Laser Cutter Trial

Laser cutter trail:

The Bull 'laser cut' (super sleek!)

Juneau tutorial

I had a Tutorial with Ben from Juneau Projects.

These are some points we discussed and I will take into consideration:

- Thought that pulling apart the scenery for people to be able to interact with it individually was a nice concept - like a 'flat pack' city

-  Look into using laser cutter

 
- Maybe try and get some aspects of the designs to move (e.g the 'Birmingham Wheel to Spin')

- Some designs do not need to be as complicated - more simplistic sometimes works better & will make puppets less delicate

- Still consider doing a video & putting it to music - link it back to my original idea of Birmingham's music/ballet culture

 
- A music video to look at - Chemical Brothers 'Star Guitar' - directed by Michel Gondry. For each instrument/rhythm that plays in the song, a certain object appears in the scenery - My city video may work well in a similar way:

Birmingham Skyline

I looked into breaking down the skyline of Birmingham into individual landmarks/buildings rather than 1 object.

I decided to draw these into Illustrator so that they could be enlarged to any size suitable & in the hope that I'd be able to use the laser cutter for a sleek smart finish (as small shadow puppets they need to have perfect crisp edges to come through the screen with best results, rather than being hand-cut.)  

For some landmarks I imported the picture into illustrator and drew around the basic shape - for others I just copied the shape as close as possible.  Unfortunately the 'trace' tool in Illustrator was not suitable - the images were too detailed & intricate.

These are my first testers:

Council House, The Bull, The Birmingham Wheel (hand cut)

Illustrator drawing - Bt Tower

Illustrator drawing - Birmingham Wheel

Illustrator drawing - Selfridges

Starting point again!

Again....back to the brief.  I looked at Birmingham as a whole - and the idea of creating a rolling landscape which could have ballerina/musician shadow puppets in a similar style to the video created by Stephen Mushin for Lior - I'll Forget You (feat. Sia)

I cut out the Birmingham landscape to create a basic shadow puppet to see how effective this would look and wether the idea might develop...

Trial 1
Landscape of Birmingham (cut from width of A2 paper)

Trial 1
Birmingham landscape projected as shadow puppet
- the size of the shadow is too large & the further away the light from the screen, the bigger the shadow is projected.

Trial 2
As trial 1 was too large - I cut out the landscape on a much smaller scale
- cut out of A4 paper 

Trial 2
Projected as a shadow puppet - results are much more effective when the puppet is smaller

Mock-up frame & screen for testing!

After a tutorial with Jo, I had some very positive feedback from these scenery shadow puppets & the idea that I could break these down into individual components and create a moving interactive landscape...finally getting somewhere?!  

Back to the drawing board

I wasn't please with how the instrument idea was turning out so I went back to the very start and explored a few different options.  Still going along the music/ballet theme, I was inspired by the music video 'OK' by Shitdisco (prevoious post) and thought about trying to create my own Birmingham style pop-up puppetry book.

Ozzy Osbourne

Trying to create a moving mouth similar to 'OK' video

Roy Wood

Trying to create a moving mouth that would 'sing' in the book

I have a pop-up book by paper engineer Matthew Reinhart, which has some amazing pop-up scenes -  one page in particular, the dancers seem to 'spin' when you open/close the pages - I thought this would adapt well using a Ballerina (Birmingham Royal Ballet). 

Matthew Reinhart pop-up book

Trying to create 'spinning' pop-up ballerinas.

It soon became clear that unfortunately this idea was also not going to work - I was going to struggle to  get good enough picture quality for a lot of the page ideas - in particular the singers (Ozzy Osbourne/Beverley Knight etc not at hand for photoshoot in the scoop!) And there is some very clever engineering which goes into books created by Matthew Reinhart - I did not feel that I would be able to adapt this to my idea with good quality results.  

Birmingham Research

I looked into the famous exports of Birmingham, in particular music.

