ABBA Puppets

Four puppets have a "little" problem in this video originally created for the 2004 Eurovision contest

Abba: Our Last Video features "4 small puppets who look very much like the original `70s Swedish supergroup ABBA are try to get a recording contract in Stockholm, Sweden 1974," and with a description like that, honestly, what more do you need to know?

Via Puppeteers Unite.

Burger King "99ers" Marionette Commercial

Burger King Germany's "99ers" campaign features marionettes.

This is a new commercial for Burger King in Germany that features marionettes. The puppets in the ad were built by Hornet Inc. and performed by James Godwin, Tim Lagasse and Steve Widerman.

Cashore Marionette Videos

Life in Motion and Simple Gifts show off the incredible work of the Cashore Marionettes.

For a long time I didn't care much for marionettes. It wasn't that I ever thought there was anything wrong with string puppets per se, it was just that I've always been a big fan of very precise, technical and realistic puppetry and until several years ago I hadn't seen much marionette work that was really impressive.

Thankfully, I was eventually exposed to the work of people like Basil Twist (see previous post) and Joseph Cashore that took away my ignorance. I'm a particularly big fan of the Cashore Marionettes. There really is no substitute for seeing them live, but for those that haven't yet had the pleasure they have a couple of new-ish videos - Life in Motion and Simple Gifts - that give you a taste of their amazing work.

Öko

Öko is a short marionette film set in "post-apocalyptic world hanging by a string".

Öko is a short Québécois film directed by Alain Fournier about an unusual encounter between a squatter girl and her mysterious neighbor. Set in a "post-apocalyptic world hanging by a string", the film was produced using marionettes created by Mathieu René. The film will be touring the festival circuit beginning this year and a wonderfully moody and absolutely beautiful Öko trailer is available to watch online.

George Liquor Marionette

Flexitoon Puppets made this impressive-looking marionette of John Kricfalusi's George Liquor character.

Check out this cool-looking marionette of George Liquor that Craig Marin and Olga Felgemacher made for a secret project they've got in the works with John K. Full size pics and discussion can be found over at John's blog.

3/5/09 Update: Flexitoon has a brand new blog; go forth and subscribe!

Best Buy Marionette Commercial

A marionette shopping for a laptop? Just another day at Best Buy apparently.

This is Best Buy marionette commercial was made back in 2004, but I only recently discovered it. Does anyone know who did it?

Ridin' The Rails to Reno

Ridin' the Rails To Reno is a music video for Country Cricket by California's Flexitoon Puppets.

Flexitoon (see previous post) just finished a new music video for a country swing band called Country Cricket. It was designed and directed by Craig Marin and features puppetry by Olga Felgemacher. You can watch Ridin' The Rails To Reno on YouTube.

Special thanks to Craig for sending this in!

Bob Baker

Bob Baker operates the oldest puppet theatre in the United States.

I watched a short, but nice profile of Bob Baker on YouTube tonight. Bob operates the oldest puppet theatre in the United States (the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre in L.A.) and I've mentioned him on the blog before. The theatre is reportedly struggling to stay open, so if you're ever in or near L.A. be sure to go and check out a show.

Scott Land and his turkey on America's Got Talent

Puppeteer Scott Land is competing on America's Got Talent.

Scott Land - who's hilarious turkey puppet I've posted about before (see previous post) - is competing on America's Got Talent this year. You can watch a clip here. Scott's made it past the first round of the competition and he's off to Las Vegas. You can catch him in the second round of the competition either tomorrow night or Thursday, August 7th on ABC in the U.S. (check your local listings).

Midnight Marionettes in Toronto

Peter Jackson's cult classic Meet The Feebles screens as part of the Midnight Marionettes series this weekend in Toronto.

The Fox Theatre in Toronto is reviving its Midnight Movies at the Fox series by screening a couple great puppet movies this weekend in an event they call "Midnight Marionettes". Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds Are Go is being shown Saturday night, followed by Peter Jackson's Meet The Feebles on Sunday. Both films start at 11:30 p.m. and prizes from The Watcher Comics and Hammer Skateboard will be given out a both screenings.

