Pennsylvania Avenue!

We've started a new series of shorts, entitled Pennsylvania Avenue. What's better than mocking the presidency? Mocking the presidency with puppets! In episode 1 (above), George W. shows Obama the presidential bedroom.

Each puppet took about two weeks to complete. We started by whittling their heads out of foam. After gluing felt to the outside using spray adhesive, we made color foam eyes and cut up a bunch of fluff balls of different colors to make the hair. The noses and ears are made from soft foam (the packaging that comes from our grocery deliveries from Fresh Direct) that was sewed into the correct shape and then covered with felt. To make sure they stayed in place, I cut up a wire hanger and pinned them to the head. We then used a hot glue gun to close up the seams.

Each puppet's body is made from felt stuffed with pillow fluff and sewed together. To clothe our presidential alter egos, we found a few on-line stores that sell cheap baby clothes (0-6 months).

We're still figuring out the best filming methods. Episode 1 was something of an experiment. The first thing that became apparent was how important it is for you to be able to clearly see what you're doing with the puppet on the video monitor. We'll probably have to get creative about wiring monitors up if we need to shoot on location anywhere. We'll also start using wireless lav mics for the puppeteers to make sure we get useable sound. For now, we're just shooting things in standard definition, since we intend to distribute these on the internet. Until there's a reason to use high definition, we'll avoid the hassle of large files and slow processing.

More to come soon!