Courses Of Study In Puppeteering, Film and Television

[Frogster]

MOD NOTE: Read below for a list of colleges dealing in puppetry courses. ~Kevin

Hey everyone, I'm about to transfer out of this shabby two-year college and move on to a university. The thing is, I still would love to get into puppetry and maybe do so for a living. I was wanting to know if any of you out there have recommendations to universities that have a great puppetry program. I'm good with voices and manipulation, but I don't know how to build a puppet. So, if there's any schools you may know of, post back here, private message me, or email me at lucasbervin@yahoo.com. Thanks so much!

 

[gfarkwort]

Obviously the University of Conneticut....but theres also CalArt's in California and SCAD in Savannah/Atlanta.....so where are you willing to go location wise?

 

[Frogster]

anywhere... if I find some colleges, I'll write some letters

 

[Buck-Beaver]

UCONN is your best bet if you can manage to go there; a lot of the people working professionally in the NYC puppet scene went there. Any place were you can spend a few years learning, practicing and growing as an artist is fantastic though.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Luke, if you call me and remind me one day I'll search out a list of colleges that the JHC sent me years and years ago. It's a starting point. Plus, I can get that information into MC for future reference.

Buck's right though, UCONN is the one I've always heard about. You might also check the puppeteers of America website.

 

[Eight's King]

CalArts (California Institute for the Arts) in Southern California is affiliated with the Disney Company, and now that they are owners of the Muppet Characters they may start doing more direct "Muppet" work in there Puppetry Performance Areas. Check it out. I went there for a semester and the school campus is so wonderful and small and all the many disciplines are intertwined, like you could possibly take vocal lessons to develop more character voices, work on puppet creation in their fine arts department, and then theatre for the actual productions. But I don't know if they do THAT much intigration of disciplines. But, after class you could drive down the 5 freeway and go to Disneyland!?!

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Hi, all. The following information is an insert that I got from Jim Henson Productions in 1994:

COURSES OF STUDY IN PUPPETEERING, FILM AND TELEVISION
IN THE UNITED STATES: FILM
1) NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
a. Undergraduate Institute of Film and Television
Contact: Haig Manoogian
65 South Building,
Washington Square,
New York, NY 10003
212-598-3702
-Some Courses: Film History, Producing for TV/Vilm, Intro to 1/2" video, Nonverbal cmomunication, The Actor's Craft, Still Photography, Sound: Funcing and Editing
-Degrees Offered: BFA in Film/TV
-Admission Requirements: 3.0 Min GPA, 1100 combined SAT score
-Curricular Emphasis on all types of filmmaking, television study and production.

b. Department of Cinema Studies
Contact: Robert Sklar, Chairman
School of the Arts,
51 West 4th St
New York, NY 10003
212-598-7777
Some courses: (Undergrad) Film History, Contemporary cinema, Politics and film, History of American Film. (Grad) The American "B" Film, the Mythj of the "last" western, DW Griffith: The years at biograph, Films of Alfred Hitchcock, Cinema & Language.
Degrees Offered: BFA, MA, PhD in Cinema Studies.
Admission Req: (Undergrad) 3.0 min GPA, SAT scores, professional recommendations, teachers' recommendations, written statement of purpose. (Grad) 3.0 min GPA, professional and teachers' recommendations, written statement of purpose.
Curricular emphasis: Film study: 1) criticism and aesthetics 2) history 3)theory.

2) UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
Contact John W. Young, Chairman.
Theater Arts Dept
405 Hilgard Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90024
213-825-7891
some courses: (Undergrad) History of the American Motion Picture, experimental Film, Film Genres. (Grad) Seminar in Film, Advanced Animation Workshop, Seminar in Documentary Film.
Degrees offered: BA, MFA in Production and writing; BA, MA, PhD in Critical Studies.
Admission Req: (UG) 3.0 min gpa, portfolio, teachers' recommendations, written statment of purpose, original writing. (Grad) 3.0 min GPA, GRE scores, portfolio, teachers recommendations, written statement of purpose, original writing.
Curricular emphasis on all aspects of filmmaking and teleivsion including history and experiementation.

3) BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC (Sound engineering)
Steven Lipman, Dir. of Admissions
1140 Boylston St
Boston MA 02215
617-266-1400
Admission req: Minimum of 2 years musical study and/or experience in some phase of music. Letters of reference, scores of college entrance exams. High school diploma.
-Offers a course providing survey of skills necessary for efficient production of master tapes of all types of music, overview of recording studio technology and procedures as well as businesss aspects. The course also offers mathmatics for procedures as well as business aspects, mathmatics for producers and sound engineers, ear training and the theory of sound.

PUPPETEERING

1 THE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT
Storrs, CT 06268
Contact Dr. F Ballard
203-486-4025
Admission Req: Completion of 16 units of work at an accredited secondary school or the equivalent, satisfactory SAT scores.
Courses: Majors in puppetry, Advanced Puppetry Techniques I & II, Trends in the contemporary puppet theater.
Degrees offered: BA, MA, MFA
Fees: $45 per credit, a maximum of $221 per semester.

2) UCLA
Dr. Mel Helstein, Dept of Theater
405 hilgard Ave
Los Angeles CA 90024
213-825-5761

3) Univ of South Florida
dept of Theater, Attn: Wm Lorenzen
Tampa FL 33620

4) West Virginia Univ
Creative Arts Center, Attn: Joann Spencer Siegrist
Morgantown WV 26506

5) Univ of Hawaii/Manua
Dept of Drama and Theater
Attn Tamara hunt
1770 East-West Road
Honolulu HI 96822

6) Institute of Puppetry Arts
305 Great neck Rd
Waterford CT 06385
203-443-5378
212-382-2790
2-year program, req: BA Degree or Professional Experience

 

[faze]

Puppeteering Schools In Toronto

Hey there

I was wondering if there are any schools or colleges for Puppeteering and Puppet Building? in the Toronto area?

I know there is one run by the Puppet Mongers Theatre in Toronto, besides that, does anybody know of any other places/

Faze

 

[Blink]

Hey there

I was wondering if there are any schools or colleges for Puppeteering and Puppet Building? in the Toronto area?

I know there is one run by the Puppet Mongers Theatre in Toronto, besides that, does anybody know of any other places/

Faze

Hey Faze,

I think that is the best you will find in Toronto (Puppet Mongers). There are often workshops put on by a number of builders, sometimes through Puppet Mongers and sometimes through individual builders themselves. I heard of a course at York that included puppetry, but I don't think it was for building or that it was the main focus.

I honestly think that people can learn a lot from just experimenting and figuring things out.

When I started out that was all I heard "Build and learn from your mistakes" I thought it was a load of garbage at the time. I mean how was I supposed to build if I didn't know where to start?

After a lot of building, and after I began to meet other builders, I realized that there is no right or wrong way to make puppets. It either works or it doesn't. In fact years after I built my first puppet and after I had tried to find out how "real builders" built their puppets, I came to discover that my first puppet was very close to the way many excellent builders I have met build their puppets.

I know it sounds like garbage, but get some pictures of your favourtie puppets and try to copy them. I don't just mean Muppets I mean any of your favourite puppets. Try to figure it out. Believe me I learned the most from just doing and maning those miskates.

Also you can visit the local library, there are tons of books on puppetry there.

Noreen Young offers a great DVD on making latex rubber puppets, plus the DVD outlines (briefly) how to build cartoon style puppets.

In fact she is offering a workshop this May 29th to June 2nd. Read about it here.

I hope that helps.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Just a little more info re: York's puppetry course, they actually do cover construction techniques, but it's mostly a performance-oriented course and I believe it's only open to people who are already studying at York (you can't just take it part-time or on it's own). The course covers a whole range of puppetry styles and is quite good.

My girlfriend is a York grad and knows most of the theatre people there, so if anyone wants more specific info about it email me privately and I'll find out whatever you need to know.