Alternate Puppetry Techniques
From Muppet Wiki
| Puppetry is a very wide field. It encompasses a lot of different ways of operating hand puppets and marionettes and rod-control figures and people in black. There are many, many different techniques and I like – I feel that we can use them all. We try to use a lot of them. I believe in using any technique that will work for, if we’re doing television, for the shot we’re doing, or for film. But I’m not a purist in terms of what puppetry is, or what it should or shouldn’t be.
| 
|
Jim Henson and the Muppets often merged elements of traditional puppet techniques and modified them for use in television and film. One example of this is the use of multiple performers dressed all in black operating a single character. On the documentary Inside the Labyrinth, Jim Henson makes note of this style of puppetry, saying that "velvet is probably the blackest fabric that you can use, so that's what they had to wear." If the lighting is just right, the performers dressed in black velvet become almost invisible when in front of a background of black velvet. Often times, this background is then replaced by superimposing another background over top of it. This allows a character to be seen from head-to-toe, and move about freely, without any puppeteers visible.
This style of puppetry is based on "Bunraku," which is a type of puppetry founded in Osaka, Japan in 1684. In an interview with Jim Henson, it was suggested that Bunraku was an inspiration for the Muppets. Henson corrected the statement:
|
| No, I don't think so. ... Bunraku is a marvelous and fascinating art form and puppetry form but, basically, I knew nothing about it until I had been working for a number of years myself.
|
|
A form of Czechoslovakian puppetry also involves performers that dress all in black. They perform in front of a black curtain with brilliantly colored puppets that are lit from the side and the top. This makes the puppeteer almost invisible from the audience, and this typically only requires one performer for the puppet characters. This style of puppetry is called black light theater, and it has been used various times by the Muppets and the Jim Henson Company.
Both of these forms of puppetry have also been used against a blue or green screen.
Multiple Performers Operating a Single Character
Below is a list of instances where multiple performers are used to operate a single character in Henson/Muppet Productions:
The Ed Sullivan Show
Sesame Street
- "Octopus' Garden"
- "Sammy the Snake"
- "Doin' the Pigeon"
- "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon"
- "Disco Frog"
- "Monster in the Mirror" (Grover walking down the street)
- "Happy Tappin' with Elmo"
- Baby Tooth and the Funky Funk
- Elmo's World
- Journey to Ernie
- "I Love Words"
- "See the Signs"
- These techniques have been used since 1992 in creating the Sesame Street Openings.
The Muppet Show
- Episode 106: "The Danceros"
- Episode 108: "All of Me"
- Episode 117: "Pure Imagination"
- Episode 208: "The Varsity Drag"
- Episode 221: "Don't Fence Me In"
- Episode 307: "Welcome to My Nightmare", "Once a Year Day"
- Episode 312: "Octopus' Garden"
- Episode 319: "Animal Crackers in My Soup"
- Episode 403: "Take a Chance on Me"
- Episode 409: "Muppera" (chin puppets)
- Episode 415: "Snowbird", "Dancing on the Ceiling"
- Episode 418: "Disco Frog"
- Episode 419: "Rubber Band Man"
- Episode 423: "Your Feet's Too Big"
- Episode 501: Gene Kelly teaches Kermit to tap dance.
- Episode 506: "Jabberwocky"
- Episode 508: "Puppet Man"
- Episode 519: "Friendship"
Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas
- Talent Show:
- Yancey Woodchuck sings "Bar-B-Que"
The Muppet Movie
- Kermit and Fozzie dance at the El Sleezo Cafe.
Fraggle Rock
- Episode 109: The Lost Treasure of the Fraggles: Gobo and Red cross a ledge during their journey to find the treasure.
- Episode 210: A Friend in Need: Certain shots of Gobo on the Ultimate Slide.
- Episode 206: Boober's Dream: Boober floats in his dream.
- Episode 304: The Grapes of Generosity: Gobo becomes weightless.
- Episode 402: Wembley's Wonderful Whoopie Water: Wembley on top of a geyser.
- Episode 506: Beyond the Pond: Gobo and Red swimming underwater.
Labyrinth
- The Fireys sing "Chilly Down"
The Jim Henson Hour
The Muppet Christmas Carol
- Jacob and Robert Marley
- The Ghost of Christmas Past
- Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim walk down the street singing.
