While in Manchester, I popped down to the Waterside Arts Centre in Sale to have a look at the Cosgrove Hall archives exhibition. It was only very small, but it was quite nice to see the selection of puppets from some of the studio's classic programmes.
These puppets are from one of Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall's earliest programmes, Sally and Jake (1973 - 74). Produced by Cosgrove Hall's predecessor company, Stop Frame Productions, for Thames Television, Sally and Jake was initially a segment within Rainbow (1972 - 97) before receiving its own spin-off.
The animation in this series was incredibly ropey, looking like a first-year student's work. However, the puppets have a certain charm, looking like a child's dolls, and the fluffy fabric skin is something I haven't seen before, which adds a nice softness and tactility to the characters to make them appealing. Despite their simplicity, they really are charming, and something that I could conceivably imitate in my own designs.
On the other hand, these puppets of Fenella the Kettle Witch from Chorlton and the Wheelies (1976 - 79) are made from solid wood and resemble a different type of child's toy: action figures. In my opinion, the puppets in Chorlton are rather grotesque and not appealing to children.
The character of Fenella uses replacement models: in order to avoid complicated walking animations, Cosgrove and Hall decided that she should instead "sink down" into the ground and "pop up" out of it, achieved via replacement models of different heights, as illustrated above. She also has a number of replacement heads, although not many, and the facial expression randomly changes as she talks, rather than attempting any kind of lip synch.
I admire the use of creativity in order o get around practical limitations and lack of experience; however, I don't think that I will personally be using replacements in my own animation, as a good quality of animation will require a large number of heads, all very consistent in paint work, which is very labour-intensive.
By the time of The Wind in the Willows (1983 - 88), the puppets had become a lot more sophisticated. Casting the bodies in foam latex allowed for some interesting visual textures and a much smoother style of animation. Hinged jaws allowed for lip synched dialogue, and other mechanics under the skin allowed for some changes in facial expression.
I think I would ideally like to take a similar approach to my own puppets: I think that foam latex gives a much nicer, cosier look than hard materials, and the use of a hinged jaw makes lip synch very easy. However, it does require more technical know-how than I currently have, so it will require some help and experimentation.
However, as can be seen from these puppets from Terry Pratchett's Truckers (1992), foam latex does not age gracefully; it degrades pretty quickly and needs repairing (the Mr Toad puppet pictured above is a recast from the original mould. The original puppets from The Wind in the Willows have long since fallen to pieces, and only the costumes remain).
As this picture indicates, certainly by the time of Noddy's Toyland Adventures (1992 - 99), Cosgrove Hall were using modern ball-and-socket armatures. This is the type of armature that I intend to use: although they are more expensive and complicated than wire armatures, they are simply so much more stable and make animation a much less frustrating experience. You can see here that there was a return to replacement heads, this time with thin moulded faces that clipped on to a core. However, these hard heads have a much softer-looking finish than those used in Chorlton.
These puppets are from one of Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall's earliest programmes, Sally and Jake (1973 - 74). Produced by Cosgrove Hall's predecessor company, Stop Frame Productions, for Thames Television, Sally and Jake was initially a segment within Rainbow (1972 - 97) before receiving its own spin-off.
The animation in this series was incredibly ropey, looking like a first-year student's work. However, the puppets have a certain charm, looking like a child's dolls, and the fluffy fabric skin is something I haven't seen before, which adds a nice softness and tactility to the characters to make them appealing. Despite their simplicity, they really are charming, and something that I could conceivably imitate in my own designs.
On the other hand, these puppets of Fenella the Kettle Witch from Chorlton and the Wheelies (1976 - 79) are made from solid wood and resemble a different type of child's toy: action figures. In my opinion, the puppets in Chorlton are rather grotesque and not appealing to children.
The character of Fenella uses replacement models: in order to avoid complicated walking animations, Cosgrove and Hall decided that she should instead "sink down" into the ground and "pop up" out of it, achieved via replacement models of different heights, as illustrated above. She also has a number of replacement heads, although not many, and the facial expression randomly changes as she talks, rather than attempting any kind of lip synch.
I admire the use of creativity in order o get around practical limitations and lack of experience; however, I don't think that I will personally be using replacements in my own animation, as a good quality of animation will require a large number of heads, all very consistent in paint work, which is very labour-intensive.
By the time of The Wind in the Willows (1983 - 88), the puppets had become a lot more sophisticated. Casting the bodies in foam latex allowed for some interesting visual textures and a much smoother style of animation. Hinged jaws allowed for lip synched dialogue, and other mechanics under the skin allowed for some changes in facial expression.
I think I would ideally like to take a similar approach to my own puppets: I think that foam latex gives a much nicer, cosier look than hard materials, and the use of a hinged jaw makes lip synch very easy. However, it does require more technical know-how than I currently have, so it will require some help and experimentation.
However, as can be seen from these puppets from Terry Pratchett's Truckers (1992), foam latex does not age gracefully; it degrades pretty quickly and needs repairing (the Mr Toad puppet pictured above is a recast from the original mould. The original puppets from The Wind in the Willows have long since fallen to pieces, and only the costumes remain).
As this picture indicates, certainly by the time of Noddy's Toyland Adventures (1992 - 99), Cosgrove Hall were using modern ball-and-socket armatures. This is the type of armature that I intend to use: although they are more expensive and complicated than wire armatures, they are simply so much more stable and make animation a much less frustrating experience. You can see here that there was a return to replacement heads, this time with thin moulded faces that clipped on to a core. However, these hard heads have a much softer-looking finish than those used in Chorlton.
The Animal Shelf (1997 - 2000) used a mixture of materials. Some characters used real fabrics, much like those from Sally and Jake some 25 years earlier (albeit with a more high-tech armature), and these look remarkably like real toys, which I imagine is very appealing to children. Other characters were made from foam latex which was moulded with a fabric-like texture, which is still quite effective and removes the worries of "boiling" that you can get when animating soft fabrics. You can also see on the monkey's feet the metal plates which are used so that the puppets can be secured to the floor with magnets.
These models from Engie Benjy (2002 - 2004) illustrate the modern type of puppet that was used in Cosgrove Hall's latter years. They contain very complex ball-and-socket armatures engineered by Mackinnon and Saunders, which are much more complicated than I could ever hope to build. The outer skin is made from moulded silicone, which is more durable and smoother than foam latex, but in my opinion, looks rather "plasticky" and is therefore less warm and appealing. As you can see from the puppet's wrist, silicone is also prone to splitting, so it is important to have replacement pieces on hand. I do not anticipate that I will use silicone, as it gives a look which is too "polished" for what I want to achieve.
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