Once Improv A Time

directed by Bob Sorger
from IMPROVideo Project #1

The First IMPROVideo Project

The IMPROVideo Project #1 raised a total of $720 for the Alzheimer Society of Toronto with 2 screenings on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009, at Tallulah’s Cabaret in Toronto, hosted by Bruce Hunter of Illustrated Men fame.

The improvised shorts that we screened were:

	Flicker directed by Dave Pearce; improvised by Dave Healey and Sam Ruano; shot by Alex Hatz; music by Mark Alexander.
	Reunion shot, edited, scored and directed by Adrian Parks; improvised by Joseph Adam, David Ivkovic and Renée Percy.
	Sand… @#!?… Box shot and directed by Jane Luk; improvised by Susan Austin and Jane Luk; edited by Wayne Cohen.
	Once Improv A Time edited and directed by Bob Sorger; improvised by Vanessa AvRuskin, Ellie Sorger and Rob Trick; shot by Andrew Baxter; music by Fresh Picked Music.
	I Know of a Beautiful Rose directed by Ginette Mohr; shot and edited by Tim Freeman; music by Helena Espvall & Masaki Batoh.
	This is the Life edited, scored and directed by Diana Galligan; improvised by Carly Heffernan, Crystal Koskinen, Shaista Latif, Kevin Matviw, Liz McEachern, Bob McGill, Alex Schroen; shot by Peter Ivaskiv.
	The G.P.S. directed by Jennifer Whalen; improvised by Marty Adams, Jennifer Goodhue and Jennifer Whalen; edited by Kevin Whalen.
	Getting Away directed by Naomi Snieckus; improvised by Matt Baram and Anand Rajaram; shot and edited by Jeff Raimondo; music by Matt Reid.
	Do Androids Dream of Harrison Ford? directed by Aurora Browne; improvised by Aurora Browne and Jack Mosshammer.
	Happy Birthday With Love directed by Mike Fly; improvised by Katie Bowes, Tim Daugulis, Diana Frances, Brette Gable, Tatiana Maslany, Sean Tabares and Fraser Wiest; shot by Curt Galindo-Orozco.

Our gracious sponsors for the event were:

Poster:

Press release: Introducing the IMPROVideo Project, 03-02-2009

The event was produced by Janice Cody and Simon Fraser. Graphic design by Joanne Galligan; brand design by Jeff Kahane.

First press

The first little bit of press:

Eye Weekly 3-19-2009

An Experience

After 20 years of directing TV and all kinds of people saying “why don’t you make a short?”, this venue was the catalyst I needed.  I cast some fine improvisers and got a great shooter and sound guy.  Camera was a 7-year-old Sony PD-150 courtesy of Higher Ground Productions (much thanks for their edit gear too).

I chose the theme of maturing - because I have yet to.  I had a story outline that I had worked on with Rob & Vanessa (2/3 of my cast) and then took ‘em for a loop when I switched their character’s motivations.  I thought it would take us in new directions, but I think it may have confused them.

I planned a fairly simple shoot at my tiny little home.  Shoot day provided a crippling snowstorm that contributed to a late start.  Because I cast my 7-year-old daughter in it and have two other young kids…. my schedule was tight; after school ’til bedtime.  The audio troubles off the top delayed us even more (apparently PD-150’s are very particular about their audio settings).  Some audio troubles persisted in a few of my early takes but I cut around it.  With the tight schedule and quarters and a pizza break, my biggest regret was that the main scene was last and perhaps rushed.  I was so concerned about getting done on time, I accepted things I should have worked on more with the talent.  We were fighting time and a serious late-day energy drop and I gotta say - my little girl was inspirational.

In the end I knew I didn’t have a killer funny film, but I was ready to settle for charming and hoping my editing skills could pull out a story that made sense.  I didn’t get to even look at the footage until 3 weeks after the shoot because of a busy schedule.  When I got to the editing - it really showed me how distracted I was on the day.  Continuity errors abounded but I know how to cut around and fool the eye.  Overall, despite insecurities, I think it’s a nice little piece… and I wanna do MORE!

Lessons Learned

Let me start by thanking Alex Hatz for his fine work as camera operator, lighting guy, key grip and DOP.  And the very funny performances and dialogue by Sam Ruano and Dave Healey.

It’s important to acknowledge fine work, and they did fine work, so if what ends up on screen at the end of the process is less than fine work, well, then you know who to blame.

So, having directed exactly one (1) play (KtheM, 3 stars from eye, ahem), shot precisely zero (0) films outside of personal travelogues (available at www.daveonacruise.com), this project involved a steep learning curve for me.  For the benefit of anyone else new to the concept of improvised film, here are some of the things I’ve learned.

1. Get experts.  I did, they were great.  I relied very heavily on Alex as well as Sam and Dave (who should really work together a lot…not just because they play together very well, but, come on… Soul Man, Hold On I’m Coming).  There are some fabulous and very funny moments on the metaphorical cutting room floor…well, the trash can of my MacBook.  Some of the shots are really great, and having someone who knows how to frame a shot makes it a lot easier to cut them together later.  Too bad I didn’t have an expert in ….
2. Sound.  I have enlisted some aid in cleaning up what we have, but the expertise Alex brought to the images…well, we didn’t have that with the sound.  Two lav mics plugged directly into the camera have a lot of hiss, and distortion, and pops.  As much as we can clean up we will, but next time (if my wife is willing to let me go through this again) I’ll try and get an expert sound person too.  You begin to see how this film thing gets expensive quickly.
3. Two cameras, not one.  We tried using two, but one was operated by yours truly, and wasn’t nearly as steady as the one operated by Mr. Hatz.  Nor, despite his best advice, was my image as good.  I ended up scrapping all the footage from the second camera, which we stopped using partway through.  As a result…
4. Editing is hard.  Not to give anything away, but the end of the movie wasn’t improvised, so cutting it together was relatively simple (and I hope, effective…I’m new at this).  The beginning segment was short, and didn’t take long, although I was forced, not for the last time, to lose very funny moments simply for the sake of continuity and momentum.

   So the middle becomes the challenge, especially with each actor in over-the-shoulder shots with overlapping dialogue.  It’s a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, with the dimensions being time, comedy and perspective.   How long can I hold on one actor to keep a good bit intact without becoming boring, or what line from another take, even from another topic within another take, can make a response work?

   Now, none of this would be a problem in a scripted film…those are actually much easier to shoot with one camera since we know pretty much when we can cut from one actor to the other.  But here, the movie lives or dies by the editor’s ability, which leads me back to #1…

5. Get experts.  As I said, if what ends up on the screen is less than fine…you know who to blame: the editor (me).

But here’s the great thing about this, as with all improvised work (and all comedy, frankly): if you laugh at it, it worked, and if you don’t…well…lesson learned.

See you on March 24th.