Brand new Video

[Onath]

Hey guys check it out. We have been working hard on the vids.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=33lIV44DHro

Thanks,
Jon

 

[Toasty]

Hi Jonathan. I really like your ideas in these video shorts. I've seen lots of improvements in your performances with each new video. Excellent work.

One thing I think you could do in future videos of this type is adjust your compositions a bit. You've already got the nice simple framing and uncluttered backgrounds of a Sunday comic strip, which really puts focus on your characters. Now loosen the frame up just a bit when 2 characters are in the shot. This will give them a bit more space to turn and react and will help you and other performers block in your positions without struggling to stay inside the tight frame while they act. Tight shots are great, but I think in these you are too tight.

Maybe you have to set up these shots due to technical limitations --- perhaps your backdrop isn't wide and/or tall enough to fill the background if you loosen up the framing in camera, etc. If that is the case, I might be able to offer some tips with lens zoom settings and camera height/angle to help you out of that issue.

Feel free to pick my brain (just don't disturb all the dust bunnies in there or I'll start a sneezing fit that won't stop until Labor Day).

Keep up the great work!

 

[Kevin the Frog]

Ha, I used to do that to my dad all the time when I was a kid. nice.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I was thinking the same thing about composition when I was watching this too. What really stood out for me though was the lack of definite movement. What I mean by "definite movement" is that the movement of the characters is not very strong. Especially the blue puppet on the left, his eye focus is all over the place. I think when you're doing non-verbal comedy strong, definite movement is what makes or breaks you.

I am not sure how you guys like to stage stuff, but what I like to do is break a script down in to "beats" (moments where something happens) and figure out exactly what the puppet should be doing at that moment. Once that is done anything the puppet does (movement, expression, etc.) is to clearly express whatever those beat-by-beat goals are for the puppet.

Years ago I was taught that the litmus test for whether a video works or not is to shut off the sound and watch it silently. If you can still tell what the story is with no sound then it works. If you can't then something is wrong. If you watch any of the Mr. Bean shorts, or Charlie Chaplan movies or even Pixar's video promos for Wall-E on YouTube, they are all great examples of characters that are defined by strong, definite movement.

Those are just some random thoughts. I really like what you guys have been doing with these videos. It would be fun to see a video of one of your live shows sometime.

 

[Onath]

Wow actual feedback. I love it thanks guys for watching the video. This is exactly what I need. I am part of the Boston Area Guild of Puppetry but alas I have not met a single person here who does Mouth and Rod puppets. I have learned many other things from the guild. Also there is no here for me to talk to about video puppetry either.

Ok now for answering some questions and asking some. Composition it is a little limiting right now for practice space and our video space. We have been granted permission to use the space for free but it is really not large enough. The other thing is that the backdrop is just a projection screen pulled down so it doesn't allow for to much of a wider shot. If you have a solution for this please help.

I am glad to hear that you guys feel like we are improving. We do review all of our tapes and try and look with a real critical eye. But I really do love the constructive criticism. My partner after watching the tape was a little frustrated with his eye movement on the blue puppet as well. So I guess the good thing is that we can see the problems.

Right now our main goal is puppeteer as much as possible. I do a lot on public transportation(so many wierd looks) We are reviewing our tapes(which we have every second of), have been doing a lot work on some bigger stories that we are writing, lots of work on our building puppet skills, and just trying to be the best puppet people we can.

So please feel free to look back at any of our work on youtube and tell us what works what doesn't and if you have some ideas on how to possibly set up our camera better for a nicer composition it would be greatly appreciated. Both Stephen and myself will be at the Puppeteers of America festival in July and hopefully can do some workshops.

Cheers and keep those comments coming.
Jon

 

[Toasty]

The other thing is that the backdrop is just a projection screen pulled down so it doesn't allow for to much of a wider shot. If you have a solution for this please help.

Hi Jon

I had a feeling you might be dealing with a limitation like that. Projector screens aren't too wide, so that will be a challenge, but here are a couple things you can try to help loosen up your framing a bit:

Move the camera as far away from the screen as you can and then zoom in until the screen's edges are barely cropped off. You might be able to do some camera tests to see if the viewfinder or LCD on the camera is showing more or less than you're actually getting on the tape. They are rarely setup to show 100 percent of the coverage and will often crop a bit off. This means that you can set the zoom using the LCD and then when you look at the footage on the computer, you will end up having a bit more in the frame than you intended to show.

Once you get the lens zoomed where you need it, position the camera on the tripod so that the lens height is about even with your elbow, and then tilt the tripod head up slightly (but don't show the top edge of the backdrop) to focus the lens toward the eye line of your puppets. This upward tilt will be more pronounced when you are working with wider lenses and the performers are closer to the camera, but even on longer lens shots (like the one you are setting up here to avoid the small backdrop issues) a small amount of upward lens tilt will help you maintain a more natural hand position, and it's accompanying eye focus, while performing. Whether you stand or kneel to perform in this scenerio, the overall height of the tripod should be adjusted to get the camera height and the elbow and the lens focus at the eyes.

Now you just put the performers closer to the backdrop than you are probably used to being to get the looser composition needed for the videos. To avoid shadows on the backdrop, you'll want to be as close to the camera as you can get while still keeping the composition where it needs to be, and have the main lights set at a high angle pointing down towards the puppets, so any shadow will throw below the sight line of the camera lens. If shadows persist where you don't want them, just try to raise the ambient light of the entire room to more closely match the key light. This will be flatter lighting, but better than pesky shadows where you don't want them. It won't be perfect, but hopefully this solution will help you in your small studio.

If you don't have the space to move the camera back enough, to make this setup work as described, then maybe you can stretch a wider (and taller if possible) backdrop in front of the projector screen. A couple backdrop stands with cross bar and a 9 foot wide muslin or similar will offer you the flexibility of shooting with a wider lens setting.

And just as an aside, I wouldn't try to do any kind of chroma key work (if you were even thinking of doing that) until you have more space to work with. Lighting the backdrop evenly is really important with that sort of thing and if you have limited space, you won't be able to light the backdrop without having your puppets throwing some shadows where you don't want them, which will make those areas harder to key out.

Hopefully my descriptions made sense... please let me know if any of this needs clarification.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

There is instructions for a very cheap and easy to build DIY background stand here. You can buy a roll of seamless backdrop paper in any professional photography store in whatever colour you'd like.

 

[Onath]

Thanks guys I appreciate the advice and it all makes sense by the way

 

[Buck-Beaver]

A couple of old posts on my blog from a few years ago that you might find helpful (if you haven't already seen them) are:

- Twelve questions for puppeteers
- Six more things for puppeteers to think about

I've also got a lot of stuff under Puppetry Theory that you might find useful.

 

[Onath]

Thanks Buck those are really good things to keep in mind.