The world of puppets takes you everywhere.

Finger Puppet

Finger puppets start with a tube that fits over your finger. Decorated in different ways, a small cast of characters can appear on every finger of both hands. Another version has two fingers poke through the puppet's torso to become the legs. Stages for finger puppets can be as simple as a shoebox.

Examples

Pop-up Puppet

This puppet is often found in a toy store. It has a cone and a rod through it. By attaching the puppet to the top of the rod and pushing the rod through the cone, the character appears and disappears.

Example

Paddle Puppet (Marionette a la Planchette)

Street performers in the late 18th century manipulated paddle puppets by tapping a plank with their foot. The puppets, suspended by string or a rod, bounced on the plank, giving the illusion of dancing. The puppeteer used hands for playing a musical instrument for accompaniment.

Example

Jumping Jack

Another favorite toy puppet,, jumping jacks have a simple movement accomplished by running four strings from the four limbs of the character. The strings are joined at the base of the puppet and, when pulled and released, bring the arms and the legs of the puppet up and down.

Example

Hand Puppet (Glove Puppet)

There are many variations to a hand puppet. If the puppet does not have a movable mouth, three fingers on one hand become the neck and two arms. This type of puppet is often called a glove puppet. If the puppet has a movable mouth, traditionally the thumb serves as the lower jaw; the four fingers form the upper mouth.

Example

Rod Puppet

Sticks or wire rod manipulate rod puppets attached to the neck and hands. In most cases, these controls come from below.Rod puppets mayalso be worked with rods from above, or any direction necessary for good movement and performance.

Example

Article - Sicilain Rod Puppets in Performance

Shadow Puppet

Mostly rod puppets, they are made flat and cast a shadow when the puppeteer manipulates them between a light source and a screen (often a piece of muslin stretched like a canvas). A shadow puppeteer learns to move the puppet in and out of the light so its shadow grows and shrinks and goes in and out of sharp focus. Traditionally, these are made from animal hides that are painted and punched with decorative designs. Colored acetates are often used to create colors in the puppet's projected shadow.

Example

Hand and Rod Puppet

This is the style made famous by the Muppets. The puppeteer uses his hand to move the puppet's mouth while rods attached to the puppet's hands animate the arms.

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Hand and Glove Puppet

Also used frequently by the Muppets, this puppet is like the hand and rod puppet except human hands become the puppet's hands. This type of puppet may manipulate, pick up and put down, objects. For both hands to work, two puppeteers are needed: one on the mouth and one hand, an additional puppeteer on the second hand.

Example

Marionette (String Puppet)

One of the most difficult forms of puppetry to manipulate effectively, marionettes hang on strings. Usually there are eight basic strings to a well-designed marionette. However, some marionettes can have thirty or more. A good marionette performer learns how to use gravity to give the puppet life and weight. To work a marionette well, one must practice.

Example

Ventriloquist Figure

Just don't call it a dummy. Only Paul Winchell may do that. He's one of the great ventriloquists in show business. Ventriloquism is lots of fun, but it too takes a great deal of practice. The puppet has a slotted mouth that works on a trigger. A good vent figure will also have multiple eye movement and eyebrows.

Example

More on Ventriloquism

Junk Puppet (Found Object)

The simple paper bag puppet typifies what a junk puppet is. Everyday objects become incorporated into a puppet that may be moved by hand, string or rod. This includes boxes, socks, egg cartons and paper plates. More rarefied artitically, the type of puppet becomes "found object" and, in the hands of a talented puppeteer, can be truly magical.

Example

Humanette

A puppet-proportioned body hangs from the puppeteer's neck. If the performer dresses in black and performs against black, the illusion is that the human head appears on a small, comic body. The puppeteer, wearing black gloves, manipulates the limbs with rods attached to the hands and heels. The performer's hands might also fit into small shoes to operate the feet with a second puppeteer manipulating the arms. The "triplets" number from the classic Fred Asatire movie "Bandwagon" is a perfect example of a humanette.

