Different things catch my eye for different reasons.  I stumbled across videos for Irish basedNoel Lambert Touring Puppet Theatre on Youtube (please check out there site to find out more about them).  The thing that jumped out at me was the colourful set design.  I think that there is a balance that needs to be achieved between great visulas and great puppeteering to make a wonderful show appeal to a wide audience. 

Too often people forget that the background or set is a part of the visuals.  Not just the puppets.  THis company had some wonderful puppets. Just look at the grren guy to the left. Now that doesn’t mean that shows can not be wonderful with simple puppets or no set at all.  In fact I have seen some amazing shows with a simple puppet and no set (but it had amazing puppeteering).

What I am saying is that simply adding lush green fun fur for grass, made me stop and watch the videos.  Something to think about when making a set for your next show.  Ask yourself, “Is my set a strength or weakness for my show?”

Check out more videos here and notice how bright and wonderful the colours are visually.  Enjoy.

I am very interested in this show concept offered by Studio Bizarro.  The show is called Planet BIzarro and the clip I watched was very interesting.  I would say the show is definately not for small children (especially with a zombie sketch), but it was well done.  Super puppets, great puppeteering, check it out to find more videos online.

I am surprised I haven’t heard anyone talking about this before.  I’ve wanted to post about it for a while now, so here is is.  Playmotion! is a company that produces a next generation videogame technology of the same name.  It allows the user to interact with a computer environment in real time.  It only makes sense to apply this to puppetry.

  I was so impressed with this puppet show that was posted on Youtube, that I just had to write about it.  It is awesome!

I have had the chance to meet both Russ Walko (puppet builder and puppeteer for the production) and to briefy see the puppeteering of Ray Castro (another puppeteer).  This is a great little video and a lot of fun.  Super job guys!

Thanks to Kellen B. for the heads up.

I just received and email from the director of a short video that I built the puppets for and puppeteered for.  He let me know that it was now on Youtube.  I wanted to post this on my new blog, but I am having trouble with it.  I decided to share it here.  The short was made in 2005 by Carmen Gillespie (aka Mistress of Sunshine Productions) who also puppeteered.  Enjoy.

Here is a great behind the scenes interview with members of the show Avenue Q. I am a fan of hearing people talk about the puppets they work with. A short but interesting clip. Enjoy.

Check out this little puppetry gem.  I for one was blown away with it.

This movie short was put out by Director Peter Haynes of New Zealand based Haynesfilm Ltd.

The project was conceived back in the summer of 2005, and the team for Haynesfilm were feeling the crunch of the 48hours film competition they were in.  Eight hours into it, 3am and they still didn’t have anything resembling a storyline or idea.

These film competitions often have a few elements that each short must include, here are theirs.

Character: Bodil DeRezney, Animal Lover
Genre: Action.

Director Peter Haynes remembered the moth eaten old puppet Monkey he had as a child. In a fit of 8am scribblings on a sheet of refill, ‘Jungle Fever’ was born.

It went on to win Audience favourite in its heat, reach the regional finals in Auckland, and then go onto the National finals after being selected as a wildcard winner by Peter Jackson himself.   JF2: Primal Fury’” is a continuation of the story of DK bond, Fighter, Lover, Monkey.

‘JF2: Primal Fury’ was filmed on a Panasonic HVX in 720 mode, using a redrock M2 lens adaptor with Nikon Lenses. It will screen in 12 episodes on Juice TV in New Zealand beginning 7th April. It is totally self funded.

So many times people worry about making a puppet “as professional” as possible. Here is an example of how wonderful film making can make a simple puppet look great. This is a topic that I will be exploring further. For now, enjoy the trailer.

*WARNING: Contains Blood and Gore”

 Fellow Canadian puppet builder and puppeteer Matt Ficner has just posted his second video for his Creepy Puppet Project.  The video was made at local Ottawa, Ontario (CANADA) horror attraction called Saunders Farms.

I really like how Matt is breaking the “puppets are for kids” idea…er…should I say smashing and hacking the idea?  Althought I am not a big fan if horror movies, I do love Matt’s work and I found this video in particular very appealing.  Check it out, but be warned it contains lots of blood and gore.  It is definately not for children.

I came across this video a while back and I have had it saved in my favourites folder.  The video uses the song “Without Me” by Eminem and changes the lyrics while using puppets for many of the visuals.  The puppets are from The Puppet Studio and the fact that I like the instrumental to this song makes it quite catchy indeed.  Please be advised that the song is obviously politically one sided (as is often the case with politics).  But I posted this song for the puppetry not the politics.  I like the puppets and the instrumental.  I hope you do too.

I recently received an email from Chris Deline about a top five puppet video countdown.  It was posted about here.  I would like to add to that top five another video I stumbled across.  The song is called Heart It Races by the group Architecture In Helsinki from the album Places Like This.   First off I love the song, it is catchy and makes me want to listen to it over and over again. 

Secondly is that it uses some great “living” puppets instead of more traditional hand and rod puppets.  These puppets use the performer’s head mounted on a puppet body, and in this case it uses the performer’s live hands as well.

Overall it is a great video and well deserving of being acknowledged too.  Super job!