Today’s Improv Corner is going to sound reallllllly random but I think that it has relevance to an extent. Do you listen to musicians or a band so much that when you hear a song you can see a certain part of a music video and you can imagine impersonating that particular part? No? Just me? OK, well let’s just say for a minute that it is just me who can impersonate the way that certain musicians say things. The one thing I thought about the other day is that it actually can be a great thing to help with character development in improv.
Think is a musician with a big personality such as Robbie Williams, Lady Gaga, Eminem, Green Day to name a few. Go and watch a handful of their music videos – observe the way that their personalities are heightened in their facial expressions and their movements and their dances. You can take so much away from this – the videos have to be heightened and ‘dramatic’ to get the views and the hits.
They can be great ways to warm up for characters and it can also be a way to develop them. Watch a music video – look at the way they sing or act at a particular line – if there are moments that inspire you – mimic it. Then go away with this ‘mimic’ and use it to develop a character or to use it to create the characteristics of a person.
Still do not understand what I mean? Here are a few examples that may be able to help you out:
Marianas Trench – Celebrity Status – ‘i think i got it’
There are so many parts of this video that could of inspired me but this particular line always vividly fits into my head – the hand movements the way that they are dramatically said can all be emphasised and used within a scene to create a sassy and confident character.
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance – ‘ I want your love….’
The great thing about the dance routine in this video is that it is pure gold in finding parts that can influence a character development. I had to chose the part that are like lil monsters with the paws as I think that would create a really interesting character on stage and could lead to a number of different stories developing.
The Lonely Island – Diaper Money – ‘drop into my graveplot’
The fact that Lonley Island are a parody within themselves anyway, their actions are already heighted the whole way through. However this intro into the grave plot line i mimic allll the time i hear this song – it stuck out to me when I first saw the video and never left my head. I am sure I could create a character from that one way movement.
Linkin’ Park – Two Faced – ‘two faced caught in the middle’
The first time I saw this video was to write this article as I wanted to prove a point that you can inspiration from ANY music video. I liked this marching dance and felt the energy and bounce to it could be a great starting point to create any character.
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