The Making of Abba's The Last Video

Take a look behind the scenes of Abba's The Last Video.

This is a follow-up to the post about Abba's The Last Video; it's a making of video that shows how the puppetry and effects in the video were achieved.

Special thanks to "Scuba Steve" for finding this!

Zerks' Log

Zerks' Log chronicles the voyage of a doomed spaceship Venturi 553.

Zerks' Log is one of the most impressive puppetry web series I've seen. It's an 18 episode series (the season is currently 11 episodes in) about Captain Zerks Ganymedewski and his ship the Venturi 553, which disappeared without a trace. The story is told through videos from the lost spaceship's “black box” that feature Zerks fretting about his second-in-command, pondering his love life and making otherwise trivial, humdrum observations, totally unaware that he's doomed.

This is a great example of how to design a show around the limitations most web shows face. The character of Zerks is kind of elaborate and created through a combination of animatronics and special FX makeup worn by actor Ben Alpi, but the show is shot entirely on a very simple set (it's just a desk, a chair and a green screen). There's obviously an enormous amount of post production and effects work that goes in to creating something like this, but if you have the time, the know-how and access to the right equipment you could easily produce a show like Zerks Logs for just a few hundred dollars.

Via NewTeeVee Station.

Behind the Scenes at Transylvania TV

Minnewood takes a look behind the scenes of Transylvania TV.

Minnewood has a great video that takes a behind the scenes look at Transylvania TV. For my money "TVTV" is one of the best puppet podcasts to emerge on the web so far and possibly the best looking too. In the video co-creators Gordon Smuder and Michael Heagle explain how they're producing season 2 of the series and their production philosophy. You'll also get a good look at the spectacular sets and props that have been created for the show. I got a tour of them the last time I was in Minneapolis and the level of detail they use on the show is amazing!

Behind the Scenes with Team Smithereen

Team Smithereen stunt puppet Whoop flies through the air on handmade wings.

If you haven't seen the Team Smithereen Blog (see previous post) or haven't check up on it recently, go have a look. It's updated nearly everyday with photos and tidbits of behind-the-scenes info from the upcoming series from the Dan Clark Company.

Team Smithereen Blog

The producers of the upcoming puppet TV series Team Smithereen have launched a behind-the-scenes blog.

Team Smithereen (see previous post) is a currently-in-production puppet series for Disney's Jetix channel that "follows a hapless team of puppet stuntmen who, more often than not, get into trouble on some of their death-defying feats." The series won't hit the air until 2009, but the production team recently launched a behind-the-scenes Team Smithereen Blog and are promising daily updates with photos, videos and profiles of the creative team.

Special thanks to Sean for sending this in!

Behind the Scenes of Sid the Science Kid

The new digital puppetry series Sid the Science Kid (see previous post) is now on the air and TV Guide recently went behind the scenes to see how the Jim Henson Company creates it. The Wall Street Journal has also been covering the show's unique production process.

Speaking of which, Brian Henson was in Silver Spring, MD at the AFI Silver Theatre yesterday and gave a presentation about the history of puppetry and how the Henson Co. has evolved over the years from Muppets to animatronics to it's latest work on Sid the Science kid using the Henson Digital Performance System.

Cross-posted from Machin-X: Digital Puppetry.

29/09/08 Update: Brian Henson's presentation was at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, MD and not the Centre for Puppetry Arts as I originally reported so I've updated the post accordingly. Brian actually spoke at the Centre for Puppetry Arts on Sunday and Harvey Deneroff has some coverage on his blog.

Oranges: Revenge of the Eggplant

Oranges: Revenge of the Eggplant is the latest product of Rich Evans and Mike Stoklasa's "Orange" universe.

I'm still playing catch up with stuff since I was MIA here for awhile last month, but one of the (many) things I've been wanting to mention - and looking forward to watching - is Oranges: Revenge of the Eggplant. It's the latest in a series of "Oranges movies" that began as a high school art class project by Rich Evans and Mike Stoklasa. The film tells "the harrowing tale of Professor Charles Sunkyst and his fateful encounter with the diabolical Dr. Eggplant."

I haven't seen it yet (only the trailer) but it looks like it's a fun little indie movie that Rich and Mike have obviously poured a lot of time and energy in to. There are a couple of great, tongue-in-cheek videos on YouTube explaining how they built their elaborate sets on the cheap; visit the Red Letter Media YouTube Channel for those and bunch and of other Oranges videos. If you like what you see consider why not buy Oranges: Revenge of the Eggplant on DVD?

Via Tom's always-interesting Puppeteers Unite Blog.

Piece of Me, Piece Of You

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

A Santa Monica studio called Three Legged Legs just finished a funky little music video/short film called Piece of Me, Piece of You that's available to watch online along with a generous helping of behind-the-scenes goodies. The short features some creepy-cool zombie puppets built by Adam Parker Smith and makes good use of Bunraku-style puppetry and wire removal techniques.

Special thanks to Reza at Three Legged Legs for writing in about this!

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!

How To Make Puppets Pitch Biodiesel

Puppeteers perform a tree on the set of a German commercial for biodiesel fuel.

Remember the biodiesel commercial that Jan Schönwiesner made with puppets in Germany that I wrote about earlier this year? Well, there's now a "making of" video on YouTube that shows how it was created using a single puppet, a bluescreen and a variety compositing techniques.

Behind the Scenes of Los Lunnis

A puppet builder attaches an arm to a puppet from the Spanish educational series Los Lunnis.

Take a look behind the scenes of Los Lunnis, a popular educational puppet show on Televisión Española (TVE), Spain's national public broadcaster (see previous post). The video shows puppeteers rehearsing for the show and how the Los Lunnis puppets were created by Spain's Román y Cía.

Cross-posted from PuppetBuilding.com.

Foam Fight!

Why is that whenever puppeteers get left alone in a room for just a little while this always ends up happening?

Via dotBoom.

The Skrumps: Behind The Scenes

A new video on Henson.com takes you behind the scenes of The Skrumps.

Henson.com has posted a behind-the-scenes video about the making of The Skrumps, their new digital puppetry characters (see previous post). It's fairly short, but gives you a nice overview of the Henson Digital Performance System and how their digital studio works.

Thanks to C.B. for the alert!