Sans computer
My PC is in the shop being repaired and upgraded so as I check my email at a local Internet cafe I thought I would share a little news and respond to a few questions...
Every two weeks beginning May 4th a new segment will be posted and there will likely be two versions of each segment available - a low-res version for dial-up users and a high-res version for people with high speed connections. The newest segment will always be free but I'm considering charging a small fee of 25 or 50 cents to access old episodes, which would be paid via the Bitpass micropayment service. The first 24 episodes or so are actually taken from a screenplay I wrote over the past few years so I plan to re-edit and remaster them on DVD as one feature length movie sometime mid-2005ish.
Some people would call Bear Town a "web series." Although I'm not aware of many other puppetry series, there's a surprising number of web shows and serials out there. If you want to find more Epiguide is a good place to start looking.
Right now I suppose I technically work "alone" although I usually collaborate with a lot of different puppeteers both in my own work and when I'm hired to design, direct or consult for other companies. For many years I worked with Shawn Hazelton and Brenda Tan through Omle Media. Brenda went on to work in the business side of the film/TV industry and Shawn currently lives in Japan so we haven't done anything together for a few years. Brenda is coming back for Bear Town and I'm hoping Shawn will be available too. There are several other talented puppeteers who will be contributing to Bear Town as well once the camera rolls.
I'm not currently a member of Puppeteers of America, mostly because everytime I go to the bank I forget to buy a US dollar money order to pay for membership. Despite my forgetfullness, I'd encourage anyone who's interested in puppetry to join the PofA. As I'm sure you know, their quarterly magazine The Puppetry Journal is excellent and the organization is a great way to network and meet other puppeteers.
I'm not a copyright lawyer, but I think you're legally in the clear on that one. Unfortunately, in America it seems you can be sued for just about anything (as this proves) but I don't think they'd have much of a case here. It sounds like what your client wants to do would be considered "parody" which is supposed to be protected as free speech in the United States, Canada and almost any other place that isn't ruled by heinious, overbearing, evil military dictator types.
No episodes are done yet, but work on Bear Town is continuing on a couple of fronts. I have a lot of puppets to finish; not one is completely done yet but several are very, very close. I'm beginning to render some of the CG backgrounds and animation I'll be compositing green screen footage of the puppets in to later. I'm hoping to be able to set up the shoot so that the puppets will be roughly keyed in to the backgrounds in real-time as they're peformed. That way when the puppeteers see their characters in the monitor they'll see them in a real environment rather than just against a sea of green or blue. I'm scheduled to start shooting in mid to late March, with additional location shooting planned for April.
Hi Andrew,Thanks! I'm glad you like the site. "Serialized online film" is basically just a fancy way of saying that Bear Town will be a film that is released in segments or "chapters" or "webisodes" (someone really has to decide on the definative terminology for this kind of thing) that can be downloaded over the `net either as a Quicktime file or possibly streamed via Windows Media.
Wow, I just went to your website. Very cool! I have to admit I don't know much about computers and the serialized online film process is new to me.
How does a person see your series? I really liked seeing how you build with the foam. I put your site on my "favorites" and plan to visit again. Your puppetry work sounded interesting/travel. Do you work alone? Are you a member of Puppeteers of America? Just interested in a fellow puppeteer.
- Becky
Every two weeks beginning May 4th a new segment will be posted and there will likely be two versions of each segment available - a low-res version for dial-up users and a high-res version for people with high speed connections. The newest segment will always be free but I'm considering charging a small fee of 25 or 50 cents to access old episodes, which would be paid via the Bitpass micropayment service. The first 24 episodes or so are actually taken from a screenplay I wrote over the past few years so I plan to re-edit and remaster them on DVD as one feature length movie sometime mid-2005ish.
Some people would call Bear Town a "web series." Although I'm not aware of many other puppetry series, there's a surprising number of web shows and serials out there. If you want to find more Epiguide is a good place to start looking.
Right now I suppose I technically work "alone" although I usually collaborate with a lot of different puppeteers both in my own work and when I'm hired to design, direct or consult for other companies. For many years I worked with Shawn Hazelton and Brenda Tan through Omle Media. Brenda went on to work in the business side of the film/TV industry and Shawn currently lives in Japan so we haven't done anything together for a few years. Brenda is coming back for Bear Town and I'm hoping Shawn will be available too. There are several other talented puppeteers who will be contributing to Bear Town as well once the camera rolls.
I'm not currently a member of Puppeteers of America, mostly because everytime I go to the bank I forget to buy a US dollar money order to pay for membership. Despite my forgetfullness, I'd encourage anyone who's interested in puppetry to join the PofA. As I'm sure you know, their quarterly magazine The Puppetry Journal is excellent and the organization is a great way to network and meet other puppeteers.
Another legal question that I think might be a gray area..... I have a customer who would like to have a puppet in the likeness of a musician. I don't believe that is a copyright issue..... but am I responsible for what someone might do with that musicians "likeness" ? Could I be sued if a client used my replica of "Michael Jackson" and started using it to molest little boy puppets?Well, that inserted an image in to my head that I certainly didn't need. LOL
- Michele
I'm not a copyright lawyer, but I think you're legally in the clear on that one. Unfortunately, in America it seems you can be sued for just about anything (as this proves) but I don't think they'd have much of a case here. It sounds like what your client wants to do would be considered "parody" which is supposed to be protected as free speech in the United States, Canada and almost any other place that isn't ruled by heinious, overbearing, evil military dictator types.
Can't wait to see your new puppets. Will you post pics on your website?I plan to put photos of a lot of the main Bear Town characters on the site over the next 4 - 6 weeks as they start to get finished. Allegedly, I have no freelance work over the next week so I'm hoping to get a lot of puppet building done.
How's the developement for the show? Got some episodes ready?
- Mathieu
No episodes are done yet, but work on Bear Town is continuing on a couple of fronts. I have a lot of puppets to finish; not one is completely done yet but several are very, very close. I'm beginning to render some of the CG backgrounds and animation I'll be compositing green screen footage of the puppets in to later. I'm hoping to be able to set up the shoot so that the puppets will be roughly keyed in to the backgrounds in real-time as they're peformed. That way when the puppeteers see their characters in the monitor they'll see them in a real environment rather than just against a sea of green or blue. I'm scheduled to start shooting in mid to late March, with additional location shooting planned for April.
Posted by Andrew at 5:15 PM | Permalink
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