The Broad Street Walk of Stars is an installation on Broad Street, Birmingham and honours those who have made a significant contribution in the categories of music, television, radio, theatre, sport business & literacy.

The criteria for nomination is that the living star(s) must have made a recognisable impact in their specialist category and performed at one of Birmingham’s major venues, or be originally from the area of Birmingham and the Midlands.

I came across a lot of popular names including:
Ozzy Osborne
Jasper Carrott
Duran Duran
Denise Lewis
Ocean Colour Scene
Led Zepplin
Toyah Wilcox
Birmingham Royal Ballet
David Bintley

After showing the practice videos in my tutorial, I looked into what we discussed - the videos seemed very 'flat' in response to the music being played - I could look at breaking down parts of musical instruments and the idea that the individual parts would come together with the music as it developed or as it gets louder/quieter
 or
another idea that the ballerina could transform with the music - like a kaleidoscope/synchronised dancers!

'Breaking down' the parts of the instruments - 

I wasn't really pleased with how this instrument idea was turning out and decided not to take this any further.  

Here I took 1 ballerina pose and repeated it several times  - I then positioned them at several different anchor points to see the different patterns they would create.  I like how these patterns have formed, but unsure as how to develop this further, or how to create them as moving puppets.

1st attempt

These are 2 very simple shadow puppets I created to try and represent my idea.  For this I used split pins but I know I would have to look into other subtle ways to move the joints of my puppets if I were to progress with a shadow puppet idea.

Ballerina

Instruments

Behind a screen:

2 stop motion videos using the cello/ballerina shadow puppet I created.  A lot of work needs to be done with creating a screen & position of the puppet etc, but just an initial line of thought.

Birmingham Royal Ballet

Birmingham Royal Ballet was found in 1990, and is directed by David Bintley.  

The school has a devoted audience in Birmingham and beyond - they have recently completed successful tours to USE, Hong Kong, South Africa & beyond and are continuing to increase their international profile. 

The home of the Birmingham Royal Ballet is at the Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre.

 They have a large repertory of works, and last some of the performances I saw last year included Swan Lake & Cinderella.  Already scheduled for this year is Aladdin, Coppelia & Giselle.

Ideas & Research

Brainstorming Ideas:

After my first tutorial I realised that maybe I was thinking on too broad a scale & needed to focus on what Birmingham means to me.  

From this brainstorm, I am going to look further into the theme of Performing Arts -

Playing in an Orchestra in the symphony hall, Ballet, Theatre etc.

Look at the idea of pairing ballet with music you wouldn't expect.  

Ballet Vs Ozzy Osbourne?!

I like the use of shadow puppetry in this video to tell the story.

In particular, I think the lace which has been used for the ballerinas dress is very effective - the idea is simple but really works well at adding delicacy to the ballerinas movements. 

I also like the way in which the audience was made to clap.    

This stop-frame animation links to my idea of mixing elements together that you would not expect - Dubstep Vs Ballerina?!

I came across this music video which I thought was a very creative use of pop-up puppetry

Puppet research

"Animating the Inanimate..." Basil Twist

These are some more interesting examples of puppetry which I discovered whilst researching this topic:

Weetabix Advert:

I have come across so many examples of different shows/commercials etc that are created through the use of puppetry, including this fantastic Weetabix advert where the bears are brought to life as both full size costumes worn by dancers as well as rod puppets.  

(Rod puppets used where the bears are dancing across the girls shoulders & doing flips from the bed to the floor)

TV advert creating using an animatronic suit

The Lion King -  Theatre Production 
Puppetry is used in this theatre production in a variety of scenes to make the story come alive.

Large Scale Puppets:

Lady Godiva:
A huge 20ft puppet was created for the 2012 olympics to tell the legedary tale of Lady Godiva who famously rode naked on horseback through Coventry in protest against high taxes.  The puppet is activated by four performers with Lady Godiva's head and eye movements being radio controlled, and transported by a purpose built 50 seater bicycle.

