directed a rehearsal for a group yesterday composed of people who are new to longform. some had never done it before. i found i needed some vocabulary in order to explain the nuts and bolts of how you do longform, before even getting into theory, format, or all the other stuff. so, i wrote down on the board a bunch of edits, some of which i had to make up names for. fix or add to this list.

SWEEP EDIT - A player enters from the sideline and walks in front of the present scene denying the environment to signify he is starting a new scene. (sometimes augmented by the flaring of hands or arms. no one knows why)

TALKIE - A player enters from the sideline denying the environment established by the players in the scene and begins dialogue that clearly does not fit either by herself or with another player.

"ORGANIC" TRANNY (transition) - The end of a scene organically finds itself morphing into the beginning of the next scene, sometimes involving the same players, but any combination of players can occur.

TAP-OUT - A player enters from the sideline and taps another player on the shoulder, signifying their immediate unjustified exit in the form of a transition. The remaining non-tapped out player or players keep the same character and begin a new scene. This, I called the NEW TAP-OUT as a new scene is started in this one.
This can be modified into what I had to name TIME TAP-OUT in order to give it a name. This involves the tapping out of a player for the sake of delivering a quick joke, in hopes of being retapped out by the initial player who was tapped so that the original scene can continue.

SPLIT SCREEN - A player or group of players enter from the sideline and start a new scene that relates to the first scene but is in it's own environment. The scenes then take turns with dialogue leaving space and soft freezing when the other scene has focus. It's hard to distinguish this from the TALKIE EDIT on the fly, but when it works out, it's brilliant.


Does anyone have any other edits they can think of? Maybe someone knows the actual names of some of the ones I had to make up.

OH! Ok, this is one that is seldom used. I don't know if people forget about it (i do) or if it's just one that is scrapped for the ease of the sweep edit, or maybe it's that often the people in the current scene are needed in the next... I guess it's good for only specific cases, but I think it's under-used and pretty cool:

Classic Play-Style Scene Ending: The players in the current scene reach an ending. They exit the stage. Then next scene starts.
Variation (Shakespeare): Same location, in a contiguous time-line, but "new scenes" are created by entrances and exits.
Variation (Blackout): Scene ends. Blackout. New scene.

Also don't forget about a good old fashion Song Edits, whatever that is.

What is it called when players who are offstage direct players onstage to cut to another scene in the past or future?

TexasImprovMassacre wrote:What is it called when players who are offstage direct players onstage to cut to another scene in the past or future?

That's a "cut-to"

The 3 For All dudes taught me about the "Dream sequence" or "flashback" edit where a person/people spin into the scene, taking the place of a person/people in the current scene, and those people spin out of the scene, leaving space. The scene is a dream sequence or a flashback with the player/s left onstage. At the conclusion of the flashback the players spin back into their original positions.
It's more like a queer kind of tap-out.

I haven't done it in a while, but for some reason I really like the Same-Line edits that are similar to the Talkie but a little more specific.

Scene A, mother and son-
Mom: And that's how your father died.
Son: Your details bore me.
*edit*
Hairdresser: Your details bore me.
Hitler: Mein Kampf!
Scene B, hairdresser and hitler

kaci_beeler wrote:It's more like a queer kind of tap-out.

Ha. Yeah, I don't much care for that edit style. Just seems a little to gimmicky/gamey to me.

There's the Meta edit, which much like the post stucturalist theater of--

And freeze the tape there. Andy was about to launch into a theory-heavy explanation that instead can be illustrated by showing the Meta edit in action.

Meta edit puts the original scene in a new context. Scene A turns out to be a video game being played by Scene B.

in addition to those listed previously, (of which the repeat line is probably my personal favorite), i've learned these:

the slacker
player a edits scene 1, two other players start a scene as player a "walks thru" the beginning of scene 2, ala "slacker"

revolving door
essentially a tag out, but the person tagging in walks up to the person they wish to tag out. they put their back to one of other players backs and physically revolve them out. (tag out scene takes place). tagged out player rotates them back out and goes back to the sides.

fade up
essentially like the split scene, but the editing scene fades up - increasing volume and moving to the front of the stage while the edited scene "fades back"

sound edit - reacting to scene 1 sound
if a clear sound is created by a preceding scene (roommates bang a broomstick on the floor of their apartment), the next scene begins by reacting to the sound made in the preceding (an old Ukranian couple's argument is interrupted by the sound of the broom).

sound edit - responding to same sound as noted in scene 2
same as the above, but the sound isnt caused by the players in scene 1. the sound comes from some other place, like an ambulance or construction site. i've also seen this convention used as an easter egg that ties two seeming unrelated scenes together by their proximity to the shared sound (which also tells the audience they happened at the same time).

kaci_beeler wrote:It's more like a queer kind of tap-out.

[COMMENT DELETED BY POSTER]

Narrative Edit
Someone steps out of the scene and begins to narrate thusly...

a hairdresser and Hitler having a conversation while the hairdresser trims his moustache

HITLER (as he rises from his chair to give the ole Heil Hitler salute): ...and that was the beginning of an empire
HAIRDRESSER:(stepping out of the scene as if to edit) as Hitler's hand extended, it cast a shadow on the wall. That shadow grew into a darkness that covered the room like a wet blanket. The smell of mildew filled the air. It was musty and dirty in that basement. A light bulb flickered overhead as a father and son sat on a trunk looking at pictures of a forgotten past...

The scene picks up with the father and son doing what was just described by the hairdresser. The hairdresser fades away or becomes a different character in the scene. And that is the beginning of an empire!

erikamay wrote: revolving door
essentially a tag out, but the person tagging in walks up to the person they wish to tag out. they put their back to one of other players backs and physically revolve them out. (tag out scene takes place). tagged out player rotates them back out and goes back to the sides.

I gotta say. I much prefer the "tag out". Much.

Also, Freeze Edit Yell freeze and do whatever. You don't have to say freeze. You could say anything really, it's improv.

Tiny Bandaleros did a freeze edit with a clap. They'd clap from the sides, then tap some one out. It worked pretty well.

There's the lighter-called blackout edit.

And let's not forget the self-imposed, in-scene, "this scene is over/going nowhere, so let's let's self-edit and just leave the stage" edit.

There's also the elephant edit, but it's not quite ready for prime time just yet.

bill wrote: I much prefer the "tag out"

for me, it depends on the piece. if its supposed to be elegant, the revolving door has some nice panache. if it's a jocular show, lets tag out it up.

wes wrote:There's also the elephant edit

are you talking about the heavy-foot/judgement edit?

i saw chris trew do a show in which every scene was edited by a fart machine in his pocket