Play out an exciting or a dramatic scene.

Scene!

---
title: Scene!
description: Play out an exciting or a dramatic scene.
thumbnail: /posts/tutorials/character-customization/images/thumbnail.png
draft: false
---

## The First Unusual Thing

In this section we’ll practice discovering what’s funny about the scene and agreeing on it.

Our goal is to come up with The Game - a pattern of unusual behavior. The Unusual Thing is the first element in your scene that breaks from the expectations set by the Base Reality. The Unusual Thing introduces the absurd behavior or a piece of information, and the rest of the scene will be focused on heightening and exploring this absurdity (we won’t introduce more random unrelated absurd ideas).

<Collapsible title="Discovering the Unusual Thing">

The First Unusual Thing can be discovered in two ways:
- One of the players can deliberately introduce an absurd element into the scene by making a “strong move” - saying a surprising line that intentionally breaks the established expectations.
- Players can discover it “organically”, when they focus on playing a believable scene, and carefully listen for anything unusual, interesting, absurd, surprising, unexpected, or weird. Some behavior or a piece of information that breaks from the pattern of normal life, something out of the ordinary that stands out in the context of the Base Reality.

Common types of Unusual Things:

- Unusual or exaggerated behavior, a surprising emotion, a weird character trait, a strange way of looking at the world, an unexpected relationship between the characters.
- Subverted expectations. What would you normally expect to see in this Base Reality,  
  and how can you do something mildly (or wildly) different?
- Wildly inappropriate response. What's the normal, logical response in this situation, what is the expected reaction? How can you do the opposite, or something very different from that?
- Clash of Context. Combine two things (such as character, location, or action) that don’t belong together, introduce a character or an attitude that doesn't belong in this situation.

</Collapsible>

<Collapsible title="Framing the Unusual Thing">

It’s very important that both improvisers have a clear understanding of what unusual thing their scene is focused on. To make sure both players are on the same page, once you notice an unusual thing, you want to Frame it - draw attention to it, let your scene partner know that you think they have said or done something unusual.

To communicate to your scene partner that you have noticed the unusual thing, you can:

- React with an exclamation as soon as you hear something unusual.  
  ("What!?", "What are you doing!?", "Excuse me!?", etc.)
- Repeat the unusual line back to the other player, word for word,  
  like you would if you were confused by something in real life.
- React honestly to the unusual thing, clearly conveying the confusion a normal person  
  would experience when presented with something weird.
- Agree, and add specifics that make it clear what you found to be unusual.
  
</Collapsible>

<Collapsible title="Exercise: Creating the Unusual Thing using Strong Moves">

In this exercise we’ll practice deliberately introducing an absurd element into the scene.

- Two players play a 3-line scene.
- Player 1 says the first line, trying to establish a very ordinary, normal, boring, unremarkable Base Reality.
- Player 2 says the craziest, most absurd and surprising thing they can think of. Be bold, go wild, break expectations, make it as weird, stupid, and ridiculous as you can.
- Player 1 responds to it by framing the unusual thing, reacting to the craziness as a normal person would.
  
</Collapsible>

<Collapsible title="Exercise: Discovering the Unusual Thing Organically, and Framing it">

In this exercise we’ll practice carefully listening for the Unusual Things that come up organically.

- Two players play a short scene (30-60 seconds).
- Start by establishing the ordinary Base Reality.  
  Aim to play believable, realistic characters. Don’t try to be funny.
- Carefully listen for very subtle Unusual Things, anything even a tiny bit unexpected or out of the ordinary.
- Once a player discovers something unusual, they say "I think it's unusual that [describe the unusual thing]". The other player responds "Yes, it is unusual that [repeat the unusual thing]".  
- If anyone in the audience notices the Unusual Thing first, they raise their hand.
- Players continue the scene for 30 more seconds, trying to explore the unusual thing they found.

> One of the things that makes the good improvisers good is that they don’t let any details pass them by. Any little thing can be framed as unusual, it doesn’t have to be “interesting” or “funny” right away. Scenes can be built from those ever-so-slightly off-kilter moves that a lot of people might skip over - these subtle unusual things become funny as we heighten them later. So practice being the person who doesn’t let anything get by them, call out the tiniest things that strike you as odd.


{/* 
- Pause the scene, have a brief discussion. What was the unusual thing? Do both players have the same answer in mind? What are some other unusual things you have noticed in the scene? How could this unusual thing be heightened?
- Players continue the scene for 30-60 more seconds, trying to heighten the unusual thing they found - exaggerate it as far as you can, try to quickly make it much more absurd and ridiculous.
*/}

</Collapsible>
