PUPPET ANIMATION

Part 2

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PUPPET

CONSTRUCTION

There are various types of puppet construction • Wooden: Carved out of wood • • • • Mixed media: fabrics, furs and metals Found Objects: Made from everyday items Latex Puppets: more elaborate, may contain gear mechanisms to control fine details such as facial motions Armatures: Inner skeleton to hold puppet together, commonly made from wire, metal ball and socket system, wood

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PUPPET

ANIMATORS

Ladislaw Starewicz: mixed media George Pal: wooden Jiri Trnka: wooden Ray Harryhausen: latex, mixed media Brothers Quay: found objects Jan Svankmajer: found objects Tim Burton: latex Henry Selik: latex, mixed media

JIRI

TRNKA

• • • • • • Wooden puppets Czechoslovakian master puppet animator Started as children’s book illustrator, set designer for live theater Includes nearly all the techniques of hand-crafted animation Uses the movement of the figures body to define the characters mood instead of relying on facial expressions Screenings • •

Jiri Trnka Documentary The Hand, 1965

• Considered Trnka’s masterpiece

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JAN

SVANKMAJER

The most famous Czech surrealist puppet animator today Member of the Prague Surrealist Group Wildly imaginative, utilizing combinations of puppets, humans, stop-motion, live-action Inspired Brothers Quay, Tim Burton Creates very interesting types of “puppet” inspired by artwork of

Guiseppe Arcimboldo

Creates scenarios that are surreal or gory: uses entrails and blood Interested in a tactile experience Wants to connect to viewer in strong, disconcerting way Screenings: •

Dimensions of Dialog, Jan Svankmajer, 1982

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Meat, 1988 (1 minute) Flora, 1989 (20 seconds)

BROTHERS

QUAY

• • • - Timothy and Stephen Quay (identical twins from Philadelphia) Live in London - Dark, moody passages with poetic approach to story •

Screenings:

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BBC Commercial, rejected

Street of Crocodiles, Brothers Quay, 1986

• • Terry Gilliam lists on 10 best animated films of all time Based on Bruno Schulz short story of same name

TIM

BURTON

• • • • Disney studio animator Disney didn’t know what to do with him, let his contract run out (same as Lasseter) Directed Pee Wee Big’s Adventure, BeetleJuice Stop motion features: • The Nightmare Before Christmas(1993 ), • Broke mold of Disney style animation • • • Unexpected popularity and success Industry produced, fully stop motion feature had not been done Special armature joint for Jack Skellington designed and patented

TIM

BURTON

CONT.

• • • • • • • • • Corpse Bride (2005) Based on Russian Folk tale Puppets made from Silicone over metal armatures First feature length, stop motion film edited using Apple Final Cut Pro First Feature film shot using a commercial digital SLR camera ( Canon EOS-1D Mark2 SLRR), 24 cameras used for film First movie to choose digital camera over traditional film cameras Took 1.5 -2 years to build puppets because of highest standards and every copy had to look identical in every detail Used special gearing systems in the head for better articulation of expressions Screenings: • • Behind the scenes feature from Corpse Bride: Mackinnon and Saunders

Vincent, written and directed by Tim Burton, 1982

puppet makers

HENRY

SELICK

• • • • • - Cal Arts alumni (Tim Burton, Lasseter) - Also directed Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas, James and Giant Peach,

Monkeybone,

- Underwater effects for Life Aquatic

Recent film: Coraline (2009)

Screenings:

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Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions, Henry Selick, 1990

NOTABLE

MENTION

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Balance, Christoph Lauenstein, 1989

• Oscar winner • • Madam Putli Tutli, Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, 2007, Youtube link , website • Multiple award winner Mr. Fantastic Fox, Wes Anderson, 2009, based on book by Roald Dahl, Youtube link