“That thing looks so realistic,” says a young voice from the audience.
The dinosaur settles back on its massive haunches and lets out a low bellow, as if saying, “I sure do.”
This dino is a high-tech puppet and one of the stars of Walking With Dinosaurs, a live production that grew out of a BBC television series by the same name and that’s currently on a six-month North American tour.
20 comments:
I can remember when Walking with Dinosaurs was advertised on television a few years back and how impressive they were to watch. These puppets are by no means easy to make and control. The show uses over 20 puppets that range in how they are controlled. I was expressly impressed by the puppeteers who wore the costumes as a costume that weighed over 80 lbs. Controlling these puppets requires a unique skill and is a unique style of art. The people who drive the larger dinosaurs around the area have to be aware of everything around them at such a low angle. I can see these shows being extremely popular among children, but I wonder how many adults would go to see them.
This reminds me of a museum exhibit that I used to go when I was younger, which featured animatronic dinosaurs like this, though they could not move from their position and their movements were scripted and not controlled in real time. I was so happy when I first saw the commercials for the Walking with Dinosaurs puppet show, as I loved, and still love, the original Walking with Dinosaurs television show. I am very happy that they tried to make the dinosaurs as realistic as we can with our current knowledge. I would love to see what would essentially be a cross section of the dinosaur puppets to see how the structure works.
Just astonishing what this gentleman did. The stop motion section with the skeleton is just breathtaking. Really looks like the skeleton is moving by itself and with personality. There is something here that modern movies do not have and yes I love the Avengers movie just as much as the next guy but this is WOW. Makes me think of the Sesame Street gentlemen who talked yesterday, and was commenting on how many artist he works with and today rely too heavily on the computer to produce their art. That they should remember where they came from with the hand. Maybe the same can be said for the power of the green screen. It is not that we stop using green screen but just remember. I have to say that is one thing I like about theatre, is there is no green screen. We are getting more and more technology on stage but it still has to be done on stage.
First off, these are clearly amazing works of art and are impressive in every detail, from the mechanics to the hand-painted finishes. Even more importantly, I love that he says "dinosaurs are the gateway drug to science." This is a really great example of how the arts and entertainment can really make a big difference in how a kid sees the world and what they become passionate about. These dinosaurs are crazy cool from a technical standpoint, but more importantly they could get kids really interested in science and learning in a way that a class or a book might not. The creation of these is just one example- everyone who made these clearly had an amazing foundation in both art and science, to understand technically how to build them (both from a technical/mechanical perspective, and anatomically so that they were accurate), and from an artistic perspective so that they would connect with the audience and inspire people.
This is incredible. I love the TV series "Walking With Dinosaurs" as well as puppetry and puppeteering. Now I know that there is a mixture of the two! I would love to see it and/or work on it one day. I wonder what the skeletal frame of the dinosaurs looks like, as well as the manpower and time it takes to build one. I also am curious to hear how they handle technical malfunctions and safety issues. Has anyone been injured operating these puppets? (My mind immediately jumps to the "driver" puppeteer.)
I also appreciate the realistic design of the dinosaurs. For example, adding the feathers to the skin of the raptors was a nice touch.
I would definitely see this show, if not for my interest in dinosaurs, but for my interest in puppetry and to witness this amazing new development in technological theatre.
I'm really really amazed at how well all of these animatronics turned out. There have been some very quiet developments in the animatronic industry that have gone somewhat unnoticed minus the small amount of people that deal strictly in that realm, and seeing all of those small developments start to add to up to really convincing puppets brings everything full circle. These are truly the best animatronics I've ever seen, and I can only imagine being able to experience the scale, considering that they underwent the task of making each dinosaur "approximately life size", it's probably a really confusing and exciting experience to take in. I wish this production was more well advertised, because from the outside it looks as if they're doing some really innovative work.
