Search Results for: royal de luxe

Les Machines de l’île de Nantes

Posted by hil

Thanks to Darthbob from Laprise.org who recently alerted me to a new project related to Royal de Luxe, Les Machines de l’île de Nantes, which opened over this last weekend.

Machines

Planned as a new artistic, cultural and tourist venture, and part of an urban renewal of the docklands, it consists of numerous large mechanical creatures to build dreams around, imagined by François Delarozière and Pierre Orefice. They are installed in the great naves of the old shipyards on the island of Nantes, France.

First, there is a great elephant, similar to the Sultan’s, but a bit bigger at 12 metres high, which can take 30 passengers on its back for a 30 minute journey. It will journey every day.

Then there will be a huge tree, with branches that you can walk within. In time there will be herons in the tree, and people will be able to take rides in baskets below their wings.

Herontreerdl

The third part is a gallery of imagined machinical marine creatures, also rideable:

Le Luminaire des grands fonds:

Angler

(photo credit: Claude Joannis)

La Larve de crabe:

Larvae

(photo credit: Claude Joannis)

Le Poisson pirate:

Piratefish

(photo credit: Claude Joannis)

Le Calamar à rétropropulsion:

Squid

(photo credit: Claude Joannis)

La Raie manta:

Manta

(photo credit: Claude Joannis)

I think there is also a royal crab planned.

Other links:

Royal de Luxe – this unofficial French site is always the best for all up-to-date RdL news.

At Nantes Métropole:

  • dossier presse Eléphant
  • machinesfr.pdf
  • Les Machines de l’île : check links from this page
  • Les Machines de l’île: this site has plans, sketches, video and photos:

    • video 1: intro, bits of elephant and branches, maquette of the tree
    video 2: adapting the original buildings, building the elephant, in particular its feet!
    video 3: making the models of the creatures – very cute little squid, manta
    video 4: piecing the iron and wooden shell of the elephant together with crane.

    photos 1 – 18: the opening, with elephants first parade
    photos 19 – 26: models
    photos 27 – 49: making the elephant
    photos 50 – 55: the buildings

Maville.com’s special coverage: check out the manta, the angler fish in particular.

France 3: Les Fabuleuses Machines de l’île has a cool photo gallery – the best photo of the crab larvae so far.

At Flickr:

L’Internaute Magazine photo gallery: cool workshop making photos (added 19.7.07)

Xolo will be in Liverpool too

Posted by hil

Xolo, Royal de Luxe

 

Here’s a great photo of Xolo, Royal de Luxe‘s giant dog!  It’s just been announced that Xolo will be appearing the Sea Odyssey Giant Spectacle in Liverpool in a couple of weeks time, along with the Little Giantess and her uncle, the deep sea diver.

Previously:

Godiva Awakes

Posted by hil

 

Godiva Awakes is one of several events involving puppetry that are planned as part of the Cultural Olympiad accompanying the London Olympics later this year. It is a project of Imagineer Productions, and will take place in Coventry on 28 -29 July, and then journey to London arriving 5 August to join in the Olympic celebrations.

The project abandons how most people remember the old legend of Lady Godiva: that she rode naked on horseback through town wearing nothing but her long hair, in a deal to stop harsh taxes on villagers. Instead, this contemporary interpretation features a 10-metre high puppet of Godiva with short hair and fine robes, riding on a futuristic-looking horse which is powered along through the streets by 100 cyclists riding together in a Cyclopedia:

 

Design for Godiva Awakes giant puppet

 

The evolution of the Godiva puppet

 

Godiva is  re-imagined as “a new superhero for the 21st Century” (BBC), and as ‘a contemporary icon for the region, a symbol of courage, fairness, social justice, self sacrifice and sustainability who will create a unique spectacle as she walks to London to take part in the London 2012 celebrations’. She is the centrepiece of a processional extravaganza involving performers of all sorts: musicians, puppeteers, acrobats, dancers and choristers. As many of these giant puppets do (since Royal de Luxe), she awakes from another time – her previous life 1000 years ago – observes the new world, and performs a ceremonial mission.

A larger purpose of the event is drawing in community and young people in lots of ways.  It also celebrates the rich heritage in engineering and innovation the West Midlands; showcases the artists and craftsmen that carry on those  and other traditions (particularly textile arts): and it is hoped it will support and develop the skills of a new generation of makers, performers and event producers.

The @GodivaAwakes twitter feed is releasing photos everyday of the developing project and although they are not giving too much away, there are nice making photos in their gallery, such as the ones above.

Giant boy puppet at the 2011 Rugby World Cup

Posted by hil

 

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:

 

 

Amit Drori’s miniature mechanical elephants

Posted by hil

I’ve been entranced by Royal de Luxe‘s and La Machine‘s huge mechanical elephants, but this evening I came across Israeli Amit Drori‘s enchanting small mechanical elephants, made for his show Savanna. The elephants are computerised robots with complex mechanisms and live motion control. As well as the birds and turtle in this video, in another is a beautiful buck.

Big Man Walking arrives!

Posted by hil

bigmanwalking

(photo credit: The Guardian)

Check out the Guardian’s interactive of the arrival of Big Man Walking!  He’s a giant puppet created in Scotland by a large team headed up by artistic director, Symon Macintyre. In coming weeks he will be walking through Bute, Kirkcaldy, Buckie, Invergordon, and Inverclyde where communities will celebrate in accordance with the myth of the giant.

Inspired by Royal de Luxe, Big Man Walking is 8 metres tall, and has a ‘unique internal structure like a bell tower’ that allows the puppeteers to pull wheels within him that make the arms and legs work. Webcams in his head will allow people to see online what he sees on his walks, and people will be able to text him. There are some cool making photos at Big Man Walking, which has been abuzz with preparations for some months. It’s also the place to go for information and the latest pictures and news.

Making of Allen’s giant doll puppet

Posted by hil

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 doll marionette in Brisbane

Posted by hil

ellie-allens200-200x0

(Photo: Brisbane Times: Andrew Wight)

According to The Brisbane Times, this giant marionette doll, made by John Cox’s Creature Workshop, was being filmed on the streets of Brisbane for an advertisement for Allen’s Lollies. There is a short video by rockfotze at Flickr, as well as photos by zombietron, shonkathan and rockfotze, and a good close-up of her face.

(Influence of Royal de Luxe?)

Giant wire marionette in Vancouver

Posted by hil

vancouver

(photo credit: stephenccwu)

This huge wire marionette appeared at the opening of the new Vancouver Convention Centre last weekend; I gather it was associated with Cirque du Soleil. It was a performance by the Underground Circus, and the marionette was made by Peter Boulanger (who was kind enough to let me know in a comment below). It’s made of aluminium (I guess it’s really thick round wire?) , and at about 40 feet, billed as the tallest marionette in Northern America. The puppet moves to music and is operated by 5 puppeteers working pulleys. In this photo you can see it standing fully, supporting two acrobats: the one in the ball and one on the length of material. This is a great photo of it, too.

(influence of Royal de Luxe? Peter says not directly, though he knew of their work)