Date: Thu, 03 Oct 2002 01:23:02 -0400
Subject: Re: PUPT: Dead Puppet


>During my new show, (a dragons first christmas) I would like to have the 
>main character Noodles the Dragon (Axtell Dinostar) to watch the rest of 
>the show.  Is there any way of having a puppet in view of the audience 
>not looking dead?

>Colin Dymond	

  Can the dragon have a special chair to sit in and watch the show? If the
chair faces the stage, and has a high back with wings, he won't be seen much
by the audience.  But depending on the size of the puppet, it might be a
sightline obstruction.  Perhaps the puppet can be more to the side in his
special chair. As long as the eyes and most of the face are not seen by the
audience, I don't think you will get that "dead puppet" feel from him.  I
don't there needs to be any movement.  Of course, having lighting which goes
off of the puppet helps to tell the audience to ignore him for a while.

  However, if the face of the puppet is seen, it might be good to have the
puppet move... but now you are talking animatronics here.  There is a
product called "Keep Alive" and other similar devices which can connect to a
radio-control type servo (but you don't need a radio) They will record a
short series of movements and play them back.  I think the cheapest I have
seen such a device is around $75.  But, you need to create the mechanisms so
that you can manipulate the puppet without them interfering.  Let me know if
you want more info and I will look up the links.

Joe Dunfee  joe-AT-dunfee.com
Strasburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.



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