OH MY GOODNESS THIS IS SO COOL!!! I remember seeing the original documentary and watching it almost every day as a child because I was so impressed by the realism of the dinosaurs (mind you, it was the 90's so now the graphics are not as realistic). Seeing the dinosaurs come to life as puppets and become that realistic with movements down to blinking, is utterly amazing. This type of puppetry makes me so happy that I want to do this with my life. Even the costuming is incredible, as I didn't realize they were people until it was pointed out. I really want to see this show to experience this sort of realism in puppets.
I had the pleasure of actually seeing Walking with Dinosaurs last year with my three kid cousins who were absolutely obsessed with them at the time. It was amazing to see their faces light up when each dinosaur passed by. It was extremely realistic, I completely forgot that there were actors and puppeteers operating each action that the dinosaurs made. This advanced technology is undoubtedly a step towards a brighter future in terms of bringing these realistic elements to life. I left the show with a new respect for theatre that I didn't know was there before.
THESE ARE ABSOLUTLEY AMAZING! The amount of work that went into these puppets is incredible. The first thing I thought when I saw a short clip of the dinosaurs was how awesome their movements were. The movement of the creatures is a lot of what makes them as realistic as they seem. There are so many components that go into getting the 20 puppets around the stage. Wouldn’t it be cool to drive a dinosaur? I know I at least ‘kind of’ want to. It must take some serious coordination and timing for the people controlling the smaller movements, the “Voodoo” puppeteers. The amount of tech time needed for something like this does not seem like a fun endeavor.
It is live show like this that are just so much better live then having people watch a screen. This is just a great example of the magic of live theater, the excitement that does not need hours of video editing to produce.
I was really fascinated by this inside look at the show. I have seen stuff about it for a while not but it was always like publicity shots and advertising footage. i always thought that the show was done using animatronics. I think its amazing that there are live puppeteers, especially for the large dinosaurs. it reminds me of the futuristic robot suits with the person inside. I would wonder though, why they felt this was necessary. I understand the nature of the movement needs to be fluid, but couldnt they have gotten a puppeteer to come in and do all of the motions, but since its computerized anyways, they could just play it back as opposed to using a person every time?
I can't even begin to tell you how epic this is. JUST SO EPIC! The amount of time and effort that went into this is simply unbelievable! The design is impeccable especially understanding the amount of information that is missing on dinosaurs. We can make inferences and half justified guesses on what they looked like, moved like an sounded like from the animals we have today, but pure imagination fills in the rest of the blanks. With this lack of information it can be hard to pull off a lifelike experience of this scale, so bravo to the men and women behind a design like this.
The first animatronic dinosaurs i saw were in 2000 or 2001 at a new ride at Animal Kingdom called Dinosaur! I remember being in the ride jeep and going through the forest, a dinosaur around every corner, roaring at me. these animatronics seem greatly improved since i last experienced robotic dinosaurs. Its great to see all of the time and care it takes to make something so beautiful. i think this is a great combination of great art coming together with modern technology in order to improve the magic that is already there rather than replace it.
I probably have said this before on the blog, but I really like all these puppets. It seems like more and more we are seeing entertainment productions moving away from CGI and projected images to animatronic puppets and creatures.
Part of me wonders if this journey back to the age of hand crafted theatre has anything to do with the maker-revolution currently going around the country. It would not surprise me to learn that they are related.
In the past couple of years there has been innovations in power distribution systems, computing softwares, manufacturing techniques, and new machinery that have made it possible for artists to create their vision in a tangible sense, that is without having to rely on animated images to demonstrate their work.
I'm curious to see how much more the oscars will have to change their awards as technology progresses. On one hand, It is awesome that this team should potentially win the award, but on the other hand it feels like this sort of acting should be put in a category of its own. Regardless of the logistics of award-categorization, this technology is really amazing and deserves an award of some sort!
