What Comes First ~ The Puppet or The Script ?

[Enchanted Gypsy]

I am a fiber /doll artist that has been working, along with my husband, for the past few years to turn my creations into a puppet show ( http://enchantedgypsyfiberart.blogspot.com/ ).

I have no experience with puppet shows but do have a life long love of them and a strong motivation to learn. My husband has some experience and a good general theatre background. We are gearing our show to an older audience with an interest in fantasy and mythology.

I have two questions whose answers I hope might help us in determining what our next steps will be.

1) Is it preferable to write a script to fit a puppet or make a puppet to fit a script ?

2) Once we have a good story in mind, is there some way, some formula I can use to effectively get the story from my mind, to paper to show, in a fluid way ?

Would it be helpful to first walk through the show with sock puppets before making the actual puppets ? I wonder if this might help us determine how it will all flow together ? Kind of like a story board for theatre.

Any and all info, tips or advice is welcome .

Thank You ~ Pixie

 

[Blink]

Hi Enchanted Gypsy,

In my opinion, your are trying to tell a story first and foremost (using puppets). That would lend itself to the idea of writing it first.

Just like in a play, you don't usually ire actors and say let's write a story to fit who we have. You write the story and then cast the roles.

Design sketches are a good way to imagine the wrold of your story. Character designs, set designs and even things like props can be realized visually first with sketches.

I think practicing with socks (or even your bare hand for that matter) is a good idea. I would refine your show until you know it is ready and then build the puppets.

What is the point of building a puppet only to realize that you need to get rid of the whole scene s/he is in to make your show more susynct. I say make your show run eactly how you want it to and then get your puppets, props and backgrounds.

 

[Teenager's]

I agree with Blink.

I usually like to design the characters first and then try to develop a story around them and redesigning the character as needed to better fit the story/character--(Ex. My current show has gone from an Mouse to a Squirrel)

But I do like the idea of work shopping your script before building puppets. That way you can work out story kinks and know the story marks you have to hit. But instead of sock puppets....I would think using simple mock-ups of your designs would be better---because it's possible you would get really attached to the sock puppet characters and then once you switched....it wouldn't seem right. Or the sock puppets might not work with your show at all.

But the same with the story.....using mock ups you can figure out what the puppets will need to do what you want.

 

[Frogpuppeteer]

like said before i agree

however i feel its good to be open about maybe if needed slipping in a character to make later on

 

[Blink]

...opinion, your are trying to tell a story...

This typo is driving me nuts, more than any others I have done. It should obviously be "you're" not "your". Sorry.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Ha, ha...Blink's such a teacher.

I really agree that story should come first. If you look at a lot of what people do with puppets on YouTube and elsewhere, where they are really lacking - much more so than technical puppet performance or building skills - is an understanding of story and story structure. I think the most audiences will forgive (or not notice) other things if you tell a good story.

I'm doing a project right now with a group of puppeteers and the process we're using is to workshop everything with mocked-up puppets, videotape it and then develop storyboards. Once the video is storyboarded, we cut together an animatic using a combination of the workshop/rehearsal video and storyboards and edit that and use it as a tool to develop the video. It's a lot of extra work, but a way of working that I'm really starting to like. We've used a similar process to choreograph live work too.

BTW Enchanted Gypsy, I really love your felted needlework.

 

[jcnegron]

I agree with all the previous posters, story come first, and I definitely will try someday what Buck Beaver is suggesting, although I think that technique would probably be most valuable for refining a project.

I sometimes compose music and many times when my mind is blank, a new instrument or sound would spark again my imagination. I believe the same can happen with puppets in a show, they are the instruments that can spark new ideas, and your character are actually quite inspiring.

 

[CBPuppets]

I wonder how Jim Henson did it.