I’m an independent filmmaker and puppeteer in Toronto, Canada who blogs about puppetry and film.
Puppets are used to raise awareness about environmental issues in a pair of PSAs from MTV. These are two environmentally-themed public service announcements (click here and here to watch) from the MTV Switch campaign. The puppeteers on this included Jason Milligan and Michael Dowell of Moodoo Puppets. Thanks to Michael at Moodoo for the...
Folkmanis recently ran a commercial on video billboards in Times Square. A really cute commercial for Folkmanis puppets was produced last year and features puppeteers Elaine Kollias, Wendy Morton, Lee Armstrong and Kamela Portuges. It ran on the Geoffrytron Video Billboard in Times Square during the Christmas season and can be found on various video...
Darth Vader + Puppets = one crazy commercial. This has got to be one of the most surreal (and cute) puppet commercials I’ve ever seen…two puppets help Darth Vader get a toaster. It’s one of a series of commercials in the UK for Woolworth’s featuring their mascots Wooly and Worth. The puppets in the ad...
North Dakota radio station Bob 95 FM is at it again with a new Christmas-themed puppet commercial. I don’t know what Bob 95 FM in Fargo, ND is paying Sun Dog Advertising – the folks behind their “Turn Your Knob To Bob” campaign (see previous post) – but I hope they keep it up. You...
Two dancing marionettes star in a slightly provocative ad for Fox Jeans in Israel. This is a slightly provocative commercial for Fox Jeans in Israel that features two marionettes. The builder was the very talented and Toronto-based Alexander...
All does not end well in Gali The Aligator, a commercial for a French crime channel. Gali The Aligator is a commercial for 13 eme rue (a French crime channel) is a really great use of puppetry. It’s starts out cute and sweet like a children’s show and ends, well, not very well. Watch and...
Puppets are put to good promotional use by North Dakota radio station Bob 95 FM. Fargo, North Dakota’s KBVB Bob 95 FM (see previous post) is back on YouTube with more puppet fun encouraging listeners to “turn their knob to Bob”, this time using The Chicken Dance. Thanks to Zero at Bob 95 FM for...
An animatronic gorilla is featured in a new ad campaign for Dairy Milk chocolate bars in the UK. In the UK Cadbury has launched a £6.2m (!) ad campaign for Dairy Milk chocolate bars featuring an animatronic gorilla playing the drum solo in Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight. I’m not really sure what it...
Sorry for the lack of updates while I was away last week. Here’s a run down of interesting puppet-related stuff that was happening while I was away: Seattle’s Train of Thought (creators of the previously-blogged Fergalicious and Puppet Tom) have created a brand new Sesame Street parody called Grover Interrogation. Brian Hogg has created puppets...
Puppeteers perform a tree on the set of a German commercial for biodiesel fuel. Remember the biodiesel commercial that Jan Schönwiesner made with puppets in Germany that I wrote about earlier this year? Well, there’s now a “making of” video on YouTube that shows how it was created using a single puppet, a bluescreen and...
Turkey’s Pinar uses cute puppet characters to promote their products. This cute looking puppet is one of several used by a Turkish food company called Pinar to promote their products in Europe. You can see two clips (in Turkish) on YouTube here and...
Hot dogs, french fries and onion rings celebrate Heinz in another user-generated ad on YouTube. Here’s another one of those Heinz commercials on YouTube that I mentioned recently (see previous post). This one features some neat puppets and puppetry by California’s Images In...