Frances
From Muppet Wiki
Frances is a children's series that has been in development at the Jim Henson Company. Henson partnered with HIT Entertainment to bring the storybook character of Frances, a young badger from the book series by Russell and Lillian Hoban, to life with the use of digital puppetry. The series premiered on June 20, 2008 on PBS Kids Sprout, as part of the channel's "Summer Fun Fridays" programming block. [1]
Contents |
Production announcements
In September 2005, The Hollywood Reporter said that "Henson has high hopes for a series of DVDs, followed by a preschool-skewing TV series, based on Russell Hoban's beloved series of books that tell the story of an irrepressible young badger. The first pair of DVDs is set for release in the spring through HIT Entertainment." [2]
The Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas: Collector's Edition DVD, released in 2005, included a trailer for the DVD series. According to the trailer, the videos would have three stories about "taking on the challenges of childhood." [3]
In October 2005, Amazon.com listed two DVDs with a release date of January 24, 2006 -- Bedtime with Frances and Bread and Jam for Frances. [4] The listings were subsequently pulled.
Cast
- Julianne Buescher: Gloria (face/voice/motion capture puppet), Albert (face/voice)
- Michelan Sisti: Gloria (motion capture arm rig/body)
- Arturo Gil: Albert (motion capture body)
- Bruce Lanoil: Father Badger (face/voice)
- Tony Prince: Father Badger (motion capture body)
- Leslie Carrara: Mother Badger (face/voice)
- Nameer El-Kadi: Mother Badger (motion capture body)
- Kristen Charney: Frances (face)
Technology
The show used the Henson Digital Performance System, which allows puppeteers to control computer generated characters in real-time. Unlike traditional computer animation, the show uses computer puppetry to bring the characters to life. Brian Henson, director of the Frances pilot, discussed the process in a radio interview:
| The technology we’ve developed allows a puppeteer to puppeteer/perform a character that is being animated in real time...If you go into one of our puppeteer-animation sound stages, which there is only one of, you would see what feels like a real operating live-action set, and the puppeteers are performing – one puppeteer is performing the body, one is puppeteer is performing the head and voice – and what we’re getting is these wonderful organic performances. The computer is not doing any animation. The computer is not allowed move anything; only people can move anything. So there’s a camera operator, moving our virtual camera, and there are performers who are puppeteering the bodies and the heads of the character. [5]
| 
|
|
| We’re having, I've got to say, so much fun; because we can improvise... What’s great about puppets are that they are spontaneous, and what we’re trying to do in our 3-D animation, is to really be spontaneous. So we’re really working the material in front of the camera. And we have big projectors, so they can see what [the computer] sees. We’re doing performed animation, and it’s a lot of fun. [5]
|
|
Post production was undertaken at the London Creature Shop under the VFX Supervision of Stephen Coren and Animation Director, Mak Wilson. This entailed motion capture clean-up, additional animation and lighting, texturing and rendering.
Sources
- ↑ "Sprout to Launch Summer Fun Fridays", WorldScreen.com, Kristin Brzoznowski. May 29, 2008.
- ↑ "Coming attractions", The Hollywood Reporter, Ray Richmond. September 20, 2006.
- ↑ Frances DVD trailer, Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas: Collector's Edition DVD, 2005.
- ↑ Amazon.com listings for Bedtime with Frances, Bread and Jam for Frances.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Brian Henson Interview - September 2005, WKRB West in Salt Lake City, radio interview
