Puppet Kaos » Puppeteering

Puppetry Resources for Beginners

Kelvin Kao — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 11:17:29 +0000

Every now and then, I would emails from people interested in learning about puppetry but don’t know where to start, so I thought it would be a good idea to organize some links into a post. This post will be about Muppet-types, since that’s what people usually ask about.

To start learning puppeteering, it will be helpful to have a puppet to practice with. You can either make one, or purchase one.

Making a puppet

I built some puppets to use for practice based on the How to Make Puppets video series by Paul Louis Muller on eHow. I followed the method he covered in the videos for the most part, with a few modifications of my own. You can also find my own tutorials on this website for building a monster puppet with arm rods, a monster puppet with glove hands, and a sheep puppet. One thing I do want to point out that wasn’t really mentioned in the video was that rubber cement might be toxic (depending on what chemicals the manufacturer used) until dry, so you need have good ventilation and safety precautions in place. I prefer to just use hot glue, though it might not be as sturdy.

I’ve been making puppets just with fabric, cardboard, and poly-fil. If you are interested in building puppets out of foam, there are patterns out there that you can buy as well. Many people have purchased the Project Puppet patterns and build good looking puppets out of them. You can also purchase patterns from School of Puppetry. What’s good about this one is that there are videos demonstrating the puppet-building process, so you can follow along.

As for materials, I like getting them from Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores, because they carry a good selection of fabrics, which many craft stores don’t, and there is one in my area. I mostly just buy fabric there and get other random items (such as ping-pong balls, index cards, bamboo skewers) elsewhere.

Purchasing a Puppet

I am not particularly familiar with this aspect, since I build my own puppets. But eBay and Etsy should be good places to look. I was planning to buy a monster puppet from puppet builder Stacey Gordon of Puppet Pie, but her house got flooded. I am going to wait for her to unpack her stuff but I do like her puppets and want to purchase one from her.

Learning to Manipulate

Also on eHow is this video series on puppet manipulation. You can learn the basics from watching the video and just from your own trial and error. I also like the exercises and video demonstrations on puppeteer / instructor Amy Harder’s Puppetry Lab website. It’s really no longer updated, but there are goodies in the archive. I particularly like the videos because Amy shows interesting techniques in her enthusiastic ways.

Of course, the best way to learn is still from classes where you interact with an instructor face-to-face. That’s something no amount of video-watching can really replicate. With classes, you will be able to see things from different angles, and you will have a instructor giving you tips as you practice. If you are in the Los Angeles area, I highly recommend Michael Earl’s TV Puppetry Workshop. You can also see my notes here to get an idea on what’s covered in class.

For those of you that’s starting to learn about this topic, I hope this is useful. Feel free to leave a comment or email me if there are other questions.

Puppetry Workshop with Allan Trautman

Kelvin Kao — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:08:07 +0000

On Monday, I attended a puppetry workshop taught by puppeteer Allan Trautman (Muppets from Space, Puppet Up!, etc.) in association with ARTreach. The website did not say too much beyond that it’s four hours long and about puppetry, so I didn’t really know what to expect. It turned out to be a really good workshop though, and I am glad I went.

The Exercises

First we started out with an exercise where we all wore masks. We were asked to observe ourselves in the mirrors and then convey a series of emotions with just our body language and eye focus. We could actually say quite a lot without using words or facial expressions. And being able to observe, recognize, and act out these emotions that way can help us puppeteer better.

And then we started actually using puppets on camera. One character would start in the middle and then react to two other characters that came in later. The attitude and dynamic of the interactions were assigned by the teacher. For example, the main character would be playful with one character, but not so much the other character because he owed him money. We were encouraged to first do these scenes without dialog. Once we had the dynamic and body language established, the words added later had a lot more power.

After that, we were given time to pair up and rehearse a joke of our choosing. This was an exercise for blocking out a short scene. We took turns presenting the jokes in front of the camera. I’ve actually already heard of some of the jokes but guess what, they were even funnier with puppets! My partner Josh and I couldn’t really think of a particular joke we liked, so we just went with a classic knock-knock joke. We ended up adding quite a bunch of things to it though, so it actually worked out pretty well. I will write more about this later in another post.

The Style

Since I took Michael Earl’s TV Puppetry Workshop, I would consciously and unconsciously compare them. (It appeared to me that several of the classmates had taken classes from Michael as well.) Michael’s class is several weeks long (six for beginner, and another four for intermediate) and is called a TV puppetry workshop, so he has more time and reason to teach camera techniques. This workshop, on the other hand, is only four hours long, so Allan didn’t really have time for those details. Instead, Allan’s workshop (this one anyway) is focused more on body language and reactions to different characters. I find both classes to be quite beneficial, each in their own way.

The People

The class was attended by ten students, which I think was a good size. The executive assistant for the ARTreach program, who was there to run the logistic of the workshop, ended up doing the exercises with us too. She seemed a little tentative at first, but at the end she was really enjoying it. And you know it was a good workshop if the person that was there not because she was interested in the topic was having fun.

There were people that already had training in puppeteering, while some others had never held up a puppet in front of a camera. Despite the different levels of proficiency, Allan did a good job giving pointers and tips to us so everybody is learning something. I liked how he could always point out little simple things that could drastically improve a scene. Now that’s what a good director does.

And it was good to finally meet Gaston Morineau, a San Diego-based puppeteer for the first time. We’ve been Facebook friends for a while now so it’s nice to finally meet him in person. (Check out this video of the puppets he built. They are quite awesome.) I also got to meet April Warren, whom I had a few email exchanges with because of an online puppet-building course that we were both enrolled in at one point. So this class sort of turned into an internet friend meet-up for me. That was amusing.

Will I Recommend This?

Yes, definitely. I think whether you are completely new to puppetry, or you are someone that already works as a puppeteer, there will be new things that you can pick up from the workshop. If he is to run the workshop again some day, I will recommend it to anyone that is interested in learning about puppetry. (I recommend Michael Earl’s classes too. They are both great teachers.)

TV Puppetry Workshop (Intermediate): Week 4

Kelvin Kao — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:31:30 +0000

Ah, the fourth (and final) week of the intermediate class… and the tenth week overall if you count the beginning class too. It was also the most tiring class of all these weeks. Let me explain.

This week we were not only going to film our performances on camera, we would also be given the DVDs of the recordings at the end of the class. We’ve been taping our practices and playing them back for commenting, but those were not kept after we watched them. This time the video footages would be saved and given to us, either to study, to use for our reels, to satisfy future nostalgia, or to watch for the heck of it. This was the time that we were trying our best not to screw up.

I never knew that trying not to screw up would be so tiring.

Normally we would try to get our heads out of the shot as much as possible, but it was only practice so we didn’t care as much if we see a head or two every now and then. However, this time we were all consciously trying to have no heads at all. Also, in the past three weeks we were still tweaking the choreography, but this week, we wanted everything to be perfect since it would be filmed (and there’s no next week!).

Watching out for everything all the time was very tiring. I certainly sweat a lot more than the previous weeks and I was sure that was the case for my classmates too cuz we asked for more breaks to get water than usual. Also, normally we would get more breaks while the teacher demonstrated things, or pause to discuss choreography. This week we basically already had all the choreography down, so we just kept doing it, doing it, and doing it, over and over, for all the songs. We only had three students in this class so we were always on camera with nobody sitting out. It was quite a workout.

We ended up having several takes of each song. The instructor said usually the first take had something magical, the second-to-last take would be the best one and the last take would not be as good cuz you would be getting tired. You know what? I agree. So, at the end we all got our DVDs. I think I’ll share some of the videos once I got my video editing stuff set up. I am having a bit of a sound issue at the moment.

Ah, the class was over. It was lots of fun and we all learned a lot. What’s next? Well, I got my Saturday mornings back (for sleeping). That’s a good thing too! I’ll definitely recommend this class to anyone interested in TV puppetry.

TV Puppetry Workshop (Intermediate): Week 1
TV Puppetry Workshop (Intermediate): Week 2
TV Puppetry Workshop (Intermediate): Week 3
TV Puppetry Workshop (Beginning): Week 1
TV Puppetry Workshop (Beginning): Week 2
TV Puppetry Workshop (Beginning): Week 3
TV Puppetry Workshop (Beginning): Week 4
TV Puppetry Workshop (Beginning): Weeks 5,6

TV Puppetry Workshop (Intermediate): Week 3

Kelvin Kao — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:15:11 +0000

For the first time in nine weeks, I can say that I didn’t really learn anything new. Of course, it wasn’t to say that the three hours were wasted. We still got some good practice in, and kept improving on what we already knew. It was more like polishing stuff than making things from scratch. At this point, we are about to wrap up what we have learned. Although this class was relatively short (only four weeks), if you add up both the beginning and intermediate classes, that would be ten weeks total. My courses back in my college days were ten weeks long too, so I am pretty used to this pace.

Next week will be the final class. We are going to tape some of the things we do, and each student will get a copy of the DVD. Something we’ve been working on throughout this intermediate level course are our own routines/choreography. In our first class, we each picked a song. The person would be the lead singer in that one and the two other people would be the back-up singers in the background. We were working on these things throughout the course, so by this past weekend we pretty much already had all three routines down. We were just working on little details and they were really coming together. And we’ll be filming the final product this weekend. Sure there is no final exam, but this feels like the big project, big paper, or big presentation at the end of the school year. It even feels like a little showcase / recital even though there’s no live audience besides the teacher. I am looking forward to it. I think we would feel like we’ve accomplished something.

This also feels like getting ready for a show. Right before you get on the stage, you have that rush and anticipation. Speaking of which, LCC Theatre Company, the college group that I was an alumnus of, will be putting on a show next Tuesday. Check the website for more details if you are interested.

Also, if you are in the Los Angeles area and interested in taking this course, Michael Earl will be teaching the beginning level class again starting November 4. It will be six Saturday mornings, just like the one I took. Also he will be teaching a one-day intensive workshop in New York in January. If you are interested, check out more details on his website. I highly recommend it!

TV Puppetry Workshop (Intermediate): Week 2

Kelvin Kao — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:11:36 +0000

Today, we continued our exercises while adding more details into the puppets’ performances, like taking a deep breath, touching the face, adding a roll to the head motion, etc. The rest of the class (big chunks of the time) were spent working with a script and blocking out our musical routines.

We worked with a script today. The script was taped to the monitor, so we didn’t need to memorize it. We just needed to read lines off the script. However, it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. It was tricky, because we had two things to look at: the monitor so we knew what our performance looked like, and the script so we knew what the next line was. I had to quickly look back-and-forth, or use my peripheral vision to get it done, and I found myself losing the place in the script quite a few times. We will be working some more on this workflow next class.

And then we worked with the staging of the musical numbers again. In this course, each student was supposed to bring in a song/ musical number that he/she wanted to work on, and we would work out the choreography together. The person who brought in the song would be the lead singer, and there would be two back-up singers in the background backing him/her up. We started last week, but we didn’t remember all the choreography we worked out last time. We did remember certain bits and pieces though. I thought that worked well, because the parts that were forgotten probably weren’t too memorable to begin with anyway. We did work out quite a few details this class though, so we taped them this time. In the next class, we could play them back to refresh our memory and go from there.

There were five people signed up for this course, but one had to drop because he had to work three out of the four weeks. The other person is an actress and she hasn’t been able to come because she was on a set shooting something. So these two weeks, it has been just three students. And since all these group exercises used one lead singer and two backup singers, we were always doing something and didn’t get to sit down much. It was quite a good workout. It was especially a workout for me because I happened to be taller than these two classmates, so I had a harder time keeping my head out of the frame. I had to either spread my feet wider, bend my knees more, or tilt my head, but you know, puppeteers will do whatever it takes outside of the frame to make sure what’s on screen turns out good.

Since each student brought in a song, we had three different routines staged. When we watched what we taped, I saw puppet characters reacting to one another quite naturally. They had arm movements, head movements, lip sync, focused eyes and they looked expressive. They weren’t perfect but there were a lot of good stuff in there. Again, I was impressed with how well the class had done. This was such drastic improvement from our very first class. Back then, we couldn’t keep the puppets straight, we couldn’t focus the puppet’s eyes on the camera, and we also forgot to move the puppet’s mouth at times when it was supposed to be speaking. Well, none of that now.

It has been another fun class. Again, looking forward to the next class. (Just two more weeks left!)

