Here are 3 videos of the giant Tony Abbott puppet at the Bust the Budget rally last Sunday.
Abbott ripping up a promise:
Abbott arrives at the rally:
Tony ‘liar,liar pants on fire’ Abbott breaking promises in front of the crowd:
Search Results for: puppet giant
Giant Tony Abbott puppet: Liar, liar, pants on fire!
Over the last few weeks I’ve been involved with the making of a giant 3 metre tall protest puppet of the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, with the theme of Liar, liar, pants on fire. Matthew Armstrong, who came up with the concept, brought together the skills of a number of Canberra artists to make, assemble and perform the puppet within a pretty short timeframe. Thanks, too, to Dario Vacirca and Mark Timberlake from KneeHigh, now Open Space, in Adelaide who hired us the frame and advised us on various aspects.
The Abbott puppet debuted at the Bust the Budget anti-austerity rally on an icy cold day at Parliament House, Canberra, on 6th July. Matthew is now improving the puppet in a number of ways, ready for more appearances.
I made the head of the puppet from foam sheeting. Here are some photos of the process.
Giant boy puppet at the 2011 Rugby World Cup
I still take an interest in giant marionettes that operate roughly along the same lines as the Royal de Luxe ones. Tonight I happened across this giant boy puppet called Junior, New Zealand’s Biggest Fan, which took part in the festivities during last years Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. There’s always an invented backstory , however sketchy, for these puppets. Junior was made by Bomb Props who have released this making of video:
A giant air-powered spider puppet
This fantastic air-powered 16 foot tall spider puppet is made by Tim Davies. Wired.co.uk has more technical details about the structure and how it operates. (I think this information must come from the artist’s site, but it is down at the moment).
Phoebe Sparkles, a giant aerial puppet at Natimuk
This is the fabulous Phoebe Sparkles, a giant aerial puppet made for the show Highly Strung, which was performed from the silos at Natimuk over the weekend at the Nati Frinj (Natimuk Fringe Festival). I’ve been enjoying Dave Jones‘s blogging of the build over the last couple of months, so it’s great to see the puppet come to life. The daytime rehearsal photos give better perspective on her size and the task of puppeteering her. Phoebe was named by the kids at the local school, and the plan was to project talking animations drawn by the kids onto her face. I wonder if that was possible in the very windy conditions on the night.
The silos have been used for aerial dance and puppetry before.
Dave also makes lovely puppets from wire and other rusty farm-type bits and pieces of metal. These and the amazing bird below are characters in a long term work-in-progress stop motion film of his, The Rhyme of the Ancient Merino.
The Birds (Rhyme of the Ancient Merino Work in Progress) from dave jones on Vimeo.
And now, a giant robotic sock puppet!
Mr Weekend is a giant (4.5 metre tall) robotic sock puppet made by Michael Simi. He is fashioned over a large mechanical hand from a defunct Michigan car factory and is having some difficulty adjusting to his change of job into the art world…
(via @JudexJones)
Making of Allen’s giant doll puppet
Remember Allen’s giant doll marionette that was walking the streets of Brisbane a few months ago? The Oscar-winning visual effects director John Cox, whose Creature Workshop created the puppet, has given a cool behind the scenes look at how it was made. Also, there are a few videos of her on YouTube now, including the Allen’s advertisement.
Campaign Brief has a little more background, and I was not surprised to see direct reference to Royal de Luxe‘s giantess:
‘Lam and Ross took Inspiration from a Mexican Festival puppet and a 7m French puppet. The French puppet is believed to have cost $2M to build, yet this project didn’t have that kind of budget. The Cox created walking doll is generations ahead of the overseas inspiration in terms of her very advanced mechanics and instant physical appeal.
The Mexican puppet must be Luca. (I have some more information on Luca, but for another post). I think the ‘generations ahead’ aspect in the case of Royal de Luxe is rather meaningless, and a bit of chest puffing. The fibreglass/plastic look versus the wood/steampunk look is an aesthetic choice, appropriate in each case; and the movement of RdL’s giantess does not appear mechanically inferior, especially when you see the Allen’s doll’s feet kind of clap on the ground at each step in one of the videos, and she seems to tilt backwards too much at times.
Giant Pinóquio puppet by Trigo Limpo ACERT
(photo credits and thanks: zetavares)
This fabulous giant Pinóquio puppet premiered last weekend at the Imaginarious Festival in Santa Maria da Feira in a street theatre production called The fantastic history of a child called Pinóquio by the theatre company Trigo Limpo ACERT. They come from Tondela, a small town in the centre of Portugal.
The choice of Pinocchio, the classic tale of a wooden boy who wants to become human, is particularly pleasing, because it reflects the puppeteers’ conceit of being able to bring inanimate things to life. And he looks beautifully articulated – I really like the way his leg and foot can turn and rest in his signature stance.
Zetavares has a great Flicker photoset of the 7 metre marionette, and has kindly let me post some of his photos here. He also has interesting sets of the making of the puppet, and the rehearsing the manipulation.
The character was sculpted by Carles of Madrid and Nico Nubiola of Taller de escultura De la Madrid & Nubiola, both of whom were involved with the production of the opening ceremony for the Barcelona Olympics. They have a cool video of how they made Pinóquio:
Teatro e Marionetas de Mandrágora were involved with the manipulation of the puppet. I first saw pictures of Pinoquio on their blog Espaço das Marionet@s, which I have been following for a while now.
Trigo Limpo ACERT have previously made some other great street theatre pieces, two of them large versions of traditional wooden push-along children’s toys. Memoriar na rotunda had a man pedalling a bicycle, (making photos here) and Golpe d’Asa, a bird whose wings flap as its wheel base rotates.
Luca: La Raza’s giant boy puppet
Luca, a giant boy puppet supporting the La Raza soccer team seems likely to have been inspired by the Royal de Luxe ones, don’t you think?
