Viewing archived post for Shawn Sorrell
Re: Looking for street performing advice Posted in Looking for street performing advice on Nov 09, 2015
While I've never really done any busking on the streets I was involved in performing at Renaissance Festivals. Kind of the same thing but just on the streets of the fair grounds. 
Simplest way to go about it is to simply head out with a puppet on your arm. Did this with a female puppet dressed as a wench and would hang out with the "real" wenches on the bridge and cat call to the folks along with them. I did develop some shtick or bits over time but really I just talked to folks and remarked on things I noticed about them. Just go armed with a really solid character for your puppet then let that take over.
Simplest way to go about it is to simply head out with a puppet on your arm. Did this with a female puppet dressed as a wench and would hang out with the "real" wenches on the bridge and cat call to the folks along with them. I did develop some shtick or bits over time but really I just talked to folks and remarked on things I noticed about them. Just go armed with a really solid character for your puppet then let that take over. Re: Presenting The Earl Posted in Presenting The Earl on Aug 12, 2015
Not bad at all. The more you do the better you'll get at smoothing out those bumps.
Re: Contracts Posted in Contracts on Aug 08, 2015
Well a contract would need to state your fee, dates booked and where, and any special requirements you have. That is the short version. For something like this I think you should try and keep it as simple as possible. One other thing often added in a contract or agreement is how payment of your fee is handled. Do you require a % up front of the fee? If so that should be included. If you do is that % refundable if the cancel. If is refundable how much lead time is needed for them to get the down payment back. You don't want them to book and then cancel the day of the show. Means you may loose income if another company had wanted to book you on the same day. While this is not for puppetry, it is an example of a pretty simple contract for bands. http://bluegrasstoday.com/show-contracts-for-dummies/ Maybe based on that we can come up with a really good template for puppet shows! I would be willing to convert anything we come up with to PDF form and host it here.
For something like this I think you should try and keep it as simple as possible. One other thing often added in a contract or agreement is how payment of your fee is handled. Do you require a % up front of the fee? If so that should be included. If you do is that % refundable if the cancel. If is refundable how much lead time is needed for them to get the down payment back. You don't want them to book and then cancel the day of the show. Means you may loose income if another company had wanted to book you on the same day. While this is not for puppetry, it is an example of a pretty simple contract for bands. http://bluegrasstoday.com/show-contracts-for-dummies/ Maybe based on that we can come up with a really good template for puppet shows! I would be willing to convert anything we come up with to PDF form and host it here. Re: Character design Posted in Character design on Aug 07, 2015
I think as a rule in puppetry you are working with caricatures rather then reality. That is one of the things that is appealing about using puppets. Often there is not time to establish a back story for you character so you let the audience know who the puppet is visually.
I think it depends on what the intent of the puppet is. Let's say it is a children's show. Most of the puppets are most likely going to be stereotypes. Like your example of a doctor, if you are teaching then about how to brush their teeth with a dentist puppet then you more then likely going to put the puppet in a white lab coat, but if you want to teach them about acceptance of those who are unique then your puppet may be a girl puppet that is more male looking to establish that being a tom boy is ok and that girls don't have to wear pink dresses. Not the best example but hopefully that get's my point across.
I think you can also break stereotypes when puppets are used in more complex stories. Again in that case you have the luxury of telling the back story in other ways.
While this is not puppets, I think it kind of relates and adds to this conversation. I've been watching "Defiance" which is on SyFy here in the states. It has a lot of "aliens" in it and one of the main characters is a very strong female role. Visually here make up has always had a very sharp look. This season her attitude has changed and she is not as "shoot em up". She is questioning here violent side. I swear that they have softened the lines in her makeup even styling her hair softer. It is subtle but I really think they are trying to visually help the storyline along.
I think it depends on what the intent of the puppet is. Let's say it is a children's show. Most of the puppets are most likely going to be stereotypes. Like your example of a doctor, if you are teaching then about how to brush their teeth with a dentist puppet then you more then likely going to put the puppet in a white lab coat, but if you want to teach them about acceptance of those who are unique then your puppet may be a girl puppet that is more male looking to establish that being a tom boy is ok and that girls don't have to wear pink dresses. Not the best example but hopefully that get's my point across.
I think you can also break stereotypes when puppets are used in more complex stories. Again in that case you have the luxury of telling the back story in other ways.
