My idea is to combine an old practice of puppetry with today's modern forms of entertainment including current celebrities as my subject matter. Today's Tabloids are filled with stories and celebrity gossip mostly about things we usually can continue our days with out knowing. Something as simple as taking out the trash can be twisted and turned into a cover story on what dirty laundry is being thrown away. The stories can be far from the truth or exactly on spot but blown out of proportions to make something simple appear more dramatic and entertaining to the public's eye. A large proportion of tabloid celebrity news comes from the celebrities themselves, often by way of their publicists. Stars often create a working relationship with a tabloid, offering them inside info and stories in exchange for free publicity.
Who is the puppet master and who is the puppet? I want to explore these ideas using puppetry effects and motions inside after effects. I want to take simple every day events and dramatize them on stage using images of celebrities found from tabloids themselves. To create the look and feel I will be creating puppets using the images by detaching arms and legs, and animating them when needed.
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I like the idea and I would look into viewing http://www.theonion.com and sites like http://www.trendhunter.com/ because they take some of the same issues and add more focus to a certain problem. There are several animations out there that utilize the same idea but majority of the work produced recently deals with ex president Bush. Overall I can see where this could be heading especially with the range of celebrity trash out there.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious if you're going to take a dramatic route or comedically interpreted route. Puppets can easily be seen as funny and silly and would be strongly represented in that fashion. But puppets also have a dark air to them so you could possibly be sad and dramatic as well. Or a combination for a dark comedy. Definitely utilize the idea of blowing things out of proportion. You may want to consider taking the images that you obtain from the tabloids and making sort of a caricature with them.
ReplyDeleteI think this route you are taking should be really amusing. So many people buy into those magazines, and don't even realize the ridiculousness of their actions. Are you limiting the scenes to everyday tasks and making them funny by "dramatizing" them on stage? I think that is a nice metaphor but maybe think about expanding those scenes to include things that maybe are more scandalous. I also like the idea of who is controlling who. This is totally relevant, and I often find myself questioning who is responsible for (or allowing) these stories to be published.
ReplyDeleteCheck out some skits from Robot Chicken (check google or youtube) as well. They tend to exaggerate situations with the likenesses of famous celebrities.
ReplyDeleteI like this idea of the puppet master and puppet switching identities from time to time. You have websites like TMZ whose sole purpose is to seek celebrities out and record what they are doing. While they are controlling the media's interpretation of celebrity lives, what is that one element that keeps the paparazzi in their profession?
I think this would be an interesting, humorous idea, especially if the characters are not completely recognizable at first. I want to recognize who the character is by the actions they are doing. I also think you could tie in the idea of these tabloids by using text in techniques similar to the "kid stays in the picture" and also some of the videos biggs posted on her blog.
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