A slight delay while I work on something for another project. I will hopefully have some more updates this week when I begin designing my screen.

I've been thinking about your problem of doing a one person show with several characters. It has been something I thought of often with hand puppets but I was wondering wether shadow puppets give you a unique oportunity to put the puppet on a stand while manipulating other characters or elements? if they need to keep "life in them" they could be mounted on small guage wire so as you put them in the stand any gentle vibration of the stand would make them "breathe" while other elements move.
While most of us would prefer each character to stay alive and in the moment when in view of the audience it was just a thought for quick change overs.
I've never really thought about shadow puppetry a great deal, (not through disrespect, it just hasn't been on my radar) but could you use a digital projector as your light source and animate elements on the screen that way? Sorry if I've repeated something old hat, I've only just happened on this thread and not really read back through it...
Scoob

Two ideas I'm already working into the script:

1. For the man, he will appear as though he is walking even though it's the landscape moving around him. Obviously with more hands this would not be necessary. In order to achieve this 'stoppage', I'm using a foam block at the bottom of the screen where the rod can be inserted. This is a common practice for shadow puppeteers - traditional Asian shadow puppetry uses sand-filled bamboo husks instead of modern foam.

2. Where I need to put down the bird or something else, I'm designing a specific 'holder' which will allow me to keep the puppet on screen whilst letting go of the rod. Instead of slotting it into a foam block, it will need to be held from above the screen. This will be sort of a hanging holder, think of it like an eye-hook where I just slide the rod in place.

3. For the bird or whatever, I do hope to have a little spring in the rod/wire, so that the puppet can move of its own accord. I need to put the puppet down only for a few seconds, not long enough for the movement from my hand to dissipate.

A digital projector is an interesting idea, but not one I'll be using. For a start, there's no way to rehearse since I don't have access to one (nor the funds for rental). What I'll be doing can be mostly made from scrap materials minus whatever I need to create my super-secret effect.

Also, part of why I'm doing it 'traditional' is because the super-secret effect is more impressive if I can combine it with what people normally expect of shadow puppets. I'm taking what Richard Bradshaw normally does and giving it a whole new spin.

To be honest, half the fun is going "oh, I don't have enough hands for this. Now how do I get around that problem?" And what's interesting is that there are always really simple solutions to be found. Changing one character into another can be done simple by disappearing one and appearing another; or making the scenery move, dumping the first character and grabbing the second; etc.

PS. No offense taken. I never thought about it much either before doing a workshop on it; purely because it was one of the few puppetry types I hadn't tried yet. Hopefully with this idea of mine it will increase the exposure shadow puppets get as a modern art form.

Fun watching the progress you are making. It is nice of you to record everything because it helps the rest of us understand how to avaid making mistakes we may have otherwise made. Thanks!! Can't wait to see meore!!

  It's fun sharing it. I think documenting the process is always so helpful. I've learned an immense amount already, and I can't *wait* to get stuck into building so I can truly see whether or not my super-secret effect actually works.

It's also helpful because I hope to write up a 'how to' on scriptwriting for puppets, so this is really helpful to keep track of various ideas, methods and thoughts.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) I'm also working on something else at the moment, part of which has a deadline on Wednesday. I hope to update more on that later.

I know I haven't updated here - as in my last post, I've been working on something else which has taken up most of my building time. It'll finish up this weekend.

Actually, yesterday I decided that I will take an extended break from puppetry for personal reasons. However, today I received news of the summit, where I'd be performing this, and see a lot of my favourite puppeteers doing workshops. There'll be local Oscar winner, Adam Elliot (for those who don't know, he did a short claymation film), my idol Richard Bradshaw, another Oscar nominee who did 'The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello' (another short film using animation in shadow puppet style), and our own Puppetvision!

My idea is too good not to attempt a showcase in front of these people, BUT I am in desperate need of a holiday from my usual business of puppets.

Even the thought of continuing on despite the attention of these great people (and I do intend on attending the summit even if I don't showcase my work) stresses me out. I'm absolutely serious, I'm thinking of going on hiatus for about a year or so and do other things to earn some money in the meantime. I do intend on coming back to it....

Should I push on and wait until after the summit to take a break, or just do it now?

... Mind you, half the reason I want the break is because building things in general is taking a billion times longer than I'd like for those personal reasons.

I would encourage you to push on!  I know it can be frustrating and the time involved to complete something can be daunting but I know you can do it.  Now I am not suggesting that if you think it would affect your health that you push too much but if it is just a matter of being burnt out, then I would say try and work through it.  You may regret not doing so down the line if you miss the opportunity to present to these folks.  Just my 2 cents.

