A collection of original thoughts and reblogs on improv.

08

Feb. '13

improv-is-easy: scorwitz asked improv-is-easy: If Game is the thing you repeat, then what is the difference between Pattern and Game? Game is funny/interesting/heartfelt. A Pattern (an empty pattern, anyway) isn’t. I respectfully suggest that this needs a little bit more clarification. A Game is a Pattern, but it’s a pattern of human behavior that’s fun to play around with and helps provide structure to a scene. At its broadest, a pattern is anything repeated. 2, 4, 6, 8 is a pattern. But a bunch of improvisors counting off by twos is not interesting. If you inject some behavior, emotion, relationship, or human reaction into a pattern, you have the beginnings of a game. 

improv-is-easy:

scorwitz asked improv-is-easy:
If Game is the thing you repeat, then what is the difference between Pattern and Game?

Game is funny/interesting/heartfelt.

A Pattern (an empty pattern, anyway) isn’t.

I respectfully suggest that this needs a little bit more clarification. A Game is a Pattern, but it’s a pattern of human behavior that’s fun to play around with and helps provide structure to a scene. At its broadest, a pattern is anything repeated. 2, 4, 6, 8 is a pattern. But a bunch of improvisors counting off by twos is not interesting. If you inject some behavior, emotion, relationship, or human reaction into a pattern, you have the beginnings of a game. 

  1. goodboywithawink reblogged this from improvisorsimprovisor
  2. scorwitz reblogged this from improv-is-easy and added:
    Thanks everyone! I kind of already knew the answer, but I thought it would be helpful to add to the great improv tumblr...
  3. internationalcomedyteam reblogged this from improv-is-easy and added:
    Really great discussion and thread. It seems like everyone more or less agrees though - a pattern is something you...
  4. improv-is-easy reblogged this from improvisorsimprovisor and added:
    I agree with all this… especially the last paragraph (I bolded my favorite part). For simplicity’s sake, my original...
  5. joxmacd reblogged this from paulciampanelli and added:
    Game- n. An unusual/unique behavior, relationship, perspective, or series of recognizable patterns explored and...
  6. improvisorsimprovisor reblogged this from paulciampanelli and added:
    We mustn’t confuse certain labels. “Motivational speaker” is just a job—a context we’ve been placed in. The Matt Foley...
  7. improv4thought reblogged this from downrightupright and added:
    UCB curriculum will say that Game is Pattern with the “Why.” And I agree with this. This is not to say that a “Why”...
  8. downrightupright reblogged this from nicclee and added:
    I’m sure different schools and generations have different answers, and I can’t wait to see the reblog thread continue....
  9. nicclee reblogged this from improvisorsimprovisor and added:
    I agree with this clarification. A pattern is anything you do more than once. I would say a game is a specific dynamic...
  10. improv-is-easy posted this
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