Pull Out/Pull Back In

This is a little tip to use once you have an idea of what you and your scene are about. Pull out/pull back in means pull out, or go opposite the point of view you've been declaring in the scene, then pull back in to restore your original point of view in the next beat or line of dialogue. A simple example of this:

Improviser A: Hurry up and get dressed so we can get to the party!

Improviser B: I don't know, I'm not sure I'll fit in. Improviser A: Of course you will, you're gonna meet someone you like.

Improviser B: This shirt is stupid, I'm gonna look lame. Improviser A: So there will be lame people there you can meet, let's move.

Improviser B: Okay, okay, I'll give it a shot. Improviser A: Cool, let's go. Improviser B: No, I'm gonna look like a rod. I'll stay here and eat cashews.

B's point of view is fear of being an outcast at the party. He plays that point of view twice in the scene. Then, at the third beat he gives in to going (pulls out of his point of view), and the next line reaffirms his fear of going (pulling back in), thereby restoring his initial point of view.

It's a bit trick-y (I don't mean tricky, but kind of like a trick), but it does give the initial declaration more power after you restore it and pro­vides the audience with the feeling that the scene is pushing and pulling against itself in a good way This also helps alleviate the feeling we get sometimes that our scenes are too linear, or one-note. Other nar­ratives do this all the time. (Oh no, here comes The Wizard of Oz again).

Dorothy can't get home to Kansas. Several times in the movie, though, she alters her point of view to "Now I can get home to Kansas," only to discover that there is yet another obstacle pre­venting her from going home, which restores her point of view to the desire to go home.

"I'm in a land called Oz and I want to go home. Look, a Good Witch who tells me about the yellow road, which means I am going home. Oops, no I'm not because of the Wicked Witch of the East, but I finally made it to the Wizard's castle, so I am going home. No wait, I have to kill the witch so, once again, I want to go home. Look, I've killed the witch so I am going home with the help of the Wizard. Uh-oh, the Wizard is just a man, I'll never get home. But he's going to fly back in the balloon, so I am going home. Damn, the balloon took off without me, so I'll never, ever get home, but here comes the Good Witch with the ruby slippers, I am going home, look, I am home. Finis."

It's a little fake-out for the audience. It gives your scene a bit more complexity. Often the restore of the point of view gets a laugh, a kind of relief laugh that you're not really abandoning your point of view, just pulling away from it for a second. Remember, though, you have to create and establish the initial point of view before you have permission to toy with it and pull away and back in.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-08