In the Style of a Survival Movie like "The Edge" or "The Grey."
In a World...where nature can be both beautiful and dangerous, three travelers seeking to make the world a better place through science, find themselves in the ultimate battle for survival.
This show features the improv games Movie Trailer, He Said She Said, Rashomon, Gibberish Switch, and Cutting Room.
About This Episode
In this episode, we pay homage to “Survival Movies,” where a small group of people get stranded in nature and must overcome all the dangers they encounter in the world - and resolve their own issues.
Links
The Edge on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edge_(1997_film)
The Grey on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grey_(film)
Time Codes
Segment 1 - Discussion the Genre Tropes: 04:06
Segment 2 - Creating the Movie Outline: 10:07
Segment 3 - Picking the Improv Comedy Games: 17:54
Start of show: 27:05
Improv Game - Movie Trailer: 27:18
Improv Game - He Said, She Said: 29:02
Improv Game - Rashomon: 37:19
Improv Game - Gibberish Switch: 48:25
Improv Game - Cutting Room: 54:35
End of show, into announcements: 1:07:45
More Information About the Show, Mike, and Avish
Subscribe to the podcast: http://avishandmike.com/subscribe/
Our Website: www.AvishAndMike.com
Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143183833647812
Avish’s site: www.AvishParashar.com
Mike’s site: www.MikeWorthMusic.com/
Transcription of the “Discussing the Genre Tropes” Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up)
Avish Parashar: segment on discussing the genre tropes.
Avish Parashar: Alright, so we're gonna spend five minutes talking about the commonalities tropes cliches of the genre so i'm going to set a timer here for five minutes and Mike when you think of this kind of survival movie what comes to mind.
Michael Worth: Alright So the first thing i'm thinking of is this i'm usually the Oh yes, usually the main character i'm.
Michael Worth: Usually he's partially equipped for the survival like he has a background as a tracker or he is a rugged kind of mountain climbing guy generally could be an adrenaline junkie but he is partially equipped to handle this it's just.
Avish Parashar: total fish out of water it's like some right.
Avish Parashar: got some experience or knowledge or skills.
Michael Worth: Yes, but he gets involved in what makes the act one to actually turning point happened is the scope to one of the things happens well either the the scope of the of the.
Michael Worth: Experience is going for it gets bigger than it should be like a snow storm hits or something or like you know he's his his he hits a bit of whitewater rafting and his wrath gets destroyed, so you lose all supplies.
Michael Worth: Either the scope gets bigger or um he becomes somehow crippled or or injured so he's not 100% capacity right.
Avish Parashar: yeah and I would say that I feel like.
Avish Parashar: In these kind of movies there's usually a few characters trying to survive, and I would say, our main character doesn't get injured but often one of the secondary characters does.
Avish Parashar: Yes.
Avish Parashar: That makes life harder for the main character.
Michael Worth: Yes, yes, so that's some of the truth i'm not I don't want to drill down to the axiom future obviously right does some of the tropes is like the character that has become a bit of a non nursemaid but, like a Florence Nightingale kind of thing i'm.
Avish Parashar: a bunch of ways to go as you were saying that I realized like deliverance can be considered a survival movie as well.
Avish Parashar: yeah difference is that.
Avish Parashar: You know deliverance and revenue to degree and I haven't even seen it, but my understanding is while there's man against man in those as well, and I think.
Avish Parashar: We can just wouldn't happen, but usually it's either all man against nature or mostly man against nature, like animals.
Michael Worth: condition, whether yeah.
Avish Parashar: But along those lines, often in the group there's some kind of tension or conflict between some of the Members to some of the survivors.
Michael Worth: Right now that's intentional conflict guy to be external as in how do we survive this natural disaster or internal um.
Michael Worth: You know i've got an ulterior motive, like the edge was like that were like you know, there was this kind of they both were one of them is making a play for the other person's.
Avish Parashar: Why was cheating on like.
Avish Parashar: yeah Hopkins wife was cheating with baldwin.
Avish Parashar: yeah sometimes it's just um yeah sometimes there's a real interpersonal conflict and sometimes it's a.
Avish Parashar: look different personality clashes, you know, like one person's not taking it as seriously or one person thinks the other person's doing it wrong.
Avish Parashar: yeah you know, like one person wants go that way, the other says, oh no that's too rocky i'm not going that way.
Michael Worth: Yes, yes.
Avish Parashar: Where is the beginning of.
Michael Worth: fact I just thought I was like Q, the job was.
Michael Worth: Blue what the job was were like Feral creatures oh.
Avish Parashar: come up with our military and episode two is what you're talking about.
Michael Worth: Right yeah that's right, I already got to be.
Avish Parashar: Right, so what other trump so.
Avish Parashar: The usually the people get whittled down until I would say in most of these types of movies, the main character is often the last one left alive, like all the other members of the party get kind of either picked off or die, you know.
Michael Worth: yeah yeah.
Michael Worth: uh there's usually an impending event, that is, the act three like everybody knows it's coming, and they have to kind of like somehow wait it out and or endure it like so.
Avish Parashar: or.
