More Best of 2008

Well, it's a brand new year, but before I get started here in 2009 I wanted to do a final round-up of some more of the best stuff from 2008:

• Jeff Dunham had a great year, in large part thanks to the success of Achmed the Dead Terrorist on YouTube.
• Just when I thought that the "puppets behaving badly" genre had run its course, along comes Fur TV, which turns out to be the best of the bunch.
• The Muppets went back to basics in 2008 and started creating viral videos for YouTube.
• Sacha Feiner made what is quite possibly the greatest Gremlins fan film ever.
  
• Something that I haven't mentioned much on PuppetVision, but that deserves a lot of attention and praise is the adorable preschool series Bunnytown.
• I suppose that I'm a Marvel...and he's a DC isn't really an example of puppet mastery, but it is a great - and insanely popular - example of how to make a hilarious show on the web.
  
• Feist teamed up with the Old Trouts to make some Honey, Honey.
• Finally, I hope the folks at Sesame Street have a sense of humour about Pot Cookie Monster.
  

I wonder what the next twelve months has in store for us?

Best of 2008: Drawless Animation

Filmmaker Rob Schrab has developed a hybrid puppetry/animation style he calls "Draw-less animation".

"Drawless Animation" (see previous post) is a style of puppetry practiced by filmmaker Rob Schrab, co-creator of Channel 101 and The Sarah Silverman Program. It's an ultra fast and cheap process that Rob has used on a number of low-budget projects, including Ringwald and Molly and a Death Cab For Cutie music video.

Although I love the unique aesthetic of Rob's work, there's nothing particularly ground-breaking about what he's doing. What is unique - and a big part of the appeal of his brand of DIY filmmaking - is the fact that he shares his theories and techniques freely and encourages people to try it for themselves.

Best of 2008: Thunderbirds' Dancing Brains

A commercial featuring Brains (from the classic British series Thunderbirds) was a big viral hit for Drench bottled water earlier this year.

The commercial 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 was a big viral hit online earlier this year (see the original post). It was created using a mixture of motion capture, computer animation and marionette puppetry; you can watch a "making of" video on YouTube.

Best of 2008: Piece of Me, Piece of You

Piece of Me, Piece of You makes use of grotesque zombie puppets and green screen puppetry.

Zombies - including Zombie puppets - seemed to be more popular than ever in 2008. It's fitting then that one of most original puppet videos from the past year was Piece of Me, Piece of You from Three Legged Legs (see original post).

Best of 2008: Why I Hate Riding The Subway With Puppets

Why I Hate Riding The Subway With Puppets is a great example of how a very simple concept can be turned in to a very entertaining short.

Often the best ideas are the simplest ones. One of my favourite puppet shorts from the past year was Why I Hate Riding The Subway With Puppets (see original post).

Best of 2008: Kasou Taisho

A Bunraku aquarium is performed on Japan's Kasou Taisho.

Something that really seemed to really catch on in a big way on the web this past year was Kasou Taisho (see earlier post), a sort of semi-annual costume contest on Japanese TV that features amateur groups and solo artists performing short skits which frequently utilize Bunraku-style puppetry. Kasou Taisho is actually a fairly old show (it first aired back in 1979), but didn't really become well known outside Japan until a clip of its now-famous "Matrix Ping-Pong" sketch became a hit viral video on the web a few years ago.

To get an idea of just how creative some of the performances on Kasou Taisho are, check out this montage of 79 grand prix winning sketches from the show's 30 year history (one of my personal favourites is Chameleon, a runner-up in one of the most recent competitions).

Kasou Taisho seems to be slowly, but surely growing in popularity and has a dedicated cult following around the world. It has provided the inspiration for a Japanese Pepsi commercial as well as the Scissor Sisters' music video for She's My Man. Clips from the show also appear in the Pet Shop Boys' Flamboyant music video. An adaptation called It's Showtime airs on TV in Singapore and I've heard rumours that a North American adaptation is being developed.