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Cable-controlled Puppet

One of the most expensive forms of puppet, a cable puppet uses bicycle cables to control its motions. Whereas a rod puppet or marionette needs only one or two strings or rods to move an arm, a cable-controlled puppet requires as many as a dozen cables. These are popular puppets in the world of special effects. A puppet like Chucky in Child's Play requires as many as eight puppeteers. The cables are all bundled out the back where they then branch out to the different controls for the head, left arm, right arm, and fingers.

Example

Radio-controlled Puppet

Also popularized by movie special effects, this puppet uses model airplane controls that send radio signals to servos inside the puppet. These control the puppet's action. Movie producers like radio-controls as the puppeteers can manipulate the puppet from behind the cameras with no external controls visible. Most movie puppets combine cable, radio controls and traditional puppetry.

Example

Animatronic

Another theme park staple, More info

Body Suits/Walkabouts

Also called walkabouts, these are the costume characters that stroll through amusement parks. When facial animation is added, the character suit becomes a puppet. Animation can be done with string, cable or radio control. Often the controls are in the pad of the character's hand so that performer in the suit may work the animation.

Example

Pneumatic (air-Controlled) Puppet

Air pressure through tubes makes these puppets move. These are often seen on fair grounds and displays moving automatically, though simply, with no puppeteers necessary. In this case, when no human is near, the puppet designer and builder is considered the performer.

Example: Funhouse figures during the mid-20th century, relied on air pressure for movement. Today air-control is mostly used to animate figures for car dealerships or convention displays.

Hydraulic Puppet

Sometimes a puppet is so big and heavy that the only way to manipulate it is through water or oil pressure. You'll see these creatures in big theme parks.

Example: Walt Disney's Jungle Cruise ride shows hydraulic puppetry at its finest. Large dinaosaurs in most amusment parks use oil pressure for movement.

Stop-action Puppet/Stop-motion Puppet

Articulated dolls with movable and posable joints, stop-action puppets are as old as filmmaking. Still very popular today, stop motion puppets are everywhere. Willis O'Brien, George Pal, Ray Harryhausen and many others made them an important part of motion picture history. Today, animators like Wil Vinton and Nick Parks continue making magic by moving puppets frame by frame. The animation only can be seen when the sequence is run. This form of puppetry takes a lot of patience and a willingness to redo. Stop-motion artists prefer the title"animator" to "puppeteer."

Example

Computer-generated Puppet

When computer animation became a new form of media production, the terminology often associated with moving CGI characters came from puppetry. A basic knowledge of sculpting, puppet articulation, joints and movement transfers well into CGI. Key-frame animation is the simplest form of computer animation and corresponds to stop motion. The computer puppet is posed in its main (key) positions and the computer generates the in-between positions. These cycles may be saved and used over and over again in different scenes with different camera angles. The animator is the puppeteer.

Example

Waldo-input Computer Puppet

The performer sits at controls or keyboard, or may have them attached to an actor's face. The controls are connected to the computer. The puppeteer moves the control as if manipulating a puppet. The movement is mapped on an X,Y,Z grid and sent to the computer where the CGI figure moves correspondingly. The name "waldo" comes from a science fiction novel by Robert Heinlein, "Waldo: Genius in Orbit.".

Example: Though many effects companies have the technology, the waldo puppet is not used that frequently. Jim Henson's character "Waldo" as seen in the theme park movie "Muppets in 3-D" is the most familiar waldo-input puppet.

Motion Capture Puppet/Digital Monkey

Devices that emit light or radio signals are attached to strategic points on the actor's body. The performer's movements are matched correspondingly to body parts on the computer puppet. An intricate style of manipulation, any exaggerated movement makes the computer puppet move in unrealistic ways. Arms may pass through the body. As with a marionette, this is a very exacting way to perform a puppet.

When a bunraku-syle puppet is similarly recorded, the puppet is referred to as a"digital monkey."

Example: A real push for motion capture use was made in the late 1990's. Although it is helpful on some special effects, especially dangerous stunts, motion-capture technology has not yet transferred well to character animation. Columbia Picture's mega-budget "Final Fantasy" used motion capture in sequences.

Motion Capture Articles