How does a Muppet walk?

[ramdas]

I am Ramdas Padhye, Ventriloquist, Puppeteer and Puppet-Maker from India performing for last 38 years.
I have one question.Does anybody know how the Muppets walk when there are no sets erected above 5 feet.I think they use a roller skates like device.Do Muppeteers sit on the rollers skate?I always wonder how the Muppets walk so swiftly, especially in Sesame Street.I saw a Sesame Street Biography where the Muppets are operated in similar fashion.Pls let me know if there are any experienced Muppeteers on this list who can answer my question.

 

[D'Snowth]

I'm not a muppeteer, but I believe I can answer your question about that...from what I've seen in some behind-the-scenes footage of some recent Muppet movies, I noticed the muppeteers lye on some sort of platform on wheels, that crewmenn pull with cables across the stage, and the muppeteers perform the walks. However, on Sesame Street, from what I've seen, the muppeteers sit on very thin seat cushions, and scoot along the sidewalk, making the Muppet walk. In the old days, if they showed the entire Muppet walk, the muppeteers would wear those black suits, and shoot the scene in front of a black screen, and they would make the muppet walk with rods attached to the feet, in the same way they do the hands. Now adays, they usually do it with computer animation. I hope this helps in anyway.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

There are tracks that are laid on the ground in most cases, and a chair is set on that track (below camera view) and the performer is either pushed or pulled into position.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

There isn't a one-size-fits-all answer to this question. What is used would depend on the circumstances, what the puppeteers or production prefers and what's needed for a particular shot. I think that although a puppeteering dolly on a track is sometimes used, the typical solution involves some kind of low-to-the-ground stool or seat with wheels. Back in the days of the Muppet Show they sometimes just used wheeled chairs. Skateboards can work too.

The key to building one of these things (if that's what you need to do) is buy the expensive dolly wheels, not the cheap ones. That have to be really fluid and quiet otherwise they are usually not very good for filming.

 

[Erine81981]

I found that using those exerice things are good to use. I can't think of what there called but I used them alot when I would do behind sets and all. I didn't ever do any TV or camera I just used them to get around when I wanted to play around with my puppets to make them eazier to get around.

 

[Pug Lover]

In the book"Sesame Street Unpaved',there is a behind-the-scenes picture of how the Ernie & Bert in their apartment scenes are made.It appears that the apartment set is perched high above the heads of the muppeteers,so that all they have to do is raise their hands into the set above them to perform Ernie and Bert.

However that makes me wonder about a particular scene in the 1978 TV special"Christmas Eve On Sesame Street".The scene I'm referring to,is where Mr.Hooper pays Ernie and Bert a visit in their apartment.He must have been on a pretty high and secure platform.

 

[Punch'n'Judy]

The scene I'm referring to,is where Mr.Hooper pays Ernie and Bert a visit in their apartment.He must have been on a pretty high and secure platform.

Take a look at the making of Xmas Carol, on the DVD, in particular the Scrooge song sequence where Michael Caine walks up to his office door through a crowd of Muppets.

 

[Rowbes]

In the old days, if they showed the entire Muppet walk, the muppeteers would wear those black suits, and shoot the scene in front of a black screen, and they would make the muppet walk with rods attached to the feet, in the same way they do the hands. Now adays, they usually do it with computer animation. I hope this helps in anyway.

I just wanted to add that this method is still used quite often today, only rather than black suits, they wear green or blue chromatic suits against a green or blue screen. They fill the background in with computers. It's a variation on the japanese Bunraku style. The Muppets are quite seldom animated on the computer.

In MCC there is a shot using this chromatic method where the puppets walk in place, as an artificial floor rotates beneath them like a treadmill.

 

[D'Snowth]

Oh yeah, I forgot all about that one. At that time, I was thinking of Bert's "Doin' the Pegion Dance". It was funny (to me anyway) to see the hands when Bert started the Goose Walk.