The video improv workshop Saturday went really well. Me am teachzor! We had about 14 people altogether from widely differing backgrounds: dance, video art, videography, music, network collaboration, graphic design, and only five people from improv comedy. We worked on camera- and scene-work, shooting scenes out on the streets and in Chelsea Market (conveniently right across the street from Atlantic Acting School’s new (and pristine) rehearsal space). I spent much of the lecture and discussion time introducing the class to the different roles of the actors, shooter and runner/timekeeper in crafting scenes on video. What I learned from the workshop:

• I can teach
• The teacher must be the time nazi so things don’t get rushed
• and a possible solution to the 3rd Act Problem of Video Improv, which is when (two-thirds through the show) the different shooting groups meet to mash up their scenes and the shooting slows to an infinite pause on the event horizon of a Black Hole of Brainstorming and Plotting Out the Scenes.

Video improv’s mutability is a great strength and a great weakness. On the one hand you have the power and potential of cinema with all its tricks and delights. On the other, when it comes time to mash up the scenes at the end of the show, there can be a huge trainwreck as everyone verbalizes their ideas, then debates their pros and cons — an instant power struggle in which dominant personalities win– and the the resulting scenes are deflated, scripty and late. This was sometimes a big problem in the Neutrino shows.

Conclusion: plot is just as much of a killer on video improv as stage improv. Early in the workshop, I stressed the importance of Yes Anding behind the camera just as much — more! — as in front of it. Never debate an idea. Always go with the first one offered. This goes without saying on the stage but is easy to let slip in the young art of video improv. More on this after this Saturday’s workshops.