For the "watch how it moves"- part you could peek into the making of for Lion King. As far as I remember they compare the movements of animals and how they are translated into animation. I guess it would be nice to get the point of anthropomorphization Na mentioned- because that's just what Disney's been doing for like 70 odd years.

Thanks for such a great response guys! Someone mentioned somewhere about Puppetry Journals? Been trying to hunt down some sort of journal or ebook maybe with terminology and methods that are commonly used.. sort of like puppetry laws or rules.. I know there is no set way of doing anything but maybe someone's written something somewhere? trying to get in contact with the London Library as they have copies of everything published!

Thanks for such a great response guys! Someone mentioned somewhere about Puppetry Journals? Been trying to hunt down some sort of journal or ebook maybe with terminology and methods that are commonly used.. sort of like puppetry laws or rules.. I know there is no set way of doing anything but maybe someone's written something somewhere? trying to get in contact with the London Library as they have copies of everything published!

I mentioned journals - see the info provided in my post above. However, I doubt you will find anyone writing 'rules'. The art of puppetry is far too complex. As a good comparison, this would be like asking 'how to choreograph a dance' and expecting ten bullet points that explains every choreography from ballet to modern to tap. It's simply impossible, especially given that each puppet is unique and therefore 'methodology' to turn the object into a believable performance is also unique to that particular puppet.

Having said that, the reason why I mentioned journals is because often they include interviews, articles and other pieces of research, which may have commentaries from directors/performers that will help narrow down a definition. You may find lists of terms that refer to the types of puppets or the way they are built, but I haven't seen anything that would list terms to do with performance; more than likely because all the terms would be simply the same ones used in 'normal' theatre.

Again, I think it comes back to actually contacting someone local and sitting down and having a conversation; perhaps it would be easier to sit in on a show from start to finish, as sort of a volunteer. You could watch the company take an idea, transform it into a script and puppets, then how they take the script and create a performance from it (assuming you have time for that, but if not, I'd go back to the above recommendation of sitting in on a single or multiple rehearsal/s). It would answer more of your questions than a list of terms anyway, because believability is a hard thing to define in words.

That's my $2 worth anyway, and I think if you're really looking for info on believability, then I'd actually revise my opinion and state that you should be looking at books on acting, and then applying those principles to whatever you find out from puppeteers in general.