What is Longform?
The skill in Improv is in creating stories instantly. This does not change.
Short-form focuses on scenes that last no longer than a few minutes. This short time means that scenes tend to be comedic, characters and plots tend to be simpler, and often time there’s a game or gimmick to give it more structure and make the play more challenging.
Long-form lasts a minimum of eight minutes. With more room to breathe and less need for instant gratification, play is focused on creating fully-fleshed out characters, stories, and a complete story arc.
Can long-form be funny? Yes, and it often is, but it doesn’t need to be funny. It should be satisfying to watch — and that can mean dramatic, tragedic, comedic, uplifting, or any combination of the above.
Where else can I study Longform?
You can learn to be a better improviser by learning to tell better stories. That’s why I wrote down a bunch of film essays below. For more resources, I also wrote about three books you should read to get better at improv and the film YouTubers I watch to sharpen my improv.
(NB: These are Amazon Associate links; I get a couple of cents if you purchase thorugh these links.)
Summary: Long-Form Formats We’ve Touched
Bad First Date Stories (mini-Armando):
- Invite somebody to tell a story of a horribly bad date. Listen carefully, and ask questions where necessary.
- Re-play the story of the first date, taking care to make sure characterisation works well.
- Variation: Give the storyteller the bell If the story is on track, they should clap, and if the story or situation went wrong, they should ding the bell.
La Ronde: Telling stories in a round
- Scene 1 starts with Player A and Player B. During the scene, they set up Player C and the next scene.
- Scene 2 is Player B & C, who introduce Player D, and the next scene.
- This repeats until the last scene (say 5 scenes for 5 players). The last scene is player E & Player A, and the story makes a complete circle.
Typewriter / Character-Narrator (Film Noir):
- One player is the Author, working at a Typewriter. He “types” the title of the story, the set up for the first scene, and so.
- The other players become characters in the story. In general, players can do anything they want, but scene changes should be left to the Author to introduce.
- At any time, the Author can interrupt the scene by “typing” out loud. He can move the action forward when there’s a lull, set up some moment of drama, reveal a secret or cue the change in scenes.
- Variation: One of the characters is the Character-Narrator, or “Centre of the Universe”. At any point, they can step forward to talk to the audience. (The other characters should freeze, or fade into the background).
The Character-Narrator can use her soliloquy to describe her intentions and feelings, set up future scenes, or whatever she likes.
Micro-Harold: Three-beat-story
- Each story has three different beats, or scenes.
- Variation 1 – Some Time After The second scene happens some time after the first scene, and we see how time passing changes the characters and their dynamics. For example:
- SCENE 1: A couple start dating in school
- SCENE 2: The couple as young adults, married
- SCENE 3: The couple as parents, divorcing
- Variation 2 – Meanwhile… Each ‘beat’ happens at about the same time, to completely different characters. They all deal with a similar event or situation. For example:
- SCENE A: Scientists announce a meteor is crashing into earth in 24 hours
- SCENE B: A couple agreeing to see each other the next day and rekindle their marriage
- SCENE C: Parent telling their kid they have to work and they’ll play with him tomorrow
Monoscene: Character interactions, not time
- Everybody plays exactly one character. Characters enter and leave the one particular scene, but the story and interactions evolve from there.
Week One: Shortform to Longform
We will play:
- Film Noir
- Typewriter
- Montage, Part I
- La Ronde
People, Not Things
All stories are about people. The audience wants to watch people, not things. Instead of saying “I think we should…” say “I feel…”
Interesting characters make for an interesting story. Interesting characters are interesting in actions. To see the contrast, watch this film essay about Active vs Passive characters, in The Force Awakens vs Rogue One.
Create Distinctive Characters With Your Bodies
You can create memorable characters with your physicality; a stoop, a hair brand, an awkward nasal snuffle. Watch these two improvisers (Middleditch and Schwartz on Netflix) play an entire classroom of characters with just their bodies, voices, and small gestures. See how many distinctive characters you can recognise:
La Ronde: Characters in a Circle
La Ronde is a long-form improv format of two-person scenes. Player 1 & Player 2 starts; the next scene is Player 2 & Player 3, then Player 3 & Player 4, until you end with Player 1 again.
You tell a connected, spiralling story and the goal is to end at the beginning. You can only do this if all of you think as a director, together. The goal is to figure out the theme, then build a story together. This film essay discusses how themes build into character:
NB: The original format (La Ronde) was a scandalous story about relationships, so I guess that’s why everyone was horny today.
…
Week Two: You are the Director
Give the audience what they want
To have a satisfying story, you should have a satisfying ending. Everything you do should drive towards the climax. Don’t waste time – you can always have another climax if you get to yours early.
So, learn to read audience expectations early:
A good way to end is to bring it back to the beginning. That’s why the proverb is to “come full circle” (and why the first form you learned is La Ronde). For it to be truly satisfying, it cannot be a complete surprise, it needs to be foreshadowed and set up early.
This video explains it starting at 11:27: how the ending couldn’t be any other way, how the character arcs were set up early, how everything was foreshadowed in Iron Man 1: