Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre is Fantastic Fun

Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre creates madcap puppet fun two socks at a time.

Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre might not be top-notch puppetry on a purely technical level, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a funnier, more consistently imaginative (or prolific) series of puppet videos out there. Created by Kev F Sutherland, the videos have a decidedly Scottish/British sensibility to them and frequently send-up pop culture icons from across the pond like Doctor Who and Torchwood. I also really liked the "I'm A Mac / I'm A PC" ad spoof, The Facebook Song and their apparently famous Halloween video.

Kev's created a mind-boggling 240+ videos for the web since 2006; a playlist of his best work is available on YouTube. You can waste a couple hours watching the mapcap fun of Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre and you won't regret a single moment of it.

Special thanks to Robin for introducing me to this!

Thunderbirds' Dancing Brains

Brains - from the classic British series Thunderbirds - is featured in a new viral ad for Drench bottled water in the UK.

One of the latest viral sensations on YouTube is an ad for Drench Bottled Water in the UK featuring Brains (one of the characters from Gerry Anderson's classic Thunderbirds TV series) dancing to SNAP's `90s hit Rhythm is a Dancer. The old Thunderbirds "Supermarionation" techniques were updated to produce the ad, which was created using a mixture of motion capture, computer animation and good old fashioned string puppetry.

The team of puppeteers who worked on the video was led by Ronnie LeDrew, who's no stranger to these sorts of viral marketing campaigns; he was the puppeteer responsible for the Levis "Giant Marionette" videos a couple years ago. You can watch the video below:



...as well as take a short look behind the scenes:



Special thanks to Ron for writing in with this!

Fur TV: More Sex & Puppets

Good-natured serial self-abuser Mervin J. Minky is one of the dysfunctional puppet characters in MTV UK's Fur TV .

Fur TV is a new British puppet series for adults based on an award-winning short by filmmakers Chris Waitt and Henry Trotter. The show revolves around three puppets named Lapeño, Edward and Mervin who share a flat together and spend their time drinking, fighting, and chatting up (and sleeping with) women.

The basic "Muppets for adults" concept goes all the way back to Meet the Feebles and has been put to work on a number of projects (including Puppets Who Kill, Pets, MTV's own Wonder Showzen and umpteen zillion YouTube videos) in the years since. It's become so common recently that I've started to think that the idea has been run in to the ground so I wasn't expecting much from this. It doesn't help that the show is being billing as "Puppets Behaving Badly", a oft-used tagline that suggests this isn't nearly as new or ground breaking as the producers would like you to believe. Even the viral marketing for the show is unoriginal, relying in part on the tired "fake sex tape" gimmick (in this case one featuring one of Fur TV's puppets and Chanelle Hayes, who seems to be aspiring to be the British equivalent of Paris Hilton).

Much to my surprise though, Fur TV seems pretty funny. One thing it definately has going for it and what sets it apart from most of the other rude, crude adult puppet shows out there is quality. If the sexual content doesn't bother you - and believe me, there is a lot of sexual content in this show - it's fun to watch. It also features good writing, great directing and a team of top-notch team of British puppeteers that bring to life appealing, believable puppet characters (I don't know who all the puppet people involved in this are, but at least one of the characters was built by Darryl Worbey Studios).

Fur TV airs in the UK on MTV One on Sundays at 10 p.m. There's a selection of clips available to watch online here and if you live in the UK or Ireland you can watch the first episode of Fur TV online.

The Gluvets on Britain's Got Talent

The Gluvets are competing for £100,000 on the UK variety show Britain's Got Talent.

The Gluvets - who frequently hang out on various puppetry forums and community sites around the web - appeared on Britain's Got Talent this week (click the link for a video). Simon Cowell gave them a hard time and complained that they were childish and that the audience could see the puppeteers. Fortunately the other two BGT judges Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan loved them and sent them on to the next round of the popular British TV talent contest.

Good luck to Phil Fletcher & Co. in the next round of the competition. Winning would be a really big deal, the prize is £100,000 and the chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen and Royal Family. The chances aren't bad considering that puppet acts have a history of doing well on these "Got Talent" competitions. Puppeteer Damon Scott made it all the way to the finals of the show in season one and Ventriloquist Terry Fator won the American version of the show last summer.

Britain's Got Talent airs Saturdays at 7:45 p.m. on ITV in the UK and on TV3 in Ireland.

Puppet Music Videos Everywhere!

Marionette maker Tony Sinett created this marionette for Johnny Flynn's Tickle Me Pink.

It often seems like some of the most unique and original film and video puppetry these days is being done in music videos. I've been getting a lot of emails about different ones lately...here are three of the latest:

• Tickle Me Pink is a new video for Johnny Flynn, featuring marionettes by the UK's Tony Sinnett.
  
  
• Clare and the Reasons shot their video for Pluto at Puppetworks in New York (thanks to James for the link).
  
  
• The Flexitoons combined marionettes, hand-drawn animation, and special effects in High Def Radio for New York City based rock quartet Earth Stood Still.
  

If you haven't already, also take a peek at recently blogged music videos Piece of Me, Piece of You, Wanderlust, A Clean Shot and Still Waiting.

Headcases: "Spitting Image" CG vs. Puppetry

Princes Harry and William get caricatured in the new CG version of Spitting Image (image © ITV).

Spitting Image has come back to the UK! Except it's not puppetry. Also, it's not called Spitting Image. The puppets have been replaced with computer animation and Headcases is what they're calling this 21st century remake of the 1980s British classic. I haven't really seen enough of Headcases to judge whether or not the changes are an improvement, but the Independent spoke with Spitting Image co-creator Peter Fluck about the new show and reports on his thoughts about it.

I don't really understand why they would make the switch to CG considering computer animation takes longer and it's arguably even harder to get decent performances in animation than puppetry. I've read suggestions that ITV thought puppets were "too old fashioned". I don't know if that was actually the case or not, but I do think that the persistent assumption that audiences respond better to computer animation than puppetry or other traditional mediums is another of those crackpot executive beliefs.

08/04/08 Update: A reader who asked to remain anonymous wrote in to say that ITV actually wanted to stick with puppets like the original, but weren't able to because of a copyright dispute.

The story goes that ITV produced a Spitting Image retrospective two years ago that included new Spitting Image style puppets of British TV personalities Ant and Dec that were created without the consent of Roger Law. Roger co-created Spitting Image, owns the rights to the Spitting Image brand and reportedly withdrew his cooperation on the new series because of the perceived slight, which necessitated the switch to animation and a name change.

Behind The Scenes of Alfie

Lily Allen and her puppet little brother, built and performed by Jonny Sabbagh.

Last year I linked to the music video for Alfie, a song by British singer Lily Allen (see previous post) that features a puppet by Jonny Sabbagh. I just came across some behind the scenes video from the Alfie shoot that includes footage of Jonny and another puppeteer at work and wanted to share. Enjoy!

Sultana Puppet Commercials

The puppets of Britain's Jonny Sabbagh appear in commercials for the Dutch snack brand Sultana.

I've always liked the work of the very talented Jonny Sabbagh (see previous post), dating all the way back to his days with the British puppetry/filmmaking collective Up At The Big House, so it was great to spot his work online recently in commercials for the Dutch brand Sultana. The ads feature simple-looking, but very effective puppets by Jonny that emerge from inside people (as a manifestation of their hunger I suppose) and lead them to snacks.

You can see pics from one of the Sultana shoots on Jonny's site (while you're there be sure to check out his awesome portfolio too). The Sultana commercials were shot in Amsterdam and directed by Simon Willows. Click on the "read more" link below to watch all three ads right here on PuppetVision.

Harry The Bunny

The preschool series Harry The Bunny is seen in Canada, the U.S. and England.

