This woman is a computer generated animation by Image Metrics. Pretty amazing. Though I do wonder if being able to reproduce a real person like this is a good use of time and resources? The Times Online has more details. The makers say 90% of the work is in convincing people that the eyes are real, lending even more weight to what puppet makers and lovers know about the eyes being the window to the soul.
Previously: Uncanny Valley
Finishing up with last detailing.
The Pacific School Games will be held in Canberra this year, from 30 Nov to 6 Dec. About 5000 primary and secondary school students from Australia and Pacific countries will be competing. I made their mascot, a bunyip, which was launched a few weeks ago. Here is a photoset of the making process. I like the way its tail waggles the best:
Schlooop!
I feel much more inclined to blog off the cuff when I’m using the wordpress app on the iPhone. Photos straight from the phone camera, and disengaging self- imposed conventions like linking and explaining things fully, make it seem a freer and more immediate experience. A bit like the way twitter or other microblogging services replace some of one’s aggregator reading.
Photos from my studio yesterday, and the elephant drying by the fire overnight.
(photo: Sidat de Silva)
Looking for a Monster is based on an original puppet play written by a thirteen year old boy, Hanus Hachenburg in the Terezin concentration camp in 1943, shortly before his transportation to the Auschwitz Death Camp. In 1999, puppeteer Gary Friedman discovered the play in a Jerusalem archive. It was performed for the first time in 2001 and has just been filmed in Sydney for inclusion in Gary’s documentary film about the life of Hanus Hachenburg. Gary has a slideshow of photos taken at the shoot in the sidebar of his blog, Puppetry News, and you can also see individual photos in this gallery.
Incidentally, Gary is running another Puppetry for TV course starting in June.
Following on from yesterday’s post about candidate finger puppets made from card, Abbey Hambright has felt finger puppets of Obama for sale.
FoldUScandidate has patterns for card finger puppets of the three US candidates. You print from a pdf and the assemble as shown. Check out the videos and photos that some people have submitted of their puppets.