These dinosaurs are just so incredibly cool. They look so realistic, and I'm so impressed that this sort of thing is possible. If someone just described it to me I would have been really skeptical of a showing about dinosaurs looking cool, but after reading the article and watching the clip it looks really freakin' cool. The way that they move is fascinating, and even the use of the skin that allows the muscles beneath the surface to change based on how the creature moves is fascinating. The amount of detail and care and precision in this puppets is beautiful, and I also find it amazing that they are puppets. I wonder what the pro/con list for puppets vs automation would look like for this, and I think the fact that they use puppets that are controlled live is really cool. I also like how the smaller puppets that are worn work, and how they interact with the larger puppets. I know that if I was in one of the smaller puppets I would be so scared to interact with the larger puppets. Looking at ow the smaller dinosaur rubbed it's head against the larger dinosaur's head I was just thinking about how if the puppeteer accidentally moved his wrist the wrong way he could throw that actor across the stage. This is one of the best uses of automation that I've ever seen, and I think it's really great that they're using them to try to both entertain and educate people. I really liked the quote "dinosaurs are the gateway drug to science", and I totally agree with that.
As a huge dinosaur fan as a little boy this show truly astounds me especially due to the fact that the dinosaurs have been given so much life in this realistic performance. As a kid I would of gone crazy to see this show, I remember saying up late at night watching the original Walking with Dinosaurs on television, so I'm extremely impressed to see the concepts implicated in the amazing CGI fully realized in a live show. I've had the opportunity to see one (or at least an extremely similar) performer driven dinosaur puppet in action at a farmers market near where I worked this summer, and although they seem somewhat goofy and novelty in idea the scale and detail of the puppet up close give them a realistic quality that is amazing to engage in. I love the idea of this show and think that its definitely a noteworthy way to engross audiences into a prehistoric world. Like the article says at the end "dinosaurs are the gateway drug to science" so I think exposure to a show like this would be great for kids to enrich their minds and broaden their imagination while also serving as a novelty, a means of bonding with their children and a reflection on their own childhood for many adults.
This is incredible! I absolutely love puppetry, and reading about how they achieved the "dino-ness" of these creatures is very cool. They faced real problems with making the dinosaurs seem real, such as the weight, skin, and muscles that give dinosaurs their grand scale. That their designs were based so realistically in the musculature and skeleton of actual dinosaurs I think gives them that realistic quality. I also love that they gave them musculature: most puppets lack solid body mass and this, I think, gives these dinosaurs the incredible realistic quality that they possess. How very cool!
One, it’s a freaking dinosaur, I mean how cool is that. I had heard there was a tour going around, but I don’t think it’s the dinosaurs themselves that are cool, it’s what makes them tick. How those beasts of nature are constructed is simple yet complex at the same time. It gets complex when you decide to add as many different moving parts to the thing in its entirety. To have someone else control moving parts from a complex joystick, and make it work from some ways a way, that takes some serious skill. Then of course you have the puppets that are attached to someone, of course who hasn’t seen videos of a velociraptor roaming the halls of an office building, makes for some good pranks. I think the show would be a cool thing, because I’m sure I’m not the only one who likes a little bit of history here and there.
I have a friend who is currently on tour with Waling with Dinosaurs and from what I have heard from him everything in this article is extremely true. I really want to see this show at some point, because the technology involved in it sounds unbelievably cool. As someone super interested in animatronics, it really excites me that shows like this are popular and will hopefully continue to exist in the future.
Wow, talk about bringing Disney's ride Dinosaurs to life with these live action puppets. Even if there are not to scale, I would love to experience something like this. I got to see War Horse and the just the puppetry itself is unbelievable amazing. And even though the performance wasn't amazing, the idea of the How to Train your Dragon experience is mind blowing. Creating these puppets with a projection mapped space seemed like a seamless idea. But the space for the experience was not in a good place. However, I wonder if this experience is any different. No matter what artists and engineers create, they need to make an emotion connection with their audience to create magic.
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