"Pass The Puppet Please"

[sooper8fan]

Forgive me if this topic should be in the "filmmaking" forum, but I felt it would get more exposure here.
For those of you who are wondering what "Pass The Puppet Please" is all about, here's a brief explanation.
Our fellow forum member supermag400_inventor said:

I want to make a film, but I don't have a film crew.

Another forum member, BigBeaner replied with:

I'm starting to think too bad we can't just all get together and pull something out. Or even like one person starts a story then passes it along...

Then supermag400_inventor said:

How about that. Kind of like a film chain letter. One person starts the story and the next person on the list puts his film on the end of it and sends it on to the next.

then, supermag400_inventor continued with:

Imagine a puppet, that goes a journey looking for something. In it's travels it encounters different events. This could be the theme.

then sooper8fan said:

We could call the film "Pass The Puppet, Please"

The ideas seem to have stuck. Here again is my first thoughts on the "rules" of this project:

*) each filmmaker can only use 2 carts MAXIMUM of super8 (any stock?) but it does NOT have to be shot as an in-camera edit.

*) the last shot in each person's "part" must be some sort of transitional shot (the puppet gets on the bus and the bus drives away.....OR......the puppet gets hit or knocked out of frame)

*) the next shooter must start their "part" by picking up where the last shooter left off (example: the puppet gets off and is in a new place.....OR......after getting hit or knocked out of frame, the puppet lands in a whole new situation)

*) must stay PG-Rated (for our younger shooters and viewers).

Hopefully BigBeaner & supermag400_inventor will jump into this thread and share some more thoughts. This should be a fun and very unique project and I'm anxious to see who else would like to be involved. If anybody has any ideas with regards to a formula for this, or other "rules" let's hear them and get this project off to a healthy start....

All in favor say "Pass The Puppet Please!!!"

[VideoFred]

Very awesome idea!
Just at the moment I have plans to shoot some super-8, after 30 years.
(A Canon 814 is waiting to do something with it)

Would it not be nice if everyone has the same puppet?
Something cheap to buy, available all over the world.
Then the puppet could appear on all the films.

A Muppet would be nice (Kermit, Fozzie, Ms.Piggy, Animal!) but not available wordwide anymore, I'm afraid. And we will get no permission to use them, I'm afraid...

Or maybe something very basic and easy to make... with tennis balls or something.

Fred.

[Rollef]

Would it not be nice if everyone has the same puppet?

The puppet can be something that someone with skills draws on paper, and then you everyone can print their own puppet.

That way, it's cheap and no hassle with permissons and stuff

[VideoFred]

The puppet can be something that someone with skills draws on paper, and then you everyone can print their own puppet.

But of cource... That's the solution!
And then everyone could add a small personal detail on it.
Mine would smoke a cigar :lol:

Fred.

[Uppsala BildTeknik]

I was thinking a REAL puppet, not a paper with a drawing.

The same puppet would be sent from shooter to shooter with mail (not e-mail), so it would be exactly the same puppet, if it gets "hurt" in some shot (car accident?) the same mark stays with the rest of the story (this would need to be planned for, so everyone won´t be trashing the puppet...).

[VideoFred]

if it gets "hurt" in some shot.

I could give it to my dog, for a minute
Chris Cortez could do the same

But this is also a nice idea: the same puppet, traveling around the world.
It could become our filmshooting mascot ( if it survives the trip)

Fred.

[espo]

yes, that's a brilliant idea! count me in... I think we should have contest to see who can build/adapt/steal the best puppet, and then the winner (obviously) gets the honour of starting the story AND making the title slide. get yer stop frame out..!

ed

[studiocarter]

Live action would take much less time to shoot using a "live" puppet.
My son bought a dragon head on a stick at the local museaum, sort of a dinosaur t-Rex thing. It could have a cloth around the neck to hide the stick. It has two parts, an upper head and a lower jaw head; inside is an axel and a spring wire. The stick is hollow and connects to a trigger. The top of the head goes up and down so the mouth opens and closes. It snaps shut by default. It looks very easy to build if one had a large spring wire... Actually, I think it stays open with the spring... whatever, you get the idea.

[tlatosmd]

Pass the puppet, please? I can already imagine the German title for a subtitled version: Püppchen, Püppchen, du mußt wandern... :lol:

[gianni1]

Good Idea. Will this puppet travel and visit with our forum members? Reminds me of a Garden Gnome in a french movie that ran away and sent postcards home to his owner of himself in exotic travel locations around the world....

Gianni

[Superbus_]

Very good idea! I'm willing to participate!

[sunrise]

I have puppet design for eye, eyelid, mouth and head movement. I also have the form to make two heads that both fits a puppet approx. 150cm tall. The skeleton is made of wood and I have the design for that also.

The design was never used due to lack of funding (and skill on my part). But if anyone is willing to build one they can have the design. (It's based on the same principle as the first Spitting Image puppets.) Maybe a smaller version would be best.

I'd also like to participate with an episode in the film.

michael

[BigBeaner]

Damn fine good ideas gentlemen! I didn't even think about using a puppet. I can see it right now wandering Paris then falling into someones bag, cut to a shot of an airplane, then it's in Boston about to be attacked by the ducks/geese then off to the south, etc. etc.

I think our best bet is either make a template for a puppet we could all use, not necessarily paper. If not possible, we get one puppet and go along from there and mail it. Pick the best location to start and then work our way across the world from there.

[supermag400_inventor]

OK! ... It's a go then. I will start building the puppet the weekend. Then when I finish with it I will post the photos of it up on the web with a link.

Everyone will vote as to changes...etc.

Then when it's done, I'll shoot the first segment to get the ball going.
After it's done, he's off to the next contestant.

We need to compile a list of participants and some time restrictions. The shooter has to be given a deadline of say two weeks to shoot the segments and send it out to the next player.

I have a friend who is an expert voice over actor that worked with Mel Blank, famous for his voices, and he would be able to do an exellent job on the voice over track.

Each person should write a short script of dialog to send along with the film to provide him with what to say.

This is going to be FUN!

[supermag400_inventor]

Here are a few photos of my work making puppets, models and special effects.

http://www.supermag400.com/creative_ima ... ctions.htm


I think I can come up with something easy to work with for this project. Pass the Puppet, Please will be a blast!