TV Puppetry Workshop (Intermediate): Week 1

Kelvin Kao — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:28:20 +0000

So, we are now in the intermediate class. In the beginning class, there were eight of us. In this class, we have five enrolled. I am glad to be working with these people again. This week, two people had jobs (I don’t know the details but they probably were probably filming something, I assumed) so there were only three of us. That actually worked out pretty well, because we were doing a few songs and exercises in which there were one lead singer and two backup singers in the back. With three people, we just kept rotating who the lead singer was during these exercises. It was also good practice for keeping your arms in the air for a more extended period of time.

According to the email Michael sent out, this is what the intermediate class will cover:

Stage a musical number you provide
Learn how to stage a musical number
Working with a script
More advanced choreography
More character voice work
More advanced arm rod work
More improvs and storytelling
Everyone gets a copy of their work at the end of 4th session.

When I looked at the list again after the first class, I thought “Yep, we did all of that.” In the beginning class, we practiced lip-sync using choreography that were provided to us; in this class, we are learning to analyze the songs, pick out words that we can emphasize and ideas we can play with, and work out a choreography for both the lead singer and the backup singers. I like the idea about finding the hooks in the song, and then adding visual hooks to the choreography for the performers to do.

As for the improv and story-telling part, they were similar to the beginning class, but with more in-depth analysis afterwards. Now that we got the basics down, although we still couldn’t execute everything perfectly every single time (it has only been less than two months, after all), we were all a lot more aware of what was right and what was wrong. Since these exercises were taped, we were able to all watch them and have discussions about them afterwards.

Overall, everybody now has a solid foundation to build on. The basic stuff like weight, eye-focus, and keeping the puppets held up straight are all there. Now we are doing a lot more fine-tuning. For example, besides doing basic lip-sync, we are now learning to vary the mouth sizes for different vowels. Granted, it wasn’t always noticeable because the mouths can be moving quite fast. And even when I was consciously watching for it during the demonstration, I wasn’t consistently seeing the variations. However, when the speech slows down or when a word is emphasized/billboarded, this kind of detail could make the performance even better. We are just adding layers and layers onto it.

And I finally learned the answer to a question that I’ve been wondering: Does Cookie Monster have a hole in his mouth for him to actually eat things, or does he always just drop everything onto the floor? The answer: yes, he does have a hole for the puppeteers to pull things through, but since he always eats so much, so fast, and in such messy manner, most of that just drops on the floor anyway.

Looking forward to the next class, especially the choreography design part!

TV Puppetry Workshop: Weeks 5, 6

Kelvin Kao — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:04:06 +0000

I didn’t write last week, so here it is, the last two classes. In these two classes, we did many more improv exercises with groups and partners. In addition to the two-puppet scenes, we also did three- and four-puppet scenes. With the increased number of characters, things can become a little chaotic at times, but it also introduced some interesting new dynamics. In the very last class, I think I did pretty well… probably the best of all six weeks. Maybe it was because it was the last class and I wanted it to end on a good note; maybe it was because I was sleep-deprived and that actually made me more focused. I don’t know, but I didn’t feel off like I did the week before. For the most part, I was able to see something very close to what I would like to see on the monitor, if not exactly what I pictured. I certainly brought my A game.

In a way, I kinda wished that what we did from our very first class was taped. It might be embarrassing for some to watch, but at the same time, you could see how much everyone has improved. I was really impressed with all my classmates. In the very beginning, we couldn’t even hold the puppet straight! Everyone has come a long way, I thought.

So, the class is over… well, yes and no. It’s the end of the beginner class, but I signed up for the intermediate class as well. The class starts this Saturday, so, for me, it’s four more weeks of fun. I know there are a few more classmates who are also signed up, so we’ll see each other again in the next few weeks.

Taking this class has an unintended effect: it’s making me do some more reading. The studio where the class takes place is only a few blocks away from where I play softball in the afternoon, so I just hang out in the nearby library and read for an hour in between. I read some Mark Twain stuff one week, and lately I’ve been re-reading The Crucible. Why? These are things I read in high school when I was still pretty new in the United States. I want to see how different the experience would be now that I have a much better understanding of the English language than I did back then. I just finished Act 2 of The Crucible. At the current pace, I would probably finish it in two weeks.