Avish Parashar: or like if we don't get out here by such and such a time.
Michael Worth: yeah or like the dams gonna break and like we just have to deal with the fact that floods going to happen, but they're not they're not able to stop the event they're just able to to no pun intended, whether it.
Avish Parashar: yeah they got to get away from it, or or get out of their situation before that event hits.
Avish Parashar: um no.
Michael Worth: I got a place of it look like i'm not a bad mood about this there isn't a lot of character development in the is there, or should there be in this, and these kind of things.
Avish Parashar: yeah I mean I think a lot of times it's like the the main character is still kind of learn or develop a little bit, but yeah it's this is.
Avish Parashar: This is not generally the hey you know i'm going to rely, I mean I guess you can have a survival like technically i'm completely different environment but technically I guess gravity would be a survival movie i'm Cassandra bullock's in space.
Avish Parashar: Yes, so in that was very much about her like kind of I don't know very much about her like kind of digging in and realize, you can do on our own, and so it can be there, but yeah a lot of times it's really just like external conflict and interpersonal conflict, not as much internal.
Michael Worth: yeah yeah yeah okay i'm down with that that's cool that uh and then at the end at the end, I will say this, though it's always a happy ending in terms of like the main character does survive, they just they do try and over nature over the.
Michael Worth: The disaster event.
Avish Parashar: All right, that's five minutes up alright spoiler here if you don't want to know what happens at the end of the Gray skip ahead like 20 seconds.
Avish Parashar: Did you see the Greg.
Michael Worth: No.
Avish Parashar: I didn't either, but I know the ending the ending just basically ends.
Avish Parashar: With Liam neeson like surrounded either either facing off with a head wolf or surrounded by wolves would like to weapons in his hands and it basically cuts to black.
Michael Worth: Fantastic it says literally.
Michael Worth: we're going to show you the the we know to be a death scene and we're not going to show you squat.
Avish Parashar: Right Nathan, is about to be taken.
Michael Worth: Yes, neeson is about to die.
Michael Worth: Music needs food badly.
Avish Parashar: All right, good so that was segment one.
Transcription of the “Creating the Outline” Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up)
Avish Parashar: segment to hash creating the outline alright, so now that we have talked about some of the tropes of this genre we're going to use that to create our outline for the movie we're about to perform.
Avish Parashar: Now we use what's called a for act structure for familiar, the three act structure act one set up back to the rising actually in act three that kind of climax, we would act two into two parts 123 and four.
Avish Parashar: And that's, this is the outline we're starting with because this is improv and improv comedy with wacky games, we may variable veer from it, but this is going to kind of be like anchor.
Michael Worth: Guy.
Avish Parashar: or where we go.
Michael Worth: it's our show we reserve the right to change anything we got damn want to.
Avish Parashar: Exactly we've dropped games we've changed.
Avish Parashar: beats we've killed off characters we changed the main character damn it.
Michael Worth: yeah yeah that is a reset timer.
Avish Parashar: For five minutes and all right, so we like to start with a prologue or a trailer.
Avish Parashar: For this one i'm guessing trailer I don't know the prologue super.
Michael Worth: hold off on that we might want to do with the prologue let's.
Michael Worth: let's let's go to jump in don't have to because i've got some ideas here.
alright.
Michael Worth: yeah.
Avish Parashar: Alright, so act one we what I like about this versus some of the ones we've been doing is, this is a smaller.
Avish Parashar: thing it doesn't have like a giant cast of characters so we meet the characters were going to meet the main character will meet the main like i'll say antagonist because it's not even necessarily a villain.
yeah.
Avish Parashar: Because they all still have to work together to survive and then maybe a couple of the support characters.
Michael Worth: yeah yeah and you know what for this one let's go later on for the improv school later rather than heavier with characters main car.
Avish Parashar: I will do like.
Avish Parashar: Three or four to like the edge once they get out it's three characters pretty much the whole movie.
Michael Worth: yeah yeah and the bear three Harrison, the bear.
Avish Parashar: The bear then i'll macpherson you know it's just at home yeah.
Michael Worth: meet antagonist okay cool alright so i'll actually meet them and act one is where i'm.
Michael Worth: Whatever they're doing pivots into a dangerous situation and that throws them off the equilibrium looking Robert mckee story, this is the beat that throws them off their equilibrium point right.
Avish Parashar: yeah I think I think I think act, one should ends with whatever disaster plane crash getting stranded.
Michael Worth: that's what I mean yeah.
Avish Parashar: So that's where it ends kind of like there's no survival and act one it's just like it's just establishing maybe establish some of the conflicts interactions with the characters are.
Michael Worth: exactly like, for example, uh you know one thing we could do is if they were if they were like scuba divers whenever they get sucked into a riptide thrown into one of those caves with a running out of oxygen.
Michael Worth: The point is there, the first part is doing their activity and then attorney goes, which turned.
Michael Worth: into a survival game.
Avish Parashar: Right so basically see them doing an activity meet them, maybe learn a little bit about their interpersonal relations are some of the backstory of like the main character and then it ends with the disaster.
