Thought For The Week 

October 18, 2010

I recently read The Pixar Touch by David A. Price.  This book documents the history of the Pixar animation studio.  One of the interesting threads running through the book is how the animators and directors used their personal lives as inspiration for their cartoons.  The book also has a lot to say about character and storytelling.  The book states that John Lasseter, head of the studio, follows a philosophy he learned from studying classic Disney animation.  That philosophy is a cartoon character appearing to think creates the illusion of life.

I have often heard clowns described as cartoon characters.  Usually the person who says that means a clown is bright, colorful, and moves in an exaggerated way.  However, even more important than that is the concept of thought.  Just like a cartoon character, a clown has to think to be alive.  Some performers worry about having the right costume elements or make up design so kids will think they are real.  However, about ten years ago one of the most successful clowns had a very simple appearance.  She wore a red nose, her hair in pig tails, and a jumper.  That was Loonette on the Big Comfy Couch TV series.  It wasn't her appearance that made her real and so loved by children.  It was that she thought about the things that she did.  Frequently the camera would zoom in for a close up as she pondered a situation or decided what she wanted to do next.  She had a doll named Molly who was also alive.  What made Molly different from other dolls is that she could think.  Sometimes a special effect was used to show a thought bubble over Molly's head so the kids knew exactly what she was thinking.  (In one of the Big Comfy Couch children's books, Loonette goes to a garage sale and sees a lot of different dolls who are all the wrong choice.  They are all too big or too fancy.  None of them are alive.  Then she discovers Molly in a barrel of discards.  Molly isn't a very pretty doll.  Loonette learns that Molly can think, and chooses her.)

There are two parts to the thinking process in performance, motivation and reaction.  Motivation is the reason for why a character does something.  Reaction is how the character responds to something that has happened. 

That reaction needs to be motivated by a thought.  A physical action alone is lifeless.  In my Mismade Flag routine (described in detail in Creativity For Entertainers Volume Three) I display a red scarf, a white scarf, and a blue scarf.  While putting the scarves into a bag, I "accidentally" drop the blue scarf.  I reach into the bag and pull out a partially made American flag that is missing the field of blue in the corner.  My wife Carole told me that she felt I wasn't reacting enough when I discovered that the blue scarf was lying on the floor.  In performances I began hitting myself on the forehead like they do in the V-8 Juice commercials.  That didn't improve the response to the routine.  Then I began thinking, "Duh that was dumb."  Sometimes I hit myself on the forehead, but not always.  That little change improved response to the routine.  Instead of just going through meaningless motions, my character was thinking.  I've had people tell me that made it realistic.  They believed that I really didn't know I had dropped the blue scarf so they were amazed the first flag that I produced didn't contain any blue.

"Duh that was dumb" is an example of something known as a silent script.  (Magicians call it silent patter.)  It is something planned that you think instead of speaking.  Part of its advantage is that thinking that phrase each time forces me to pause momentarily in the routine.  If you keep moving at the same tempo the audience knows that you are doing it automatically because you aren't taking time to think.  Another advantage to a silent script is that your thoughts get communicated in ways you aren't conscious of.  When I just used the arm movement to hit myself on the head, only my arm was reacting to my stupidity.  By thinking that I was dumb, my posture and facial expressions also react to my stupidity.  A third advantage to a silent script is that it keeps you focused on what is happening instead of letting your mind wander.

Does your character think?  What motivates your character?  How does your character react to things?  How can you use a silent script?

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