To bring it back to the topic, it’s been fun. Would I recommend this class to people interested in puppetry? Hell yeah! If it sucked, we wouldn’t be signing up for the next class, right?

TV Puppetry Workshop: Week 4

Kelvin Kao — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 09:21:13 +0000

Today, we worked on voices a little bit. We stood in a circle, came up with random voices, and imitated each other’s voices. Somehow this group of people were quite good at it. I was impressed with how much people could mimic one another, especially when the two were of different genders.

We also learned to work with puppets that have gloves instead of rods for hands. The puppet was a lot bigger than the ones we’ve been working with, and each puppet took two people to control. I didn’t know we had to balance fabric on our head at times to hide the puppeteers and to make the puppet shape look better. And also it was fun to watch / figure out how two puppeteers could work together, sometimes in weird angles to get things done. When it clicked, it was a delight to watch.

We also did the telling a story thing. It was taped. Today, somehow I couldn’t really get into a groove. I thought it was on and off throughout the whole class. Sometimes I could focus on the performance and sometimes not. But when I watched the video of my exercise, I thought I did okay. It was not superb, but it wasn’t as boring as I thought either. I think the reason was that when I was performing, the monitor was giving me constant feedbacks. If something did not go according to what I had in mind, I knew that immediately. Sometimes I could fix that on the spot, but sometimes not. However, when I was watching the playback, I mostly only noticed what I did manage to do, and not so much the parts that I wasn’t able to get done. It was interesting to get that perspective.

It’s been fun. Two more classes left… that I have paid for. I think I am definitely going to sign up for the intermediate class someday. I haven’t yet decided whether I’ll take it right after this course, or wait till the next time it was offered. Will need to decide soon.

TV Puppetry Workshop: Week 3

Kelvin Kao — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:53:41 +0000

Time certainly went by fast. At the end of the class, we were already half way through the course. This week, we didn’t do much that’s new, but we spent time fine-tuning things, especially with emphasis. When the puppets say things, there are words that should be emphasized so the message is clear and the performance is lively. We practiced saying the alphabet while putting emphasis on different syllables. We also did more improv. One with a puppet telling a story, and another with two puppets in a scene at a given location.

What was different from the last class was that the camera was actually recording this time. After each pair did their scenes, we watched what was recorded and analyzed them. We certainly got some wacky stories: one about two puppets in an MRI that somehow ended up singing “Bicycle Built for Two”, one about two puppets watching a space shuttle launch but ended up going up with it, one about a first date that turned into an impromptu wedding at the farmers market, and one about two puppets trying to fix a broken car at the skid row to drive off to become TV pitchmen who sell miracle products. I was really impressed with this group. The puppeteering had improved a lot, and the random stories people came up with were all really good, somehow.

Three more classes to go!

TV Puppetry Workshop: Week 2

Kelvin Kao — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:23:40 +0000

It was the second week of Michael Earl’s TV Puppetry Workshop. This week, we repeated some of the exercises from last week (cuz the basic stuff is always worth repeating), and also did some new stuff, mostly with partner/group work and improv.

There were more interactions between puppets this class than the last class. We had four puppets on camera at the same time reciting Mary Had a Little Lamb. Whichever puppet not talking would look at the puppet that’s talking and they would all nod in agreement at the end. I found that I still have some eye line issues and was confused about the left-right reversal at times. Fun exercise though!

Even more fun was the improv stuff we did. I think everyone did great. I also noticed something interesting: When I did the scripted stuff, I tend to focus on making the puppet do what it does. There’s not much that shows up on my face. However, when I did improv, I caught myself acting with my face instead of my arm more. Maybe it was because I was used to doing improv as an actor, but not so much as a puppeteer. I feel like my reactions were transfered 60% to the face and 30% to my arm (The rest was lost). Need more practice, hehe.

My favorite idea from this class was about quietness and anticipation. Being able to have your arm still when there was no good reason for movement would create good anticipation. There’s power in the quietness. And I like the story Michael told about what Frank Oz said about people waiting for the bus. We then tried the waiting for the bus exercise too. You could do a lot by doing nothing. The only problem with anticipation was that, sometimes I would look at the puppet on the monitor anticipating it to do something, but then to realize, oh wait, it was attached to my arm so I was supposed to make that happen.

Looking forward to Week 3.