Spirits Dancing » the lost thing

Trailer for The Lost Thing

hil — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 06:05:22 +0000

This is the trailer for the short animated film adaptation of Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing which is now released and reeling in awards! It looks great, doesn’t it? I also like the design of the official website, and Shaun’s account of the process.

Screen Hub reports that producer Sophie Byrne has also ‘optioned the rights to The Arrival and The Rabbits via Passion Pictures Australia, and Tales from Outer Suburbia is a co-development with the UK. They are currently in discussions with US production companies for The Arrival and Tales from Outer Suburbia to be adapted into feature films, whereas The Rabbits is likely to be made as a short here in Australia with Shaun directing.’

I also hear on the grapevine that Spare Parts Puppet Theatre is working on an adaptation of Tales from Outer Suburbia!

Previously:

First glimpse of animation adaptation of Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing

hil — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:52:42 +0000

InFrame.tv has produced a great 5 minute documentary with Shaun Tan which offers an introductory glimpse at the work-in-progress on his short animated adaptation of The Lost Thing. It includes little (unfinished) animation clips, and aspects of designing and directing the work. On his website Shaun also writes about his involvement and includes some interesting new sketches and models. I noted the film in 2005, so it is exciting that it is expected to be finished this August!

The film, by Passion Pictures, will be 15 minutes long, and uses CGI with 2D handpainted elements. I’m interested in the comments about achieving rich textures, as they are so much part of the illustrations, and CGI is often so disappointingly smooth and shiny.

I’m happy to see a new book, too: Tales from Outer Suburbia.

I worked on the puppets for Jigsaw Theatre Company’s production of The Lost Thing a few years ago, so you will find numerous related previous posts here:

The Lost Thing
Shaun Tan

Also: The Lost Thing website

‘The Lost Thing’ to become a short film

Hil — Fri, 20 May 2005 12:39:56 +0000

Having made puppets for a theatre production of Shaun Tan’s ‘The Lost Thing’ last year, I was excited to find out that Passion Pictures is making a short CG film of the book. It will be fun to keep an eye on their gallery of pictures of work in progress over the next months. Among the images there at the moment are drawings of some of the utopian lost things. There were only five utopian lost things in the theatre production, so it will be great if we get to see more of them brought to life in the film. There are also images of a sculpture of the boy by Ron Mueck, that will be used for mapping the boy from all angles into the CG program. How cool is that!

A tentacle mechanism

Hil — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 12:17:26 +0000

When I was making puppets for ‘The Lost Thing’ a few months ago we had to come up with a simply-made tentacle that could start out straight, and then reach about a metre or more, and curl around to some extent at the tip. Here is the drawing I made of the mechanism I invented, in case its useful to other makers:

(click to enlarge)The tentacle shape is made of a very soft foam, and has two tracks of heavy duty fishing line running up each side, though small sections of plastic tubing. The kind of tubing I found good was antenna housing that model-car hobbyists use, because it is strong and rigid.When the fishing line is pulled the tentacle curls, and when it is released the foam itself acts as a kind of spring, returning the tentacle to an at-rest straight position. I did have to put some additional spring and rigidity in the core of the foam, though. It was an experimental mixture of different lengths of spring wire, boning and strip plastic, with the idea being to incrementally decrease the rigidity towards the tip. You have to balance aspects like having the foam soft enough to compress easily, and the core springy enough to return but not too rigid to bend easily, and so on.The tentacle was covered: a very thin layer of dacron batting to make it all smooth, and then lycra.

The curls in simple tentacles usually only work in two directions. They are mechanically similar to those intriguing flexible wooden snakes and fish whose bodies are sliced into lots of cross-sections, and then constructed again with a leather or canvass strip running up the middle of the body:

A tentacle made like this moves from side to side, not up and down, or with any twisting. The thing that excited me about the foam tentacle was that by pulling on both lines with varying pressures, it would twist around in a very sinuous way. It was not a feature that could be used much in the play, as the puppeteer only had one hand free to operate the tentacle, but it was an interesting discovery. It would also be worth experimenting with trying three or four operating strings, if the base of the tentacle was in a firm housing rather than being hand-held.

Don’t miss Jigsaw’s ‘The Lost Thing’ at the Sydney Festival…

Hil — Wed, 19 Jan 2005 22:34:14 +0000

If you are in Sydney, don’t miss Jigsaw Theatre Company’s production of ‘The Lost Thing’ this week. Its part of the Sydney Festival, and is playing at the Parramatta Riverside Theatre, from Jan 18 – 22. Its great news that the play will also be being presented by the Canberra Theatre Centre in March.

