Inspiration Found Online: The Puppets

Let's get inspired, shall we?  After looking around the Internet for resource (more on that coming soon), I have found several videos and pictures of marionettes and productions that I have found absolutely inspiring.

The Rose Marionette

While built in 1942 and not a medieval marionette by any stretch of the imagination; this marionette shows amazing human body expressions.  Notice the intricate body movements that make the marionette appear to be a real person.  The Rose Marionette is a gorgeous example of stunning craftsmanship.  When I envision our plans for Stage 3 marionettes, this is what I see.

While I am sure that the controls are modified from the basic "airplane" style, it is the joints that help add to the realism of this marionette.  Notice how the head moves forward, back, and from side to side.  Additionally, play close attention to the hand movements and how the wrist joints work to create the illusion of reality.

How The Marionette Comes Alive

An amazing example of how wooden marionettes are created, from conception to stringing.  While The Batty Puppeteers are not at this stage of construction yet, however, this video makes a welcome addition to the inspiration list.

Note the control mechanism and how the joints are created; it looks like they were pegged with wood, a concept that I never put a lot of thought into until now.  Although the clothes are sewn directly onto the marionette (a technique that The Batty Puppeteers may or may not do), the whole video shows what needs to be accomplished and in what order to create these Stage 3 marionettes.

Marionette, Italian c1500 by Matheus Bane

This descriptive write-up on Italian rod puppets is full of inspiration.  The author goes into moderate detailed research on types and styles of marionettes, and documents his creation of his rod puppet.  The real treasure is in his notations on the creation of the rod puppet itself.  Additionally, the detailed images of the joints of the author's rod puppet is a good option to incorporate when working on additional marionettes in the near future.  The link to his article can be found here (PDF).

Popular Science:  The Art of Making Lifelike Marionette Bodies (Feb, 1936)

This was a find that completely astonished me.  Back in the 1930's, marionettes made a huge comeback in America.  As such, the vast majority of resource materials, such as "The Beaton Bible", come from this time period.  The article encompasses a lot of information from construction to stringing and is a good source of inspiration with all of the pictures supplied.   The link to this article can be found here.

Inspired Yet?

I know that I am.  The goal is to progress to the next level; to develop and create an intricate marionette that is pleasing to the eyes and functional.  Observing what other people have created and catching glimpses of how they do it will further my ability to create the next level of marionettes for The Batty Puppeteers.

Where r the puppets??

So, where have you seen puppets lately?? What have they been doing?

Understanding the Purpose

A while back ago, I mentioned two reasons why we decided to work on our marionette project.  The first reason was to entertain and the secondary reason was to preserve our group history.  Keeping these two goals of The Batty Puppeteers in mind; I want to expound upon those thoughts for a moment.

Why a Purpose?
It is my belief that a purpose statement should be made when starting any endeavor.  Why are you making this?  Why are you doing this project that consumes your time and finances?  People want to know "why".  Even if you are the only person that knows the purpose of your project, this tool allows you to go back to it from time to time and become inspired to continue work on a seemingly endless project.

A purpose statement should never be static; it should always grow and evolve as time passes.  The changes don't have to be earth-shaking; but they should reflect what keeps you coming back to the project from time to time.  For example, you may be working on an illuminated promissory scroll because it needs to be done.  However, over time, you may want to continue to work on illumination because you want to study a certain style or design concept that you became interested in during the creation of the first scroll.  The marionette project is no different.

To Entertain
Some events can be extremely boring or need something to keep people occupied between activities.  The events held by The Society for Creative Anachronism are no different.  By producing a marionette play for these lulls, we can help make events fun and interesting to attend.  If we can get the audience members excited about attending events, we can help all groups by enhancing the events they hold; which benefits everybody in the long run.

The idea is to entertain both young and old, and so productions that cater to all age groups is vital.  While understanding that a new spin on "Three Billy Goats Gruff" or "Snow White" could keep adult audience members interested, we also need to provide different stories in our performances that aren't directly targeted to our younger audience members.  This will allow The Batty Puppeteers to fit any need at events; be it Children's Hour or bardic entertainment.

To Teach

Our group holds a high regard for history.  However, our groups (an indeed, groups throughout most of the Society for Creative Anachronism) are loosing this history at an alarming pace.  What happened at the first Knighting Ceremony in the Principality of Oertha?  Who was the first Prince and Princess of that fair land?  What was the First Birthday Party of the Society like?  We can answer these questions by researching collected history; but what about those that don't know where to look?

Presenting our history as entertainment could be the best way to preserve that history.  Early period bards did much the same thing.  They told stories that both entertained and taught important concepts and ideas passed from one generation to the next.  These early bardics were entertaining as well as educational; that is our goal.

The Mission Statement of The Batty Puppeteers

Our mission statement, our purpose, is quite simple:

To provide period entertainment using marionettes and puppets for all groups that desire our services.  Additionally, we wish to preserve our local history and portray it in a way that is both educational and entertaining.

Commedia dell'arte and Teatro Humberto

A while back ago I became fascinated with Comedia dell'arte.  In essence, Comedia is a form of theatre that is characterized by performers wearing character masks.  This type of theatre was popular in 16th century Italy and has its roots dating back to the Roman Empire and even Greek theatre.  However, Comedia goes deeper than just the masks; as performers would be well known for playing a certain type of character throughout their acting career.

So, how does this apply to the marionette project?  Good question.

Marionette Masks

Our modest company has understood for quite some time that marionettes are not easy to create.  Our company is limited in our production of an army of marionettes because they require skills and resources that we do not have at this time.  Add this quandary to our desire to produce multiple plays with multiple characters, and we are left with a problem.

However, by creating different masks for the character roles that are to be played we can effectively produce entire performances using only four to six marionettes.  Masks can be easy to create; clay being the preferred medium along with paint for decoration.  Add the mask with quick costume changes and we can make the illusion of an entire cast of marionettes more believable.

But Lets Go Further...

Taking this idea one step further, we can possibly create actor personas for each marionette.  In essence, each marionette would have his or her own permanent look and style and wear masks when they play different characters in different performances.  For example, the marionette Arthur, with dark hair and a muscular build, could easily play a beast, a knight, or an old man much in the same way that an actor plays different roles during his acting career; and this can be done just by adding a mask and changing out his wardrobe.

Eventually, the goal would be to have the marionettes be thought of as actors.  Imagine for a moment that an expectant audience would be excited that the marionette Arthur will be playing their favorite roll, or the shock when they find out that in this performance he decided to play the villain.  We could even include a playbill to hand out before events to get people interested in watching the production.  This would help add to the illusion that the marionettes are actors, albeit small ones.

Benefits and Problems of Comedia Style Masks

In reality, there is always benefits and problems associated with any idea.  However, in this case, the problems aren't really problems but simply things that the members of The Batty Puppeteers would have to work around.

Benefits.  Quite simply, we would have more character possibilities with a limited number of marionettes.  Additionally, we would be able to develop a character familiarization with the audience; possibly adding to the demand for new performances.

Problems.  Besides the actual task of making the masks, the designers would need to solve the problem of how to attach the masks to the marionettes and design it in such a fashion that it is easy to put on and take off the marionette and is easy to reproduce during the construction of the masks.