Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:40:22 -0800 (PST)
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Our Short Film Puppet


Mathieu, talking about favorites: Jerome II, Punch, Monk, Fat Goose,=A0Little Winged Guy, Parrot (both, actually)=A0and the Mouse mask, are your best. The Winged Boy appearance reminded me about "Peter and the Wolf", Oscar awarded stop-motion animation movie=A0of last year, if I'm not mistaking. I loved that movie... 
When is the short film going to be presented? Is it puppet manipulation or stop-motion animation?
Carolina

--- On Sun, 12/14/08, Mathieu René <creaturiste-AT-primus.ca> wrote:

From: Mathieu René <creaturiste-AT-primus.ca>
Subject: [Puptcrit] Our Short Film Puppet
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Date: Sunday, December 14, 2008, 12:33 PM

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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