Curious Kitchen T.V. Pilot Highlight reel

[Onath]

Hey everyone,

Just want to show you guys my highlight reel from a T.V. Pilot we did this summer. We built, designed, voiced, and puppeteered the puppet. The film just finished its post production so we made a quick highlight reel of some of our work.

Check it out and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olMxt...e=channel_page

Thanks,
Jon

 

[JimJudy]

Id like to see the whole video if I could, but what I saw from that was great, but it wasnt funny. But that just might be because it was not the whole video, but I don't know.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Puppetry-wise, I think this looks good. The only thing I noticed is that the entire time Cheffy is too low in the frame. If you were to imagine him as a real person, he has his hands up around his shoulders, which is very unnatural.

Unrelated to the puppetry, there are a couple of massive props in front of the girl and Cheffy. The flour and sugar containers and the bowl are very distracting which is too bad because it partially conceals what is going on.

 

[mike short]

I don't get the eggs/vegetable oil gag. And it seems to be the crux of the reel. (I'm a comic actor & improvisor, so joke structure is something that I'm very nerdy about.) If the joke is simply "Oh, I handed you the wrong thing when you wanted something else," then the joke isn't very strong. I am lacking context of the joke, though, so I may be missing something.

The action is very "down." The characters do not engage the audience with their actions, their faces point down, their eyes don't meet, the voices are small. I don't mean that they should look at the camera persay, but they should keep their faces and eyes up and alive and their actions clear.

It does highlight some well choreographed puppetry though, what with handing the various props over to the girl. That part I enjoyed.

 

[Onath]

Hey Guys,

Well first off thanks for taking a look at the clip.

Now let me try and answer to your questions.

@Jim Judy- I can't show you the entire episode sorry. I am only allowed you use sections for demo reel purposes only.

@ Buck-Beaver - I agree with you on everything you said. The puppet is too low for me as well. I was only in charge of the puppetry. I had no power on shot composition. The way the kitchen was set up was extremely difficult to puppeteer. It was a real kitchen so both me and the assistant puppeteer for the right hand were squished up next to the cabinets. I also agree with you about props.

@ Mike Short- To get the eggs joke you have to see the entire episode. The show is sort of a science/cooking show. The beginning of the episode a kid wrote in to the show saying that he doesn't like eggs but he wants to make a cake. Cheffy(the puppet) is disgusted by the idea and throughout the episode he wants to use eggs and hates the idea of anything else. As for the voices being small it is due to the sound guy. Some other parts of the episode have serious issues with sound. I also agree with you about the direction to the camera. We were not provided with a monitor that was connected to the lead camera. We had a monitor from a secondary camera that was off to the side. So everything was a slight bit off in my mind.

Well thanks for taking a look and I'm glad that you think some of the puppet stuff was alright that is really all we had control of other than some adlibs here and there.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

The puppet is too low for me as well. I was only in charge of the puppetry. I had no power on shot composition. The way the kitchen was set up was extremely difficult to puppeteer. It was a real kitchen so both me and the assistant puppeteer for the right hand were squished up next to the cabinets.

There is almost always a problem with doing puppets on a set, especially when actors are involved so I think everybody here sympathizes.

One thing though...the puppet's height is completely under the puppeteer's control. If you just can't reach, you can sit on sandbags, crates, etc. I took a workshop once from a puppeteer who told us about performing a scene lying down, partially hanging out of a bus. His attitude was that if he could do that and still hit his marks, nobody else could make excuses!

There is almost always a way to fix height problems with a little creativity. A puppeteer I work with always brings a small adjustable stool for herself in case she encounters height problems.