chicken puppet multi use

[faze]

for the short movie i am working on has a chicken as the lead character and other chickens as guards

- in order to show different chickens together wuld i have to get mulitple chicken puppets made? or use the one i have?

could i just use that 1 and have him dressed in different outfits?

what would be the best solution?

 

[SesameKermie]

It depends on how much work you want to do in "post production." Both methods would work--Dressing one chicken in different outfits or habing multiple puppets. It also depends on the scene--some methods work better than others for different types of scenes.

In big budget movies crowd scenes are often shot with a few extras and then composited to make one giant crowd:

|A|B|C| etc. First they're filmed in postition A, then B then C . . . until your crowd is large enough.

If a conversation is occurring between 2 or more puppets, changing outfits and changing shots when the new speaker starts should work. Film the Puppet as Character A, Change to Character B and film B and switch. You could also film character A's lines all at once with someone feeding you b's responses so that the timing is right, switch to B and feed a's responses, and then edit the whole mess together so it looks like A and B are talking to each other.

I hope this made sense and helped.

Jason

 

[faze]

Thanks Jason,

that helps alot and makes sense, cause i am a film student starting out on my first short film, and thought use whatever is cost effective

i like the idea of the shooting Chicken A's dialogue all at once and somebody readin them and the do the same for Chicken B

 

[Was Once Ernie]

i like the idea of the shooting Chicken A's dialogue all at once and somebody readin them and the do the same for Chicken B

I know this comment is going to sound snarky and mean, and I hope I don't offend, but...

What are they teaching you if they haven't taught you that? That's basic film technique, whether it's with puppets or actors.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I think he meant shooting all of Chicken A's dialogue with the puppet, then re-dressing it and using the same puppet to shoot Chicken B's dialogue from another angle.

 

[Was Once Ernie]

I think he meant shooting all of Chicken A's dialogue with the puppet, then re-dressing it and using the same puppet to shoot Chicken B's dialogue from another angle.

Yes, I understand. That is what he meant. But that's the way all single camera film is shot. Let's say it's a two person scene. You shoot a master shot with both people in the frame, then you go back and shoot each actor individually, with the actor off-camera feeding lines to the one on-camera. Then you reverse and shoot the scene again with the off-camera actor now on and vice-versa. It's the most basic of film technique, unless you are using multiple cameras, but that's a different story.

I realize he only has one puppet, but it would still be the same if an actor was playing his own twin in a scene. It's the way movies have been made since almost the beginning of cinema. I just thought if you were taking a film class that they'd at least teach you the very basics before they have you go out and start making films.

 

[SesameKermie]

Actually, I think it was my lack of understanding of film concepts rather than any shortcoming on Faze's part. I only know what little I've picked up from watching "behind the scenes" documentaries.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Wasn't the question simply whether it was better to use one puppet or multiple puppets?