Muppet Treasure Island
- Bad Polly swings in to attack Samuel Arrow.
- Captain Abraham Smollett in certain shots of his fight with Long John Silver.
Muppets Tonight!
- Episode 109: "Once in a Lifetime"
- Episode 204: The Dancing Grandmas
- Episode 206: Pigs in Space: Deep Dish Nine: Gravity, "Opposites Attract"
- Episode 207: Kermit the Frog walks to Gilbert Gottfried's house.
The Adventures of Pinocchio
- The Creature Shop provided effects. Several shots of Pinocchio.
Muppets from Space
- Gonzo flies through space and meets the Cosmic Fish.
The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland
- Elmo wakes up and runs around the room frantically.
- Elmo parachutes with his blanket.
- Telly Monster's rollerblading sequence (including Elmo running after his blanket).
- Super Grover flying.
- Elmo falling down Oscar's trash can, then falling toward Grouchland.
- Elmo dances to "Take the First Step".
- The Humongous Chicken.
Kermit's Swamp Years
- Croaker when he hops.
What's the Name of That Song?
- Super Grover flies through the opening.
Pizza Hut commercial
- Miss Piggy performs "These Bites Are Made for Poppin'."
Ready To Learn
- Cookie Monster in a Mission: Impossible parody.
- Super Grover in a Superman parody.
Black Light Theater
Below ia a list of black light theater usage in Henson/Muppet Productions:
The Ed Sullivan Show
- "Java"
Sesame Street
The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence
The Muppet Show
- Episode 101: "Solace"
- Episode 105: "Lady of Spain"
- Episode 113: "In a Little Spanish Town", "All I Need Is the Girl"
- Episode 119: "I'm Looking Through You"
- Episode 120: "Nobody Does It Like Me"
- Episode 121: "Dance"
- Episode 122: "Java"
- Episode 124: "When I'm Not Near the Fish I Love"
- Episode 201: "Windmills of Your Mind"
- Episode 203: Pigs In Space: The Headlight on a Motorcycle
- Episode 216: "If"
- Episode 217: Gonzo's Act: "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"
- Episode 218: "Tweedle Dee"
- Episode 220: "The Boy From Ipanema"
- Episode 310: "Dance"
- Episode 324: "South Rampart Street Parade"
- Episode 403: "In a Little Spanish Town"
- Episode 416: "You'll Never Walk Alone"
- Episode 417: "Three Little Fishies"
- Episode 506: "Falling Song"
- Episode 514: "Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me"
Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas
- Talent Show:
- Shirley and Nat Muskrat dance as "Carrots the Dancing Horse"
- Squirrels dance
- George and Melissa Rabbit dance
Fraggle Rock
- Episode 123: The Beast of Blue Rock:
- Philo and Gunge sit on a branch behind Wembley when he visits the Trash Heap.
- Wembley sits on an ancient Doozer construction.
- Episode 124: New Trash Heap in Town: The Flying Batworm flies through the caves.
- Episode 201: Wembley's Egg: Mama and Papa Tree Creature while flying and Baby's balloon flight.
- Episode 206: Boober's Dream: Gobo, Wembley, Mokey, Red and the Flying Whoopie Cushion float in Boober's dream.
- Episode 213: Red's Club: Red gets untied and falls into the Fraggle Pond.
- Episode 216: Junior Sells the Farm: Wander McMooch when he's first introduced and jumping around.
- Episode 220: A Cave of One's Own: Lanford
- Episode 222: Doozer Is As Doozer Does: Turbo and the Doozers floop.
- Episode 223: Boober's Quiet Day: Boober, while dreaming, floats in a teacup.
- Episode 307: Home Is Where the Trash Is: Wander McMooch during his song, "Manic McMooch"
- Episode 312: Gobo's School for Explorers: Gobo and Red parachute down the hole to Who-Knows-Where.
Muppet Classic Theater
- The Big Bad Wolf is rocketed into space.
Muppet Treasure Island
- Captain Abraham Smollett stands in his carraige.
- Smollett's stance just prior to fighting Long John Silver.
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
- The Bossmen perform during the failed "Cirque du So Lamé" number.
Sources
- ↑ Jim Henson Interview, The Muppets Take Manhattan DVD
