Shadow story board...

I had a commission to do a simple story board for a shadow puppet play that would accompany a short story read at a story telling night as part of Paul Feast, Cornwall.
The story is written by Anna Maria Murphy (writer for Kneehigh, Rogue Theatre). The premise for the shadow play is to illustrate the story. So she didn't want it over complicated. I thought about how it will be performed and how many scene changes are possible in a short amount of time.

I also tried to show the design in the story board. Some of the backgrounds are more translucent- i did it like that so you could see where the characters are placed, but i said in the email to Anna Murphy that it might look good if the back ground was paler than the characters to give it more depth. But also that is the person who is making the puppets and scenery to decide in the end- due to materials at hand. (low budget and time) I made suggestions on how the puppets could move and also for the pantry filled with preserves, i thought if it was made using coloured acetate it would have a glowing affect with the backlight- perfect for the script.
I did this in a day- had to turn it out really quickly.

Gentle Mystics- Spiralling Breeze...The best music video I have seen in a long time..

After an afternoon of lying in the september sun, quietly hallucinating, I was shown this. It just made me want to be part of it, to create something along this lines. Creeping about the woods in weird homemade costumes- creatures that belong in a mushroom trip. Who needs drugs? I should just make the stuff physically. Gosh, what an epiphany...

Gentle Mystics- "Spiralling Breeze"

Not only is the song great but I love the stop motion puppets and the costume. It reminds me of the tiger Lillies- a bizarre cabaret act I saw when i was younger. It shows me that you can still create amazing things from basic materials. When i was little and my parents worked with Kneehigh Theatre- everything was made from what they could find and source from scrap stores. And as much as I love well funded projects that use top notch materials and techniques- a bit of paper mache and latex works wonders.

After all, Im gonna be pretty poor for a while so I may as well use what i can get my hands on...

Any too, Im setting up a Linkedin account to try and get in touch with the director- Oliver David and the artistic director Nompi.
Watch this space.

Marionette carving

A little video on marionettes being made:

Cool.

Reminds me, I need to save some money to go on a puppet carving course in Dorset....

Amazing piece of puppeteering...

I was trawling through the realms of YouTube last night looking mainly for videos of Royal Delux's work when i cam across this.  

The concept is beautiful and sad and the relationship of the puppet and the puppeteer is perfect. It reminds me a bit of 'Being John Malcovich'. The walk cycle he does is really well done- I've seen puppets that loose their illusion when they walk as they just bob up and down.

Any way I'm rambling, probably chatting Sh*t... just watch this:

Philippe Genty (puppeteer)

Asylum photos

I managed to get some photos on my phone, but I'm waiting for some one I was working with to email me better ones of my work.

'The Hand Test'
Fire safety at the Asylum

Timothy Winters. Puppet made by Wright for the
Charles Causely poem 'Timothy Winters'

Sarah Wright and Giles King
performing Timothy Winters

Painting up the set for Timothy Winters

Almost finished. I then darkened it all down with a purple wash
to look like night. This get set on fire and i was hoping
that the paint would eventually blister and peel
to create a lovely war-torn effect.

This is one of the doorways i painted up for the front of house.
These photos dont show it finished, however.