COVER STORY
A COVID-19 Puppet Gets Its Comeuppance
By Steve Abrams B
efore the pandemic, the Sonoma County Safety PALS asked Images in Motion (IIM) to produce puppet safety vid- eos as part of their school and
community outreach. Fire and water safety was on the agenda, but IIM suggested starting with a safety COVID-19 public service announcement (PSA). Safety PALS was enthusiastic, and April/May has been busy creating this production. We all know the drill. Wash your hands for 20 seconds, but do children understand why? The concept was to produce an action-packed PSA in which a narcissistic COVID-19 puppet gets its comeuppance. We wanted a strong visual approach to virus safety that would encourage children and families to
think about the importance of the simple act of hand washing.
The IIM team, after con- sulting with medical person- nel, wrote a script based on the CDC guidelines for hand washing. Next, the nefarious COVID-19 pup- pet was 3D modeled and printed, molded in silicone, and cast in pillow foam. The puppet was then painted using a flocking material to give it a soft, velvet look on camera.
For the hand-washing background footage, a local videographer taped his daughter while Kamela Portuges-Robbins directed
COVID-19 puppet (left). Mold for COVID-19 puppet (above). Photos courtesy of Images in Motion
from the next room. The virus pup- pet was shot on green screen in the IIM studio. Kamela puppeteered, and Kieron Robbins was the videographer. Lee Armstrong was producer, and Kamela edited the short. They used lots of sanitizer and social distancing.
The end result is a hu- morous visual approach to combating this modern plague.
“Down the Drain With Covid-19 PSA” can be viewed on YouTube https://
www.youtube.com/channel/ UCOgxLR-Ga2ZUyIsPZj3Y- Wnw or on Vimeo https://
vimeo.com/421727651 Lee Armstrong and Kamela Portuges-Robbins founded Images in Motion (IIM)
https://www.imag-
esmedia.com/ around 1990 in Sonoma, California. IIM is known for its design and
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3D printing and its innovative TV pup- pet productions and commercials. Their credits include work on the films Being John Malkovitch (1999) and Monkeybone (2001).
Lee Armstrong was a TV puppeteer on Fraggle Rock (1983 debut), and Follow That Bird (1985). Lee was born in Canada and started her career with Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia. She moved to Toronto, where she worked at Frog Print Theatre (Nikki Tilroe) and on various TV shows. She moved to San Francisco in 1986. In addition to her work with IIM, she has taught numerous courses on pup- petry, including “Jim Henson and the Art of Muppets” at University of California, Santa Cruz.
Kamela Portuges-Robbins is a puppet builder and designer, a sculptor, and an au- thor/illustrator, and winner of three Emmy Awards. She has taught at University of California, Santa Cruz, giving her students insights about her work for Disney and Pixar. Kieron Robbins, is a skilled designer, mold maker, sculptor, artist, and puppeteer.
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