Animatronics Jamboree

Players

Typically 6-10

Type

Gimmick

Rules

One player from each team is sent out of the room. (This game can be played with one team, or audience volunteers can take this position, as well. Experiment.) The audience is asked for a suggestion; typically a recently released popular movie.

All players still inside the room huddle together to decide which characters or aspects of the movie they will portray. Each player announces to the audience what they will play. All players then bend over and allow their upper-bodies to hang limply.

The naïve players return. Play some music, or have the audience hum some simple, well-known music, like the Jeopardy! theme. While the music plays, players rise up in unison and perform some short, simple, repeatable action that portrays the character or object they're playing, moving stiffly. Players should look like Animatronics. As the music slows and stops, so do the players, until they are again hanging limply, bent over.

The naïve players now have thirty seconds to guess which movie was suggested. Players should guess quickly and confidently, naming whatever movie titles enter their heads without pause, even if they don't have any clue what they've just seen.

Next, starting with the stage left-most player, each player will individually perform their action, with the naïve player being given an opportunity to guess the character before seeing the next player's performance. Only one guess is made per character, as opposed to the string of guesses made when guessing the movie. These guesses are judged by the audience – applause and cheering to indicate “yes;” saying, “N-n-n-no!” for “no.”

Notes

Try getting other types of suggestions – video games, books, sports, horror movies near Halloween, romantic movies near Valentines day, etc.

Animatronics are the creepy robots you'd find at a place like Chuck E. Cheese's, or Disney's Hall of Presidents.

Try asking audience volunteers to take the place of a naïve player.

Start obvious and get progressively weirder. The first player should be the movie's main character; the final player can be something like the “boom mic operator” or the “fan enraged by the differences between the book and the movie.” Allow players who aren't familiar with the suggestion to take on these less specific roles.

The most obvious and significant characters should be on the left; less obvious on stage right. However, players do not need to stand in a straight line. Players should arrange themselves in a more visually interesting tableaux.

A note on attitude: Some characters will be impossible to guess. Upon making the wrong guess, a naïve player should show an attitude of, “That was my next guess!” or, “Of course!” rather than, “What?!” Always guess quickly and confidently.

Looking like a robot: Keep your face still. Imagine distinct pivot points, and bounce a little as each joint locks in place.

source: http://atomiccomicimprov.wikispaces.com/Animatronics+Jamboree