How To Survive Nuclear War with Marionettes

That marionette cow doesn't know it yet, but when the A-bomb drops she's a goner.

Puppets can be used for all kinds of things. In the case of this old American civil defense film from the Cold War, they're even used to educate the public about the dangers of nuclear war and radiation during the height of the Cold War.

Remember to stop, drop, and get your cow to the nearest two storey barn.

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.

Provocative Marionette Ad

Two dancing marionettes star in a slightly provocative ad for Fox Jeans in Israel.

This is a slightly provocative commercial for Fox Jeans in Israel that features two marionettes. The builder was the very talented and Toronto-based Alexander Mergold.

Dancing Turkey Marionette

This simple, but clever dancing turkey was created by Scott Land.

Who would ever think that a dancing turkey marionette could be so amusing? Well, obviously Scott Land did. You can check out more puppet videos in his YouTube channel.

Via Sonny Vegas.

Funky Dancing Marionette

A dancing marionette gets down to Stevie Wonder's I Wish.

This is a nifty video of a dancing marionette. It was shot as a demo/experiment in puppet manipulation by Shan Jayaweera, previously mentioned here for his YouTube video spoofs of Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

Shan found this particular marionette on ebay, but these types of puppets are pretty common. If you'd like to own one yourself, The Lighter Side makes a very similar Flamingo Marionette that's just $19.95 US.

Updated: Piano Playing Marionette

This marionette plays the piano...with attitude.

Here's a fun video to kick off the weekend with...a piano playing marionette. Anybody know who the puppeteer is?

2/6/07 Update: Manuel Roman wrote in to say that this is the terrific Danish puppeteer Alex Barti. More information and photos can be found on his website at the preceding link. YouTube also has another example of Alex's work, apparently from the same broadcast as the original video that I linked to.

Thanks for the links Manuel!

Indian Puppet Videos

A Beautiful Mind is a new puppet podcast from India.

One country who's puppetry North American audiences rarely get exposed to is India so I thought I would post a couple of examples of Indian puppetry that I've been sent recently:

• A traditional Indian puppet performance with marionettes from YouTube. A similar video can be found here featuring a neat trick marionette.
  
  
• A Beautiful Mind is a new podcast by Satyajit Padhye - son of the well-known Indian puppeteer Ramdas Padhye (see previous post) - who plays an illiterate Indian Politician who has a puppet alter ego. I am not sure how well this show translates culturally to a non-Indian audience, but I think it's very interesting because it's one of the first puppet web series I've seen from Asia.
  
  
• A political puppet show from Indian television. The quality of the video is not good, but the show looks very interesting and well done.
  

Thanks to Satyajit and CB for the links!

Google's Gmail Theater

Google uses marionettes in a new series of viral videos to explain the benefits of their Gmail service.

Google's Gmail was recently opened wide to anyone who wants an account (prior to this you could only get a Gmail account via an invitation from another Gmail user). To help promote the long anticipated full launch of the service, Google recently created a series of viral videos on YouTube that use marionettes to cleverly explain the features and benefits of switching to their service:

• Gmail Theater: Act One
• Gmail Theater: Act Two
• Gmail Theater: Act Three
• Gmail Theater: Act Four

These are cute little videos and a great example of how to use puppets to help educate customers about a product or service.

Special thanks to Kelvin for the links!

Beck Puppets on Jimmy Kimmel Tonight

The Beck puppets in concert earlier this year.

The Beck puppets (see previous post) will be making an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight. The show airs on the ABC network in the U.S. starting at 12:05 a.m. in most markets, but check your local listings.

Via I'm A Puppeteer.

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16/12/06 Update - There is now a clip from the show available at YouTube (link via Puppeteers Unite).

Making a marionette out of a Mac

Who ever knew you could create digital puppetry by turning a computer in to a puppet?

Over at Machin-X I've posted a video and information about a cool digital puppetry project by Andreas Nicolas Fischer, a digital media arts student in Germany. He hacked the Sudden Motion Sensor in his Macbook to create a digital marionette. You can learn more here.