I'm with Shawn Na. Such an awesome opportunity to showcase your amazing talents 

Thanks guys; I'm PM'ing more details and thoughts. At the moment I've been caught up in a film shoot (!) so I haven't had a chance to do much more thinking about it.

Shawn has put it very succinctly, health first but in Australia, to have those puppeteers/animators together at one time is not going to come around every day.
I'm already regretting not coming back to Melbourne for the summit ( that you put me on to on here) it is a rare opportunity I am letting go because of work commitments to support family. Consider that you have made sacrifices to keep an artisticly available lifestyle (once would have been considered a little bohemian) in order to meet these kinds of challenges/opportunities.
Otherwise those sacrifices may start to seem less worth while. If your health can hold up, try and see it through this, after all you've done some of the work already. Then re-evaluate with the presentation behind you, not as a "what if..."
Plan what needs to be done in the timeframe, order priorities to get a flow. Work on what you can, when you can and chip it off in "baby steps" (Have you ever seen "what about Bob" with bill murray and Richard Dreyfus - frustrating and hilarious in a Faulty Towers way, you're laughing but you want to kill him!) Baby Steps through what you can rather than being daunted by the big obstacles.... Once you chip some of it down the whole gets less insurmountable.
Chin up, get off the computer ( I know you're here now) and get back in the workshop, don't try for the last word till you can say finished =)
Scoob x

Thanks Scoob - it's a bit personal so I'm not wanting to reveal details directly on a public forum... suffice to say it's not health issues.

I agree that the opportunity is quite good, but actually, the 'clinic' as I've been told by organisers, will only have one definite audience member and that's the person who's running it and giving feedback. It appears it's not like previous festivals where works-in-progress are showcased at evening cabarets; it's more like a workshop. Because of this, it's less certain who will attend or if anyone I'd be interested in seeing it would view it.

As for pushing through, I am thinking about it. The problem is one of space and time, rather than anything else, so the only thing I might be able to do is considerably downsize everything so I can work on it somewhere other than my usual studio space. Additionally, I really am a bit burned out at the moment and need a proper holiday. I haven't had a decent one since 2007, and have been creating puppet content since 2006 without a real break. May marks the 5th anniversary of writing puppetry articles, so I think a break is deserved

In the meantime, when you posted this, I had just come back from a film shoot rehearsal where my puppets were used. I have now been able to write a reply... as I was away from my computer
Funnily enough this was just what I needed: an actual opportunity to see my work used and served to confirm my reasons for needing a long-term break.

The good news is that I had a lot of fun today, and everyone loved my work, and hopefully I'll be able to show all of you what I was up to in a month or two. I didn't get to see much, as I was actually puppeteering most of the time, but what I saw looked really cool.

I am SOOOOO glad you felt a bit renewed after seeing your puppets in action and appreciated by others. You deserved that!!  It is amazing what that can do for one's spirits!!
Now go take that holiday and come back refreshed and ready to go!!
You are the best Na!!

In the meantime, when you posted this, I had just come back from a film shoot rehearsal where my puppets were used. I have now been able to write a reply... as I was away from my computer
Funnily enough this was just what I needed: an actual opportunity to see my work used and served to confirm my reasons for needing a long-term break.

The good news is that I had a lot of fun today, and everyone loved my work, and hopefully I'll be able to show all of you what I was up to in a month or two. I didn't get to see much, as I was actually puppeteering most of the time, but what I saw looked really cool.

Oops, quoted without comment!
That has to be the best tonic in the world, congratulations, can't wait to see it!

Thanks guys - I'm surprised that I enjoyed it so much. Normally I can't stand performing, but it was fun to do these puppets. I guess it helps that with puppetry I don't have to actually be seen in order to do any performance.

It also helps that I was working with a great bunch of people, and despite a lot of waiting around for things to be set up and a small injury (see my blog from Thursday night), all went well. I'm amazed that even with the puppets nothing broke or stopped working outside of a minor problem that was easily fixed in a few seconds. I never had to make repairs outside of adding a piece of tape!

Also, the design is a lot of fun, I had a challenge making the puppets and they were all simple solutions to complex problems... and they worked exactly as planned. At one stage I had to get one of the crew to help me with manipulation (it was planned that way) and despite neither of us knowing what we're doing we managed to pull off a good-looking scene that was tricky to perform.

A long day, but totally worth it. Especially for me when I'm so used to theatre where you bump in (get in) in less than a few hours, and don't have time for food. I was well fed, well treated, and even got a lift home
Ah, being the star of the show is nice

Funnily enough breaking into puppetry for film was one of the ideas I wanted to follow through as I know it's excellent marketing as well as good paid work. This was voluntary but I really didn't mind because it was just nice to be able to do something active for once, rather than relying on the net for sales/interaction.

Hope I get to do it again one day.