Made for the Funginears

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 been a fan of Custom Puppets for a long time now and I am happy to see a great little video of their new live show is floating around the internet.  If you haven’t visted their site yet, make sure you do.  They build some great puppets.

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 think Rob and Soli Joy are fantastic.  If you haven’t vistied their website yet please do.  Any parent of a young child knows the value of a great children’s enteretainer.  They write:

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.

Okay, so I am thinking that for someone who wants to try their hand at animatronic puppetry, but doesn’t know where to start…could Lego Mindstorms be the answer?  People who know me, know that I enjoy the challenge of thinking aoutside of the box, especially when it comes to mechanisms for puppets.  I just think that Logo Mindstorms offers a very unique application possibility.

I may just have to try it out.  Unless anyone out there wants to beat me to it.