While this is not puppets, I think it kind of relates and adds to this conversation. I've been watching "Defiance" which is on SyFy here in the states. It has a lot of "aliens" in it and one of the main characters is a very strong female role. Visually here make up has always had a very sharp look. This season her attitude has changed and she is not as "shoot em up". She is questioning here violent side. I swear that they have softened the lines in her makeup even styling her hair softer. It is subtle but I really think they are trying to visually help the storyline along.
Re: Web Series -- What do I need to know? Posted in Web Series -- What do I need to know? on Apr 10, 2015
I don't think you need any type of release for places you visit as long as they are public places. Now if you where going in with more then just a tablet to film then yes there may be permits you would need but I don't think at this level you need to worry about it.
In regards to getting releases form people you interview I think again that because of the level you are at you don't need to worry about it. When a news program does an interview with someone they don't get a release.
Really these questions should be answered by a lawyer who has looked at the details of what you are doing and not by me from the little bit of information you've given. Just thought I should give that disclaimer.
In regards to getting releases form people you interview I think again that because of the level you are at you don't need to worry about it. When a news program does an interview with someone they don't get a release.
Really these questions should be answered by a lawyer who has looked at the details of what you are doing and not by me from the little bit of information you've given. Just thought I should give that disclaimer.
Etsy shop content being stolen Posted in Etsy shop content being stolen on Apr 05, 2015
I was over at FB perusing Puppet Maker's Workshop group and one of the puppet sellers asked who they should contact if a website was copying their items. I was confused at first and asked them for more details but then went digging and found the site they where talking about. It looks like the spammers/cheaters are stealing content from etsy shops and using it on their site to help get click throughs on their ads. Don't want to promote them by linking but you can type in kidstoysonsales then a dot then a com to find them. More then likely there are tons of other such site doing this focused on different categories.
Beyond reporting the domain to etsy and seeing if they do something about it there is not much that can be done to stop them form doing this but if you can't beat them then at least take advantage of them. I told the puppet maker that they should make sure to always include a link back to their main shop on etsy in the description for each item. Then at least you may get some traffic back to the real site. It is kind of the same idea as putting a water mark on your photos of your dot com so that if someone uses then somewhere else at leas folks know where to look for the original content.
While we are on the subject. I notice there are a lot of site out there that "legit" but pretty much doing the same thing with youtube videos. I am sure you have noticed them if you are on FB. They "report" on the content of the videos. They embed a youtube video then come up with some sensational head line similar to this "Man came home and you won't believe what happened next!". These sites are only interested in getting you to their site so you might click on their ads. So same thing applies. Make sure your videos have information in them to get them back to the source. In this case it is not quite as bad as the first since they are simply embedding the videos at YouTube and you can still easily get back to the original but still a good idea to fill the actual video with info.
Oh and did you realize that really even FB is doing this? Notice that when you type in a website that you get a preview in your post of the site? Pay attention if you own a website or you may end up with content in the preview at FB you don't want there. It can get a bit complicated but this may get you started. https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/best-practices If you happen to use something like Wordpress or another popular CMS make sure to check and see what add-ons they have for this type of thing.
More then likely there are tons of other such site doing this focused on different categories. Beyond reporting the domain to etsy and seeing if they do something about it there is not much that can be done to stop them form doing this but if you can't beat them then at least take advantage of them. I told the puppet maker that they should make sure to always include a link back to their main shop on etsy in the description for each item. Then at least you may get some traffic back to the real site. It is kind of the same idea as putting a water mark on your photos of your dot com so that if someone uses then somewhere else at leas folks know where to look for the original content.
While we are on the subject. I notice there are a lot of site out there that "legit" but pretty much doing the same thing with youtube videos. I am sure you have noticed them if you are on FB. They "report" on the content of the videos. They embed a youtube video then come up with some sensational head line similar to this "Man came home and you won't believe what happened next!". These sites are only interested in getting you to their site so you might click on their ads. So same thing applies. Make sure your videos have information in them to get them back to the source. In this case it is not quite as bad as the first since they are simply embedding the videos at YouTube and you can still easily get back to the original but still a good idea to fill the actual video with info.
Oh and did you realize that really even FB is doing this? Notice that when you type in a website that you get a preview in your post of the site? Pay attention if you own a website or you may end up with content in the preview at FB you don't want there. It can get a bit complicated but this may get you started. https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/best-practices If you happen to use something like Wordpress or another popular CMS make sure to check and see what add-ons they have for this type of thing.