Independent Project: Building a Bunraku Puppet

So I did some research on my independent project (I feel so left out since I'm the only one doing Option B but whatever). This is everything I've come up with so far to help me.


BUNRAKU PUPPETS:
• 2.5 to 4 feet tall
• Less complex heads have eyes that move from side to side, up and down, or close; noses, mouths, and eyebrows can also move
• Head moves by string/rod mechanisms
• Head has a wooden neckpiece (dogushi) that is placed through a hole in the shoulder board; this is the stick the main puppeteer uses to control the head
• Heads are carved of wood and hollow
• Controls for the movement in the head is in a handle that goes from the neck to the puppet’s chest; hole in the back of the torso for the main puppeteer to put left hand into
• Main puppeteer uses right hand to control right arm of puppet
• Left puppeteer uses right hand to control puppet’s left arm with a control rod starting from the puppet’s elbow, sometimes with string mechanism as well
• Third puppeteer operates feet and legs
• Some puppets (female) don’t have legs/feet so the third puppeteer bunches up the lower half of the costume to create the illusion that there are feet and legs
• Body is costumed in traditional Japanese dress depending on character and status of the puppet
• Body can be created using a “shoulder board” with cloth draped in front and in the back and attached to bamboo hoops; loofahs attached to create shoulders
• Arms and legs attached separately to the shoulder board using strings
• The term bunraku can only be used after permission is received, otherwise it’s called a ningyo joruri
• http://www.gasha.biz/ (this is in Japanese)
• http://www.bunraku.org/ (mostly videos of performances to study movement)
• http://www.puppetsinmelbourne.com.au/blog.php/2008/07/06/my-bunraku-puppet-finished (someone’s blog of the puppet they made even though they said it sucks)

MAKING THE HEAD:
• Choose a wood (Styrofoam/papier mache?) and make a rough sketch.
• The center line must be drawn accurately and then the nose and eyes sketched in.
• Eyes and nose are used as a guide while carving.
• The back must be hollowed out after carving to add the mechanisms.
• The dogushi stick needs to go through the neck stick so that it will connect to the head unseen.
• Paint to fit character after.
• 7 different female heads (http://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/unesco/bunraku/en/contents/dolls/female/index.html)

COSTUMES:
• Usually consist of: under robe (juban), inner kimono (kitsuke), outer jacket (haori) or outer robe (uchikake), collar (eri), and the belt/sash (obi)
• Robes are sometimes stuffed with cotton to make the body seem more soft
• There must be a hole in the back of the robes where the hole in the body is

Shadow Puppets

Shadow puppets are actually extremely interesting. I never really connected that this was part of theatre and drama so this is pretty cool. Everyone's been doing drama activities since they were little. The videos that we watched from Princes and Princesses are pretty freaking awesome. My favorite is the one with the little ants running around collecting the diamonds for the guy.

This one:


Although all the characters are shadows, their emotions and actions come through perfectly. The amount of work and thought that was put into this amazes me to no end. I mean, the people who made this rely completely on the actions and voices from the dark shadows yet they each have their own personality and clear distinction. I've never seen this before and I still can't get over how cool it is. I guess this most is relatively useless but I really wanted to post this video since I really like it.

Puppetry

So school started and this sucks. First assignment of the year for drama is to research puppets. My group (Cindy, Kavita, and Shivani) was assigned to research puppetry in general. So I'm just going to go google puppets. This is what I have come up with:

Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance which involves the manipulation of puppets. It is very ancient, and is believed to have originated 30,000 years BC.Puppetry takes many forms but they all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects. Puppetry is used in almost all human societies both as an entertainment – in performance – and ceremonially in rituals and celebrations such as carnivals.
Most puppetry involves storytelling. The impact of puppetry depends on the process of transformation of puppets, which has much in common with magic and with play. Thus puppetry can create complex and magical theatre with relatively small resources.

Also, a list of various types of puppetry:

Animatronics Robotic puppets. Read the full explanation
Blacklight Puppets seen using UV/blacklight.
Bunraku
Japanese rod puppets.
Caricature (portrait) puppets
Any puppet that looks like a real person.
Costume or body puppets
Puppets you can wear.
Finger puppets
Things you can put on your fingers.
Found puppets
See ‘object manipulation’.
Glove puppets
Puppets worn on the hand. Traditionally speaking ‘Punch and Judy’, not The Muppets.
Light curtain
A trick using lighting where the puppeteers are ‘invisible’, but the puppets aren’t.
Marionettes String puppets.
Marottes
A type of rod puppet.
Mouth puppets
Puppets that talk. Has subcategories, ‘muppet-type’, ’sock’, etc.
Muppet-type puppets
A type of mouth puppet usually in reference to the Jim Henson methodology.
Parade puppets
Large puppets used in parades.
People puppets
Another term for ‘muppet-type’, usually just for marketing and avoiding copyright infringement.
Rod puppets
Anything that uses rods.
Shadow puppets
Puppets where only the shadow is seen.
Shoulder puppets
A style of cable-control (rod) puppet, that sits on the shoulder.
Sock puppets
A form of mouth puppet using socks as the materials.
Table-top puppetry
Puppets that are small and performed on tables. Often known as ‘bunraku’.
Toy theatre
Puppets performed using small table-top model sets.
Ventriloquism
The art of making the puppet look like it’s doing its own talking.
Water puppetry
Vietnamese underwater puppetry.
Wayang Golek Javanese rod puppets.
Wayang Kulit
Javanese shadow puppets.
White light theatre
Puppetry performed with the puppeteers visible at all times.

I'm pretty sure the format for the list of puppets is messed up.