Avish Parashar: Which leads us to act two, which is this is very straight like story engineering, which is kind of the four X structure we use this is straight like reactive, they are just they're this new situation they're trying to get.
Avish Parashar: That they're just doing desperate for the trying to get back to where they came from, or just trying to survive like let's find shelter let's let's get away from this bear that's attacking us yeah.
Michael Worth: You brought up a good point to be in touch with that part of the survival game might be just like getting getting back to safety in terms of like.
Michael Worth: we're trapped in this jungle the wants to eat us all we're trying to do is get out of the jungle and get back to civilization, that the survival portion is.
Michael Worth: doesn't necessarily have to be just like weathering the blows it's like, no, no, we have to survive this environment while we get to safety.
Avish Parashar: yeah and I think here is where I think in Act two, I think we start seeing some of the conflict between the two characters but I don't think it comes to a head, yet I think the hints I think more act three is where like the conflict between the characters.
Michael Worth: yeah man i'm definitely starting to feel the vibe for this movie that we're doing to do one where they're actually actively trying to get out of the hospital environment.
Michael Worth: and get to safety, rather than just we know we have three days to wait until the ice storm comes we got to figure out how to like build it I like the idea of us.
Avish Parashar: yeah like a little more proactive like.
Michael Worth: yeah.
Avish Parashar: Like where I just tried sometimes that's what happens, a lot of time as an act to.
Avish Parashar: They just try to get to safety, where they can whether it out and then at the end of Act two they realize, for whatever reason, like no one's coming to save us um you know we have to try to actively go get out.
Michael Worth: yeah yeah.
Avish Parashar: I think that brings us to act three, which is them actively trying to like the actor is about just trying to survive and act three is about trying to escape.
Michael Worth: At the end of that too is when is when they when they generate a plan.
Michael Worth: They generate some sort of a.
Michael Worth: plan of action they go from reactive to proactive.
Michael Worth: yeah at three is them.
Michael Worth: beginning to actively.
Michael Worth: survive, you know defeat the environment.
Avish Parashar: Well, they try right activism, like all right we're going to get out of this um so whatever plan, they have to get out of their environment is act three.
Avish Parashar: yeah and I would say, as usual, it doesn't completely work, this is probably where the extraneous characters die off so we're left at the end of act three with just the two main characters.
Michael Worth: yeah yeah cars that you know we have to make sure that nobody nobody except the two main characters live to act for die off and usually the The trouble is increased.
Michael Worth: At the end of act three meaning whatever survival component, there is.
Michael Worth: Like troubles increase at end of act three because we want a lot of states to be higher for at four.
Avish Parashar: yeah and it could be another thing like that's when they realize the storm is coming in a half to get out or.
Michael Worth: yeah or maybe like that the animals they've encountered have like alerted their tribe, and now it's like more of them right it's like oh God there's now.
paxil yeah.
Avish Parashar: Something gets worse so yeah.
Avish Parashar: Which leads to act for.
Avish Parashar: At this point, that they hatch a desperate plan, like, I think the act three that we said at the end of back to the couple the planet that's more straightforward, like all right we're gonna.
Avish Parashar: First break we're going to run this way or climb this hill I think actor is more like like in the edge in in at four all right we'll keep going for a couple minutes oh.
Avish Parashar: yeah in and in the edge there at four planets we're gonna kill that bear like they're literally like we're going to go kill this grizzly bear because they're.
Avish Parashar: So I think they have like a desperate plan.
Michael Worth: yep and a dramatic standoff uh.
Avish Parashar: I think it seems highly led.
Michael Worth: The antagonist dies there.
Avish Parashar: yeah the antagonist died things coming to a head, although sometimes it's very like redemptive like the antagonists dies, but he dies like a row ugly.
Avish Parashar: yeah as accidentally or it could be one of those like hey we got away from the bear and now the antagonists going to try to kill the hero so yeah I mean.
Michael Worth: yeah Oh, by the way, if I thought about yeah and then and then at the end, the main character lives, and you know older older wiser unless it's the Gray, which case apparently Liam neeson dies because hey.
Michael Worth: let's be edgy let's be edgy a, by the way, I just realized there's an 80s movie that is kind of a disaster movie but it's really badly done it's the River with Mel gibson.
Avish Parashar: Oh yeah.
Michael Worth: yeah but it's really badly done.
Avish Parashar: That river one with Kevin bacon and Meryl Streep right remember wild yeah with.
Michael Worth: The score.
Avish Parashar: yeah you know.
Avish Parashar: You know what you know really what we're as we're going through the beats you know, is a a you would never think of it, but a 1986 movie that you would you could consider has all these beats of survival.
Michael Worth: aliens.
Michael Worth: aliens yes.
Avish Parashar: We got it we're going to try to survive Oh, the exhaust when placing the blue we got to get out here, we they're desperate plan Burke betrays.
Michael Worth: trace them.
Avish Parashar: And us.
Avish Parashar: To go back and kill the Queen to save new.
Michael Worth: York.
Avish Parashar: And defeat the guys.
Avish Parashar: Environment just aliens in the woods.
Michael Worth: Right replace the Queen alien with a big bear.