Goodnight Harvey is the latest short film produced by IFYW, a collaboration of Josh Self, Orlando Rivera II, and Derek Iaea, and soon to be on the film festival circuit this summer. The film follows “Sam, a puppet skinner’s apprentice, who must confront the realities of his profession when a puppet named Harvey wakes up on the cutting table. With a customer anxious to get Harvey’s hide, Sam must choose whether to set him free, or finish the skinning that has already been started.”

Check out the trailer…

The May 1st premiere of the film at The Dark Room Theater in San Francisco was preceded by…can you guess…a live puppet show! You can check out pictures of the performance here.

For more information on IFYW or Goodnight Harvey, click on over to the IFYW blog or check them out on Vimeo.

I have been looking for this company, video and information for a long time.  I heard about them a good while back and lost all information about them.  Well, I tracked them down.  How awesome is GLOW?

I think pretty darn awesome.  This is an Austrian, theatre company that uses live actors, and blacklight puppetry to create an amazing visual feast.  Much like the famous ping pong puppet video, GLOW uses forced perspective to create a stage show that appears to be presented like a movie, with amazing “framing and shots”.  It looks fantastic. 
Check out the website and the video.  Enjoy.

This video is by Cedwan Hooks.  He was a part of a company started with a friend that I did a write up about called Pogo Puppet Productions.  Although their old YouTube channel is gone, he has his own channel and is still working on his puppet video skills.  Check it out.

Okay, I don’t know much about Bollywood, other than they are one of the biggest movie making industries in the world.  These videos appear to be in the Hindi language, but what is cool is the use of English in some of their dialogue.  If you speak Hindi, enjoy.  If you don’t, see if you can figure out what they are saying.  The puppets appear to be a latex rubber.  The hands seem strange to me for some reason, not sure.  Anyway, if you are interested, you can also check out parts 2, 3 and 4.  Enjoy.

If you’ve ever wanted to puppeteer, and you live in the San Fransisco Bay  (California, USA) area you can audition to puppeteer for Swazzle’s touring live show called “Water Color“.  Here is the posting below.  We’d love to hear from anyone who attends the audition.

Date: Monday, May 3, 2010
Location: TBD

Swazzle is seeking a puppeteer to perform the live puppet show Water Color at libraries in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 45-minute show will be presented during June and July as entertainment for the libraries’ summer reading programs.

Water Color is a large-scale puppet show featuring a cast of light-up hand puppets and shadow puppets. Applicants must display good manipulation and be able to perform a wide range of character voices.

The puppeteer will be required to transport the show to the venue; interact with the client and the public in a professional manner; and set up, perform and break down the show. There may be multiple performances per day.

The puppeteer will be paid a flat fee per show.

To schedule an audition please send an e-mail to puppetshows@swazzle.com and put “audition” in the subject line.

Check out these videos by Widget Inc. These guys are great and have found a new fan in me.

I just posted a video that Widget Inc. had created, and the more I looked into it, the bigger of a fan I became. I am really into the production quality of puppetry productions, even simple ones. Well check out a couple more videos created by Randell McNair. I really like this first video and the use of green screen, puppets and CGI. Very well done. You can see some behind the scenes pictures here.

And here is some fun improv with a great puppet character. Be sure to check out some more amazing videos on their YouTube page. Enjoy.

Okay. So why did I post this? I enjoyed it. Well, I agree that it is not the best built puppets, but I think they have a very appealing quality to them. And the puppeteering is not so great, I was a bit distracted by the puppeteers head and a good amount of arm in the shot. However, I like it because it is simple and well lit, as well as well shot (I think I used enough “wells” there). The story was a bit confusing and could have been worked more, but like I said, I enjoyed it. Perhaps someone out there might as well.

I am a huge LOST fan and obviously I love puppets.  Well “lookie” what  I’ve found.  A bunch of LOST The Series Season 6 recaps using toys, cut outs and puppets!  It is called Lost Untangled.  I am not sure who put these out (I assume it is from the people behind LOST.  But it looks like they are being taken off Youtube.  Here are a bunch of videos with Spanish subtitles?  Check them out before they’re gone.  Here is one in the browser for you to see now.

If anyone has more information about who built the puppet and who puppteered, I’d love to know.

It has been a while. I will try to help get caught up with older news items. Check out this awesome video sent in by Patrick Murray. I am very impressed. It goes to show you how entertaining a well made video can be even with simple puppets. What good are beautiful puppets if they are not shown well. Great job Patrick! Oh, and you can see some great outtakes here.

Sadly, Eugene Lambert  died yesterday at the age of 82. Eugene was one of the worlds leading puppeteers whose creations on ‘Wanderly Wagon’ delighted generations of Irish children, and who performed for many celebrities including Michael Jackson.

‘Wanderly Wagon’ began in 1967, and all of the Lambert children worked on the show, which ran until 1982. The puppet characters in ‘Wanderly Wagon’ — Judge the dog, Mr Crow, Foxy Loxy, and the untrustworthy Ssneaky Ssnake are remembered with great fondness by generations.

A native of Sligo, Mr Lambert had a huge passion for puppetry and managed to turn that passion into a lifelong career.

He founded the Lambert Puppet Theatre in Monkstown, Co Dublin, in 1972, and was the force behind the International Puppet Festival of Ireland.

“From his work on RTE with ‘Wanderly Wagon’, to his ongoing commitment to puppet theatre, he inspired a generation of puppet theatre makers, and delighted and entertained generations of Irish children and their parents,” said the council’s head of theatre, David Parnell.

The theatre is home to the country’s largest collection of puppets and hosts family productions throughout the weekend. It holds up to 250 people.

Mr Lambert’s funeral Mass will take place on Friday at 10am at St Patrick’s church in Monkstown. He will be sadly missed.

Eugene Lambert is survived by his wife Mai (they would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this summer), eight children, 15 grandchildren and five great-great children.