In December at the the annual Canberra Critics Circle Awards, Jigsaw’s artistic director, Greg Lissaman, won the The Canberra Times Artist of the Year award, and the company also picked up a theatre award for ‘the excellence, impact and theatrical creativity of Arborio‘. ‘Arborio’ is going up to the Sydney Opera House later in 2005. All cool news!

More ‘Lost Thing’ puppet pictures

Hil — Sun, 03 Oct 2004 18:43:32 +0000

Here are some more photos of the puppet build for Jigsaw Theatre Company’s production of ‘The lost thing’. The making crew were Imogen Keen and Hilary Talbot, with help from Catherine Prosser and Marie-Martine Ferrari, and designs by Richard Jeziorny based on Shaun Tan’s book ‘The Lost Thing’.

The cat :: carved out of foam, and made to sit on a beanie that one of the puppeteers wears
The janitor :: about 70cm tall
The small version of the lost thing :: about 70cm tall
The booth lady
The parents :: about 80cm tall on their sofa
The seagulls
The tram :: about 40cm long. It has interchangeable cut-outs of the people inside
The tram :: top detail
The boys :: Pete and Shaun are 35cm tall, and the little version Shaun is 25cm
Shaping the utopia lost things out of polystyrene, and painting them in the sunshine :: Imogen Keen, Catherine Prosser & Hilary Talbot
The utopia lost things carved but not finished :: they range in size from about 40cm across (the rower) to 150cm tall (the eye)
The utopia lost things

The Lost Thing plays at the National Gallery of Australia this coming week, 6-9th Oct.

Making the puppets for ‘The Lost Thing’

Hil — Tue, 21 Sep 2004 22:45:34 +0000

As promised below, here are some pictures of the build of Jigsaw Theatre Company’s production of The Lost Thing. Imogen Keen and I have been making the puppets for the production.

The aluminium structure of the Lost Thing itself was made by Brian Sudding, who also constructed the set. We then covered and detailed it, adding tentacles, claws, and eye mechanisms. The designer, Richard Jeziorny, added further painted detail. The whole framework is made to be suspended on another frame, so that the Lost Thing is about 3 metres tall.

Imogen Keen covering the basic shape of the Lost Thing with foam.
Marie-Martine Ferrari (co-founder of the original Skylark Puppet and Mask Theatre) and I covering the foam shell with muslin.
From above, showing some of the aluminium framework inside.
After the first coat of paint.
The boy’s parents on their sofa under construction.
The mysterious janitor, in an early stage of being made.

The photographs were taken by Tim Raupach. I should have some more in a few days time.

The Lost Thing: Jigsaw Theatre Company

Hil — Thu, 16 Sep 2004 09:03:32 +0000

Things have been pretty busy around here as the build for Jigsaw Theatre Company’s upcoming production of ‘The Lost Thing’ nears completion. Based on the book by Shaun Tan, ‘The Lost Thing’ is premiering at the National Gallery of Australia, as the main event of their Children’s Festival. Performances will be in the Small Theatre from 6-9 October 2004, and hopefully will tour to other galleries in time.

I’ll post some pictures of the build soon, but in the meantime, check out Finding: The Lost Thing, an article by Gillian Freeman in the current issue of Artlook. Its an interview with the director, Greg Lissaman, and Shaun Tan, (who is also the visual consultant for the show), and who was recently in Canberra working on the painting of the set with the designer, Richard Jeziorny.

‘The Lost Thing’ : Jigsaw Theatre Company Call for Actor/Puppeteers

Hil — Sat, 08 May 2004 18:17:09 +0000

Jigsaw Theatre Company, a Canberra-based, professional theatre company for young audiences established in 1974, is calling for 2 male actor puppeteers for their upcoming production of ‘The Lost Thing’. Based on the book by Shaun Tan, ‘The Lost Thing’ is premiering at the National Gallery of Australia, and is being developed with festival touring in mind.

Contact : Greg Lissaman (Artistic Director)
Tel: 02 62939900
Email: jigsawartistic@ozemail.com.au
Dates : Rehearsals: 6 Sept – 2 Oct 2004; Season: 5-9 Oct 2004
City : Canberra
Salary : $720/week + superannuation and holiday loading
Auditions : By arrangement with the Artistic Director
To express interest in these roles, please email headshots and bios to jigsawartistic@ozemail.com.au.