Highly Strung:
The performance of Highly Strung featuring the giant 14 meter puppet took place on the night of October 28th 2011 during the Nati Frinj festival. The puppet took ten people to operate and had animation (largely created by the children at the local primary school) projected onto it from projectors mounted both on the ground and in the head of the puppet itself.

Stop Motion Puppets:
Famous films such as Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, Coraline, & Fantastic Mr Fox are all created using puppets and stop-frame animation.

The Fuccons:
A series of Japanese comedy sketches featuring a family of Americans living in metropolitan Japan. All of the characters are played by mannequins with perpetually frozen facial expressions.

Joe Wright
I actually read about Joe Wright in the March issue of Vogue.  He grew up in the 'Little Angel' puppet theatre - his father made the puppets & his mother made the sets & costumes - he would pore over his parent's sketches & make his own puppets.  I found this interesting interview on BBC about his puppet production -The Man with Enormous Wings.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15815712



A Different line of thought!
The 3rd album by Metallica -   Master of Puppets

Toby Olie

Toby Olie

A designer, maker, performer and director of puppetry, creating inventive and engaging work that ignites an audience's imagination.  He is behind some of the most famous puppetry of today's theatre including War Horse, Wind in the Willows & Alice in Wonderland.

His use of puppetry is genius - it reaches far beyond what I initially associate with the word puppet.  I find this interaction between person & puppet so clever.

Played Joey (hind) in War Horse, Nation Theatre London

Alice in Wonderland - Puppet Design of the Cheshire Cat

Little Mermaid - Puppet Design and Direction

Little Mermaid - puppetry used to create Ursula

Wind in the Willow - Puppet Design and Direction

Puppets

There are many different types of puppetry:

Glove/Hand/Sock Puppets:

One of the most traditional types of puppets.  For me they remind me of childhood:

 - The class Punch & Judy - one of the oldest puppets in British history

TV show Sooty & Co.

]

The Muppets

Ventriloquist:
The use of a puppet (often an arm puppet) which is brought to life by a person animating the puppet & changing their voice to make it appear as though it is coming from the puppet itself -  usually whilst being part of the act.  This is famously used in the film Chicago:

Nina Conti - Comedian & Ventriloquist artist who uses a monkey puppet as part of her act.  

Shadow puppets:
A flat jointed figure worked by rods and sometimes transparent, whose shadow is presented to the audience on screen.


Lior - I'll Forget You (feat. Sia).  Puppetry video by Stephen Mushin:

This music video won 'Best Music Video' at the Heart of Gold International Film Festival' in 2009.

Other work by Stephen Mushin:

I love the intricacy of these puppets and how detailed they are.  It really adds the enchantment as a shadow.  These pictures are fascinating - the view from in front of the screen & how it looks behind the screen.

Behind the scene

Surf TV Advert!

Another great example of enchanting shadow puppetry put to use in a TV commercial:

Pilobolous

An interesting twist on shadow puppetry - rather than using puppets controlled by rods, this is a professional dance company who use their bodies to create scenes/stories through shadows.  

Marionette Puppets:

Puppets which are manipulated from above by strings:

Thunderbirds & Stingray!

Diet Coke Advert with John Paul Gaultier

Water Puppetry:

I saw this whilst travelling in Vietnam.  Villagers used to entertain each other with these puppets when the rice paddies flooded every year.  Up to 8 puppeteers stand behind a split-bamboo screen, decorated to resemble a temple facade, and control the puppets using long bamboo rods and string mechanism hidden beneath the water surface.

Digital Puppetry:

Digital puppetry is the manipulation and performance of digitally animated 2D or 3D figures and objects in a virtual environment that are rendered in real time by computers. It is most commonly used in filmmaking and television production, but has also been utilized in interactive theme park attractions and live theatre.

The exact definition of what is and is not digital puppetry is subject to debate among puppeteers and computer graphics designers, but it is generally agreed that digital puppetry differs from conventional computer animation in that it involves performing characters in real time, rather than animating them frame by frame.