Harry the Bunny looks like a cute show for preschoolers. The series is built around Harry, "a curious 3 year old bunny who loves exploring fun new things," was broadcast in England, Canada and the U.S. and was shot in Isreal. Ilan Savir (see previous post) was the bunny's lead puppeteer, assisted by Ornan Brier. There's a clip of Harry the Bunny available on YouTube.

Thanks to Ilan for sending this in!

Two Puppets, Darth Vader and a Toaster

Darth Vader + Puppets = one crazy commercial.

This has got to be one of the most surreal (and cute) puppet commercials I've ever seen...two puppets help Darth Vader get a toaster. It's one of a series of commercials in the UK for Woolworth's featuring their mascots Wooly and Worth. The puppets in the ad were built and performed by the talented crew at Darryl Worbey Studios.

For more Wooly and Worth ads try searching YouTube.

Fingerbobs

A mouse from the classic UK children's series Fingerbobs.

Fingerbobs is a classic British children's show from the 1970s. It was hosted by Canadian actor Rick Jones and each ten-minute episode told a story built around a paper finger puppet animal and usually involved collecting various items like pebbles or feathers that would be put together to make another object at the end. There's a video clip available on YouTube of Rick Jones discussing his work on the series, which includes some slightly NSFW anecdotes.

Fingerbobs is available to own on DVD from Amazon.co.uk, but you'll need a DVD player that can play Region 2 discs.

Lily Allen's Little Puppet Brother

Lily Allen and her puppet little brother in the music video for her song Alfie.

The music video for Alfie, by saucy, controversial UK singer Lily Allen features a puppet playing the role of her little brother (the real-life Alfie reportedly refused to participate in the video shoot). The video was directed by Sarah Chatfield and has a nice, cool retro-feel to it. It also contains some mildly objectionable content, so consider yourself warned.

Bronx Bunny Hopping Across The Pond

The Bronx Bunny Show is the latest "rude, crude puppets with `tude" show to hit the air in the U.S. It's actually an import from Britain, where I'm told it's very popular. The show revolves around the Bronx Bunny and his cranky sidekick Teddy T. The two puppets host a low-rent public access cable show interviewing B-list Hollywood celebrities (appropriate enough since it airs on the Starz network). I'm not sure who is involved with the current U.S. series, but the original UK version was produced by the folks behind Podge and Rodge.

The Bronx Bunny Show debuts April 18th on the Starz Network in the United States. Video clips and some behind the scenes info from the UK version of the show is available here.

One Puppeteer's Journey From Puppets to Pixels

A digital self-portrait by UK puppeteer and animator Craig Crane.

The fence that divides puppetry and animation is a pretty low one and lots of artists like Phil Vischer, Karen Prell, Mike Quinn, and Nate Pacheco (to name just a few) find themselves jumping from one side to the other mid-career and Craig Crane is another of those puppeteer/animator hybrids.

Craig started his career in the 1990s doing a lot of ground-breaking work in real-time animation and performance capture as well as conventional puppeteering on various projects in England, France and Isreal, but these days he's an animator for Double Negative, a British effects shop. Craig discussed his transition from puppetry to animation in a two part interview with 3D World Magazine last fall (click to read part one and part two).

Craig seems to be pretty happy in the animation world these days, but I really hope he keeps a hand (no pun intended) in the puppetry world. He really is a brilliant puppeteer and his preschool puppetry and Real-Time Animation demo reels are especially enjoyable, so be sure to take a look at them.

Waterwise the Fish

Waterwise the Fish uses simple puppetry and animation to encourage responsible water usage.

Two episodes of a new environmentally themed series called Waterwise the Fish (available here and here) are up at YouTube. Created by UK puppeteer and animator Ed Hartwell, these are nice examples of how to combine simple animation and even simpler puppetry to create a unique looking video and raise awareness about an important issue.

Time Travelling British Puppets

Two British puppets experiment with time travel in short sketch on YouTube.

The premise of this time travel puppet sketch on YouTube is kind of clever, but I think it's the cute British accents that really makes it work.

Thanks to David for the link!