To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2008 15:33:52 -0500
Subject: [Puptcrit] Our Short Film Puppet


I added another new pic to my portfolio this morning. I was waiting for proper authorisation, which I got.

It's a pic of the puppet my friend Daniel Auclair and I co created for the short film, which is due later in 2009.  The short film (La Cité entre les murs, (working title)) is written and directed by Alain Fournier, of Dock Films.

The pic appears within the first 15 images.
Look for a small character with mechanical wings and aviator hat, in front of a green screen.



Behind the scenes:
(sorry, no pics for this yet, will let you know)
Daniel asked for it and became Artistic Director for this project,  so he had final say on every visual aspect of the puppet and the sets. We worked together on the design of the puppet. We both worked on the two plastalina models of the head. I molded and built them both into paper mache, and added left-to right eye mechs. He sculpted the body in wood. We both
worked the articulations. We came up with the ball, socket and elastic joint for the neck, making the head easily removable. I added the removable rods. 

This puppet brought us pride and joy. It moved very well. It could be manipulated from all angles, and in one scene, our puppeteers turned it into a temporary marionette. They had the brilliant idea of sewing some head strings to the hat, which held firmly thanks to the loops of masking tape I had put beneath.
www.creaturiste.blogspot.com

Our puppeteers were both builders as well, so they were very efficient at coming up with simple solutions to add temporary control rods and string for difficult to shoot scenes. This was necessary, and difficult to plan in advance, for we worked with a director who is not very familiar with puppet work, so we had to adapt to him, before every shot. It went smoothly, thanks to our combined expertise.  Our two puppeteers were Jean Cummings and Ash Glamour.
I want to mention that in this case, "Jean" is masculine (in French, the direct equivalent of John).
The same puppeters worked with us on the similar adventure we built in 2006.

You'll see the wings we built for him as well. I created and built the armature out of bamboo skewers and glued string. I covered them in brown paper towels, for better texture, and added more string, for the handmade look.  I decided to use leather as a hinge for the wings, so I made a rough test. Daniel made the final leather hinges and back piece, and the front straps and belt. They are very neat, and fully functional. Our costume designer Odile came to sew the many canvas panels inside the armature (one full day). This enabled me to work on something else. You can't see the back of it, but I covered it all with over 600 individual feathers (each sorted and/or recut smaller, each dyed twice, each glued individually). I thought I'd go mad, but it went smoothly, except for a very runny nose (sorting feathers from a pillow).  The wings had tie wraps installed on the armature when needed, so we could tape them (with green tape) to the rods, which were painted in green (flight scenes shot on green screen).  Those tie wraps provide good simple joints, easy to replace. We installed them for front and back manipulations. A long rod was connected to the chest when we were filming the flying puppet from the back. Two puppeteers were required. It flew very well.

The costumes were brilliantly designed and made by Odile Gauvin, our long time collaborator, who is also a puppetmaker, so she understands the specific needs of puppets. Every piece of costume is removable. That leather aviator hat just blew everybody's mind!

Daniel designed and built the set. The walls, ceiling and floor are all removable. The whole box measures 36 x 36 inches, and has two extra front panels for the outside shots. Almost everything in and on it are recycled materials and objects, which we collected ourselves throughout the project, on our bicycles and by foot.  He respected and chose naturally aged elements (wood, metal, paper) and we barely added a patina on them, for uniformity.   I was his assistant throughout. I built a few props (hammock, three-step stairs, electrical box with switches) but I was also responsible for the patina (antiquing). 

For one scene, I built a giant tree out of wire, aluminum foil and paper mache strips. Daniel came up with the idea of using a large cardboard tube, cut in sections and re-glued at various angles, to form the trunk. This saved a lot of wire.
I kept the tree, it's now in my studio. I'll eventually rework it with strong, structural paper mache for durability. The movie did not require real strenght or detail (filmed from very far), so I had just made a texture layer and a quick paint wash.
 
It was an intense work experience. I already miss the large studio space, and the joy of having some specific project to do almost every day for three months. Total immersion! No distractions!

 Did you know luck was contagious?
This project was made possible by an uncanny amount of luck. From the very unlikely studio rental in the building Daniel wanted, to the marvelous treasures we found up to the very last minute, it sound impossible, even to us, who lived it. The luck was like this for a similar project we had in 2006 (short film from same writer/director coming out in festivals soon).




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