Improvisation Quotes - Page 6

• Improvisation, for me, is when the cameras start rolling, we don't know where we're going and let's just waste people's time and money.

  Jason Bateman

  People, Waste, Cameras

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• I use improvisation as a writing tool to help produce material that goes into a script, but a well-crafted script shouldn't sound scripted, and oftentimes people confuse something that looks like improvisation for what is actually a very well-written script that is well-acted.

  Steve Coogan

  Writing, People, Sound

  Interview with Scott Tobias, www.avclub.com. August 20, 2008.

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• Improvisation is a weird word because we often think it means that you make things up out of whole cloth right there on the spot, and that's rarely the case in acting. You have to know who the character is, what the situation is and what is needed.

  Roger Ebert

  Character, Mean, Thinking

  Source: www.aparchive.com

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• Preparing to improvise is at a level commensurate with mastering the structure in a European classical piece. Another way to define improvisation is spontaneous melody. In order to improvise, a player first needs to have memorized and analyzed the harmonic structure of so many pieces.

  Jimmy Heath

  Player, Order, Needs

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• During improvisations, I'll hear people bringing back up details from something I heard about at breakfast or something somebody was saying that they were thinking about, and it informs a rewriting of a scene.

  Joe Swanberg

  Thinking, People, Details

  Source: www.avclub.com

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• When I began doing theatre in high school I saw that I could get laughs from people but I didn't really connect that to going on and becoming a comedian. I was interested in acting and while I was at Boston College I was part of an improv group, Mother's Fleabag, which had a long history and has been known as one of the best college improvisation groups in the U.S.

  Amy Poehler

  Mother, School, College

  Source: egomagazine.ae

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• Sometimes some of the best moments are contributed by the actors being creative, with their own improvisations.

  Woody Allen

  Creative, Actors, Sometimes

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• Effortless [performance] and improvisation are two different things. Just because it's improvised doesn't mean it's effortless and just because it's effortless doesn't necessarily mean it's improvised.

  Christoph Waltz

  Mean, Two, Different

  Source: screenrant.com

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• Most of my show is just improvisation. It goes with the energy of the crowd.

  Freddie Gibbs

  Energy, Crowds, Shows

  Source: www.mtv.co.uk

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• Improvisation is about finding the best joke or the silliest way to get something across. Improvising conflict is always fun because you can just go for it.

  Ed Helms

  Fun, Way, Conflict

  "Ed Helms Talks THE HANGOVER 3, JEFF WHO LIVES AT HOME, and THE OFFICE". Interview with Christina Radish, collider.com. February 7, 2012.

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• I really think that martial arts and music are very close to each other and both require a lot of focus and improvisation because you don't know where or when you're going to get kicked!

  Hiromi

  Art, Thinking, Focus

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• The transformation of the impossible into reality is always the mark of a demonic will. The only way to recognize a military genius is by the fact that, during the war, he will mock the rules of warfare and will employ creative improvisation instead of tested methods and he will do so at the right moment.

  Stefan Zweig

  Military, War, Creativity

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• Everything we design and make is an improvisation, a lash-up, something inept and provisional.

  David Pye

  Design, Lashes

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• Generally speaking I would say I enjoy the smaller films more because there's a less sense of pressure and often the material is more unusual. But in "Iron Man" it was kind of like both worlds colliding because there was a lot of improvisation, not that we improv-ed in the scenes but to discover the actual scenes themselves.

  Jeff Bridges

  Men, Iron, Pressure

  Interview with Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub, collider.com. December 4, 2007.

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• Improvisation, the main thing is it teaches you to be in the moment and present in the moment and be reactive and proactive for what's going on. Someone gives you something - a lot of actors are a little shut off, so they're just doing, "This is my character, these are my lines, I'm going to just send it to you then you send whatever you're sending." Improvisation teaches you to really be listening.

  John C. Reilly

  Character, Giving, Listening

  Source: www.gq.com

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• My gigs are built on improvisation: I go out there and I'm like the Energizer bunny.

  Meat Loaf

  Bunnies, Gigs, Built

  "Portrait of the artist: Meat Loaf, singer". Interview with Laura Barnett, www.theguardian.com. June 21, 2010.

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• Most of my comedy writing happens through improvisation on stage; doing it in the moment.

  Marc Maron

  Writing, Comedy, Moments

  "Marc Maron Off-Screen". Interview with Devon Ivie, www.interviewmagazine.com. August 3, 2015.

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• When I create I don't think in technical or mathematical terms until the idea is formulated Musical composition is formulated in improvisation. Once a pianist like myself sits down and begins to play and start thinking about what I am writing all of a sudden a little tune will emerge, a little spot light and I'll go, "That's interesting."

  Aaron Zigman

  Writing, Thinking, Light

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• I used to think that running an organization was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra. But I don't think that's quite it; it's more like jazz. There is more improvisation.

  Warren G. Bennis

  Leadership, Running, Thinking

  Warren G. Bennis (1997). “Managing People is Like Herding Cats”, Executive Excellence Pub

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• The problem with improvisation is, of course, that everyone just slips into their comfort zone and does sort of the easy thing to do, the most obvious thing to do with your instrument.

  Brian Eno

  Obvious Things, Comfort, Doe

  Interview with Mark Richardson, pitchfork.com. November 1, 2010.

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• All actors have to make the words fit in their mouths, and make the words the words fit to how you say it and how you make it life-like and make it look like what you're saying is just conversation that you're just thinking off the top of your head. That process is not quite improvisation.

  Bruce Willis

  Thinking, Looks, Actors

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• Improvisation is empowering because it welcomes the unknown. And since what's impossible is always unknown, it allows me to believe I can cheat the impossible.

  Philippe Petit

  Motivation, Believe, Inspiration

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• As you know from reading many of these Negro writers, we don't deal too much with the discussion of democracy and what it means and how improvisation fits in all that.

  Stanley Crouch

  Reading, Mean, Democracy

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• I started improvisation at age nine, and I loved it so much I stuck with it. As a by-product, acting was just something I was lucky enough to fall into.

  Cassie Steele

  Love, Fall, Age

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• As far as I'm concerned, the essentials of jazz are: melodic improvisation, melodic invention, swing, and instrumental personality.

  Mose Allison

  Swings, Personality, Essentials

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