Hey gang, one of my haunt buddies and I had way too much fun in our characters this October, and decided that it was impossible to just end them at Halloween, so we decided to make a web series. And, to make it more interesting, we're doing it with puppet versions of our characters.
 
So, after much prep, here's our pilot. It'll be a while before we can start churning more episodes out, we have another mechanic puppet to build, as well as get our set properly made. What we used in this is just not at all conductive to the work. We've also got a pilot for another series shooting in a couple weeks, and that takes priority over a web series. Future episodes will be longer than this one, we just really needed to get the pilot banged out before we turned our attention to our live action series.

Please, please, please, take note that this is not for children to watch. In the pilot there is harsh language, adult themes, and drug references. It has adult themes and is intended for an adult audience.



Any comments, advice, notes, what have you are welcome and most appreciated. We are amateurs at puppetry, but have great love and respect for them, and the way they seem to take over your mind when you are using them.

Since you asked,  there are some sound issues.  It sounds like you tried to dub some stuff in, that is louder.  Try to show more puppet and less head room. Interesting lighting.  A little dark but maybe that was your goal.  I'm not real big on the "F" word but lots of folks are so you will get an audience. I would suggest for anyone that they watch their project many times and put yourself in the viewers seat before launching. Just to refine your work, make sure it is visually appealing and timing is good. With the genere you are choosing it is easy to concentrate on the shock and deflect the look. I'm no expert and am still learning myself. I thought that the two of you as humans have a great on screen chemistry, so you should be able to translate that into your puppets. Keep creating.

I agree with The Director that the on screen chemistry between the two of your as humans is really good. That should start to shine through more as you get comfortable with your puppets. I would also suggest working on the lighting. Might be a good subject for it's own thread is how to film a night time or dark scene without losing the details of you subjects.  \ I like what I could see of the puppets would like to see them better.

Flip Top. That is when you are moveing the top of the puppets head to talk. This is something you want to avoid. Practice moving just your thumb so the lower jaw moves when the puppet talks. It has been suggested that you can put a book on the top of your hand and then move the thumb. Another suggestion is to cross the index and ring finger when practicing. Do both of course without your puppet and watch your hand in a mirror. Even a few minutes a day or before you start filming can help.

Look forward to seeing more from you and Welcome to Puppets and Stuff!

Thanks guys. The sound is actually due to not doing any ADR, I was off camera saying the lines and it picked me up better. Need to go back and loop it at some point in the future. The lighting I did want to keep a couple stops under, and sidelit, so I am happy with it, but at the same time I'm pretty bummed that I lost the detail in the sores and lesions on Methy. Good for the shoot, bad for the puppet, I guess. And flip top...yeah man I've been trying, I got into the bad habit as a kid and it's kicking my keister trying to break it.

You know when doing green screen one of the common suggestions is to make sure that the background and puppets have some distance between them so one the puppet does not cast a shadow on the screen.  The background is lite by one source and the puppets a different. I wonder if in trying to create a darker scene the same can be said. If you keep enough distance between the two then you can light the puppets so they show detail and then the background is dark and gloomy. Sure it would take some experimentation but might be worth it.

The more you practice and do it the better the flip top will get .... or I guess really I should say the worst it will get.

Nice. Good luck with the show.

I like Adult stuff since that's all I ever seem to do.

Hah ahh ha... don´t hate us in the coments....err.  OK . good start. I agree with above  comments. and for me was the 'dark' issue. My monitor didn´t give me too much detail...but as TheDirector said, you may have been looking for that effect. It will be interesting to see how your content develops. Remember, not all adults are into coarsness, so 'adult' does NOT  automatically mean coarsness... but you  may get a following. We await the next episode.

You know when doing green screen one of the common suggestions is to make sure that the background and puppets have some distance between them so one the puppet does not cast a shadow on the screen.  The background is lite by one source and the puppets a different. I wonder if in trying to create a darker scene the same can be said. If you keep enough distance between the two then you can light the puppets so they show detail and then the background is dark and gloomy. Sure it would take some experimentation but might be worth it.

Multiple lights for green screen is a MUST!!! Especially if you want to try something dark and not darken it in your editor which is just wasted time and resources.. I've spent more time lighting than shooting often and it's always worth it. Darker scenes are tough for green screen to get it all right and I usually spent more time in POST than I wanted too editing.

Videomaker Magazine released a great article on green screen and lighting a few years ago they might still have it up on their website I know they catalog and sell articles after the fact. It helped me a bunch with some of the minor details.

Couldn't find a back issue with and article about Green Screen but I did find this on-line article which is an introduction to it. http://www.videomaker.com/article/10914  Looks like there is quite a bit of information on the site. One of the results I found was actually a video on the topic but you had to sign up for a trial membership to view it.

This wasn't green screen, it's actually a carpet remnant. I have an idea for a new backdrop, not sure if it's worth it for the time/money involved, but I'm thinking of using plastic sheeting with brick pattern layed over it, leaving the grout areas clear, and throwing red light through it. Would give me better separation from the background, which is a big issue with the dark clothing/hair of the main puppets. My trade is in camerawork and lighting for film and video, but translating that down to the scale of puppets is a chore. It's like shooting a beer commercial where the bottle moves around screen.