The Cicada Princess

It's been a long time since I have mentioned any puppet related items here and this is too good not to share.  For years I have been kicking around the idea of meshing puppeteering with stop motion so I am glad to have discovered THE CICADA PRINCESS which does all of that and more.

Watch the vid:

Cicada Princess from Mauricio Baiocchi on Vimeo.

Go to the official site for more details in this amazing project and even help out by donating to it.

(h/t to Puppetvision)

Behind-the-Scenes: Movie Magic

Update:  The links below are now dead.  Here is the new link:  http://www.joda-entertainment.nl/mm

Over at Slash Film is a super-cool collection of twelve episodes of the 1994 Discovery Channel show Movie Magic;

Snipped from IMDB:

Documentary series dealing with every aspect of special effects in movies, from low-budget make-up to multi-million-dollar computer-generated graphics. The clear presentation includes descriptions of the creation and technical problems of the effects, and interviews with effects technicians, directors, stars and other crew. Each episode deals with one topic, effect or technician (eg theme park rides, CGI, Stan Winston), concentrating on one or more current or recent films. Written by Cynan Rees


Each episode is still a treasure trove of useful information for anyone interested in visual or special effects, prop building, creature fx, and miniatures.

Go here to see the vids.

STOP-MOTION BUILD UP METHOD

Besides sculpting and casting a stop-motion puppet there is a alternative way to build one known as the "build-up method."

The phrase was coined by Ray Harryhausen who came up with the method at the beginning of his stop-motion career. It involves crafting a wire armature (instead of ball and socket) and then applying thin sheets of upholstery foam over it for muscles and then painting latex over it. Afterwards the puppet is given skin texture and is painted for a overall finish. The overall look of the puppet if done right is amazing.

Here are a couple of links for you to check out if you are interested in crafting your own build-up puppet:

The Lone Animator - an brilliant site crammed full with tons of images and vids of puppets made by using build-up.

Stop Motion Works - a tutorial on build up puppets

THE ART OF STOP-MOTION AT ANIMAZING

Here is something fantastic I got in my email this morning:

The SoHo art gallery, Animazing, is hosting a Art of Stop-Motion exhibit and sale of the films of Tim Burton and Henry Sellick. The exhibit will showcase props, storyboards, and conceptual art from films such as The Nightmare Before Christmas and the more recent Coraline.

The event will start on Thursday and run until December 31st and is free and open to the public. The gallery is open seven days of the week. The gallery is located at 54 Greene Street on the corner of Broome in Soho. More information can be found at the Animazing website and the exhibit will go online at the site after 7PM on November 12th. Go here for more details.

Click on the image below to read the official press release: