To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2009 07:50:26 -0600
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Michael Meschke - Weight Watchers "Hungry" character


I have "In Search of Aesthetics for the Puppet Theatre" by Michael Meschke.
The copyright is 1992.  I tried looking for copies with www.bookfinder.com,
but didn't have any luck.  (bookfinder searches all the on-line bookseller
lists, so it is usually successful.) It's been quite a few years, since I
read it, but I remember it being quite thought provoking.  I'll have to
re-read it.

Kurt

-----Original Message-----
From: puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org [mailto:puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org]
On Behalf Of Alexander Winfield
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 7:15 AM
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Weight Watchers "Hungry" character

A charming fellow. I felt the puppet was too successful - one feels such
empathy for the little guy that I, for one, shake my head in anger at the
self-righteous people who deny such an adorable and desperate creature a
little food. Feed hunger!
  I've seen a lot of stop motion, and I agree that this most certainly is
not that. Even cutting edge stop motion (see the upcoming Coraline - the
preview alone gave my animator friend nocturnal emissions) has a hard time
looking that 'natural' - ie. the spontaneity of movement. The puppet's fur
is another clue - stop motion animator tend to avoid very furry puppets
(especially in commercial work, where the time frame is very limited) if
possible, as fur is hard to control under stop motion work conditions -
you'd probably have a bristling effect in the fur due to the animator's
manipulation (see King Kong!).
   I was also wondering if anyone has any idea where I can find some
(translated into English?) books by the German/swedish puppeteer Michael
Meschke? I heard about this fellow all the time when I was in Europe, and
everyone said he wrote superlatively on puppets, but it seems all of his
translated works are out of print.

-Alexander



On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 9:01 AM, Mathieu René <creaturiste-AT-primus.ca> wrote:

> I watched it three times.
> I'm certain it was all live puppeteering, of a tv puppet (with two "live
> human arms") manipulated from below and behind, with rods. I think three
> puppeteers at least, maybe more for the juggling shot.
>
> Shot in front of green screen in most of the scenes. The movements are way
> too natural (notice the sudden jerks, totally natural) for a regular stop
> motion. Even if the medium had reached the proper level of illusion,  it
> would still be nearly impossible in this case, considering the usually
> limited time frame allowed to create a publicity.
>
>
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