Hey guys, I just joined mostly because I thought I could use a little advice from the community. I just started this project as a way to attract readers to the online edition of our school newspaper, sort of like a "bonus content" section. The series is called "Cats on Campus" and features Biff the Bobcat, an intrepid reporter for the Exponent, our school newspaper. I'm very new at the whole puppetry scene (although I will admit that this is my third puppet project and first to have really taken off at all). Any comments, suggestions, criticisms, or otherwise would be much appreciated.
Here's Biff reporting on
Undie Run,

Rocky Horror Picture Show,

Local Occupy movement,

And Catapalooza, an orientation event:

I little more information: Montana State actually has a pretty decent film program. We have, however, no journalism school, which has its upsides and downsides. So this project is a collaboration of film majors on our newspaper staff and myself. It is picking up speed though, this latest one features an interview with both presidents of the two major universities in Montana and Montana's Governor. Hope you enjoy.
Yours Truly,
Biff the Bobcat

I really enjoyed the videos, The puppet has great eye contact and performs very well in my opinion. I like the idea that you are combining puppetry,film, and journalism to cover current events at school. BTW Welcome to Puppets and Stuff.

Very well done! Great job! I agree with Billy that your puppet is preformed very well. I think it is a great project. Keep up the good work.

Welcome to Puppets and Stuff.

Very nice work...as well...I wish you luck at getting the journalism more prevalent in your school.

Thanks for sharing.

Daryl

I love your cat!

This is what Biff used to look like. The black and white denotes that it's from the past. I made some critical changes, most notably a more mobile mouth and less cave-man like eyes. Thanks for all the comments. I do have some questions though- I feel like I could still improve with the eye- contact. Does anyone know of a cheap way to for the puppeter to see what he's doing? I know professionals use video feeds, but has anyone every tried anything with mirrors?

Also, does anyone know of a good way to track down fake furs? The fur I used to build the first bobcat was perfect and I had found it at Jo-anne's Fabric, but it has never again resurfaced. I'd like to make the other half of the body, but so far Jo-Anne's says that they don't have a way for me to search fabric.

I don't know that you can preform with a mirror but you can practice with one. Much like a dancer's body learns and develops muscle memory by practicing the same is true for puppeteer.  Time spent in front of a mirror will begin to make it nature for your puppet to make the correct eye contact.

I don't know of any way to search for a fabric unless you have the manufacture and fabric details that you see on the end of roll. If you had that you could then contact the manufacture and see if they still make the fur. Other then that I think the best thing is simply to keep an eye out. You might have some luck via Google and the term "fake fur" then click on the results for images.

Shawn you brought up a good point............ I have learned that when purchasing fabric from the fabric store it is wise to copy down all the manufacture info from the end of the bolt. When ordering online however all you may be able to get is the order stock number, but I'm sure they would give you all the information needed if you ask.

http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/productdetail.jsp?pageName=search&flag=true&PRODID=xprd986560