We did a filming session last night, and I am going to try to post some pictures so people can see the kind of setup we work with.



This shows an overall view of our set.  The room we use is not very soundproof not soundproof at all, and we have to deal with interruptions from time to time.  When I get a chance to post one of our more recent clips (hopefully this Saturday) you will be able to hear for yourself that sound is our biggest challenge right now (not our only challenge...just the biggest).



This is the best we have been able to do for our puppet mics up until this point.



Another challenge we face is the lack of a raised platform.  This makes it necessary for our puppeteers to get themselves into all kinds of weird positions.  (The painfully white guy in this picture is me, and the lovely Brazilian to my left is my wife).



This shot shows our entire cast up to this point.  The woman with the yellow puppet is Nice. 



This is Cicero, Nice's husband (aka "Brazil's answer to Thomas Edison") checking a shot.



Yours Truly checking the script...and apparently choking a puppet.  This puppet is the only one we use in our filming that was not made by Nice.  He became somewhat of a star of our live performances, and we couldn't leave him out.  Also, since he only produces short growls, it lets me be a puppeteer again and not have to worry about my American accent.



Up until last night we used large posters with the script printed on them as prompters for the cast.  Last night we decided to use my iMac, and it actually worked pretty well. 

Brazilnut:
I wish I could see your pictures but they didn't show up.  In order to insert pictures into the text you have to first download the pictures into the gallery on this site.  When adding a picture in your reply you hit the Gallery image button on the bottom of the screen and insert your pictures from the gallery using a series of pulldown menus.  It's a bit of a pain, but it's the only way I know of to insert pictures within text.

Ah thank you so much.  I have been trying to figure that out.  I shall do it now.  Until I get it figured out, I cross posted this entry over at my blog: http://www.comingstobrazil.com/blog/archives/2008/08/filming-scene-2.php

Andrew, great pictures and notes.  It's nice to see how you set up your recording studio.  I'm working up to producing some videos for a VBS program so seeing other peoples work space is helpful

A raised platform would certainly be a help for you.  Take comfort in knowing that the muppets puppeteers had to do a fair amout of contorting even with their puppeteer friendly equipment.  sometimes their no comfortable to keep the puppeteer out of the shot. 

You can also see the images in brazilnut72's Gallery Album: http://puppetsandstuff.com/community/index.php?action=gallery&g2_itemId=3147

To insert any of those images in a post all you have to do is click on the Gallery Image button.  The thumbnail of the image you choose well be inserted where ever your cursor is in the post and be linked to the full image.


You can also go to the Gallery and view the full image you want to insert into a post.  Right click on the image and select Copy Image Location then come to the post and put that URL inside of bbCode img tags. The easy way to do that is to click on the small and then past the URL once the tags have been inserted.

Thanks for the encouragement.  Yeah, I have seen pics and videos of the Muppet performers in action.  Definitely not for the faint of heart.

I also have discovered that trying to direct while at the same time performing with a puppet is NOT easy.  It was disconcerting to have puppeteers I am training tell me I need to "put more life" into the puppet.  How did Jim Henson do it?!?

Yeah, I am currently uploading the pictures to my gallery.  Slow connections here south of the equator...

Looks like you guys had great fun filming! Something i forgot to mention about prerecording. We occationaly will pre-record some of the lines and leave the others live so you get that live on mic feel to the final. That way you can interact more too. Just a thought for you. Good luck!

Thanks once again for the tips.  We do have a lot of fun!