Puppets for Music Video
Andy (left) and Jimmy with whale head and girl puppets. Photo courtesy Aardman/Parlophone
Andy Brunskill with largest girl puppet against green screen. Photo courtesy Aardman/Parlophone
Comp supervisor lead Bram Ttwheam talking to Jimmy and Andy about rods and shadows. Photo courtesy Aardman/Parlophone
our human body, we’re in the way of one of the lights. You can’t stand there, because you’re in a shadow. We literally can’t stand anywhere, because it’s lit 360!” Jimmy: “Even if you could find someplace that you could position yourself, the moment your hands moved or the rod changed angles, it would cast a tiny shadow. We must have done dozens of takes.” What was intended to be a single shot had to be cut into two pieces and postproduction still had to take care of a great deal of shadow and rod removal.
Another beautiful sequence was when the whale came apart. The whale was a rod puppet made from EVA foam, with a simple vertebral structure built in sections with foam pads between the sections, so that when it moved, it had an undulating motion. The body was then covered in Plasti Dip and layers of paint. Jimmy
did the build. Andy performed and said, “It’s pretty simple, to be honest!”
The shot when the girl falls through the sky and catches herself on her kite was more stressful. Jimmy: “You’re having to move away from the camera and still maintain certain positions in the frame. I found that particularly challenging. You’ve got a very small margin for error.” Andy: “In the final shot, she’s collapsed in the boat. We were not allowed to put any rods or hands onto the girl that would go over the edge of the boat. In the end, we drilled into the boat and attached fishing wire so we could get some movement.” Jimmy (summing up): “As a creative duo, the big thing that we are constantly saying to directors or companies we work with is that we trust the puppets enough to give them their space.”
“You’re having to move away from the camera and still maintain certain positions in the frame. I found that particularly challenging.”
13
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
