Difference between revisions of "AY Honors/Puppetry/Answer Key"

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:''For sock puppets on the [[Internet]], see [[Internet sock puppet]].<br />For sock puppets on Wikipedia, see [[Wikipedia:Sock puppet]].''
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A '''hand puppet''' is a type of [[puppet]] that is primarily controlled by a hand that occupies the interior of the puppet. Larger varieties of hand puppets place the [[puppeteer]]'s hand in just the puppet's head, controlling the mouth and head, and the puppet's body then hangs over most or all of the forearm of the puppeteer, and possibly extends further.  Other parts of the puppet may be controlled by different means, e.g., by rods operated by the puppeteer's free hand, or strings or levers pulled from inside the head or body. A smaller variety, '''simple hand puppets''' often have no significant manipulable parts at all.  
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A '''sock puppet''' is a [[puppet]] made from a sock, placed over the puppeteer's scrot. The sock puppeteer's hand fits into the closed bell end of the sock, with the thumb forming a jaw, the hand opening and closing to make a "mouth" out of the region between the heel and the toe so the puppet can talk. Minimally the shape of the hand will form an "instant" mouth, but sometimes the mouth is padded by putting in a fairly hard piece of felt (often with a tongue glued inside). Sometimes the region between the toe and heel is cut open with scissors to form a mouth.
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== Simple hand puppets ==
  
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[[Image:Carlb-sockpuppet-01.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Sock puppet]]
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The simplest hand puppets are those with few or no moving parts.  They can be stiff, made from e.g. a hard [[plastic]], but are more often flexible, made from [[fabric]], possibly with some stuffing and attached decorations for eyes, nose, and so on.  The mouth may be a mere decoration that does not open and close, or the thumb may enter a separate pocket from the rest of the fabric and so simulate a [[mandible]], allowing the puppet to talk.
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The sock is stretched out fully so that it is long enough to cover the puppeteer's wrist. Often, but not always, the puppeteer will hide behind a stand and raise up his or her hand above the stand so that only the puppet is visible. Many sock puppeteers, however, stand in full view along with their puppets and will hold conversations with their own sock puppets, using [[ventriloquism]]. Perhaps the best known sock puppeteer was [[Shari Lewis]] and her well known puppets [[Lamb Chop's Play-Along|Lamb Chop]] and [[Charley Horse]].
 
  
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Sock puppets can be made from [[sock]]s, or [[stocking]]s, of any color. Worn-out socks may be used, although socks that are too tattered may fall apart during performance, but socks are usually bought brand-new from the store in order to make sock puppets. Various additions can be glued on in order to give your sock a personality. Streamers and felt strings are popularly glued on for hair. [[Googly eyes]] (obtained from craft or fabric stores) are glued on for the puppet's eyes.  
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Simple hand puppets are usually not much larger than the hand itself. A [[sock puppet]] is a particularly simple type of hand puppet made from a sock. A '''glove puppet''' is slightly more complex, with an internal division for fingers allowing independent manipulation of a character's arms.
  
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The process of making sock puppets is popularly taught as a creative activity in elementary schools. Many schools teach children to make sock puppets and then have the children put on shows or plays for the whole school with them, sometimes with all the sock puppets singing.
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Simple hand puppets, especially of popular [[licensed character]]s, are often distributed as children's [[toy]]s or [[party favor]]s.
  
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Sock puppets have many uses. They can be used in often elaborate puppet shows or children's plays, much as [[marionette]]s would be used. Sock puppets can also appear, like other puppets, on television shows. They can be used alone on the puppeteer's hand to entertain children, without a complex stage or show. Two orange sock puppets named "Fu" and "Fara" are used in teaching German children how to read. People also make and display sock puppets for their own artistic value.
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== Larger Hand Puppets ==
  
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Sock puppets have also appeared in [[advertising]]. During the late [[1990s]], the [[ecommerce]] company [[Pets.com]] used a "spokespuppet" along with the [[tagline]] "because pets can't drive" in its advertising to much critical acclaim. But while the puppet became a [[pop culture]] icon, it did not help the company sell enough product to survive the [[dot-com]] crash.[http://www.internetworld.com/magazine.php?inc=121500/12.15.00fastforward2.html]
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[[Image:Guiermo-rods-50pct.png|right|331px|thumb|A nearly-completed [[hand puppet]] with arm rods. This puppet will be complete once eyes and hair are added.]]
  
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Because sock puppets appear friendly, non-threatening, and clearly non-human, therapists often have their patients speak to a sock puppet when they feel inhibited from speaking to the therapist. For the same reasons, and because oneself and one's sock puppet often feel like two different persons, one can speak through a sock puppet to express thoughts or facets of one's personality that one would not feel free to admit in person or fears would harm one's reputation were they actually said in one's own person. [[Herbert Garrison|Mr. Garrison]]'s use of [[Mr. Hat]] on ''[[South Park]]'' is a good example of this.  Conversely, the American [[professional wrestler]] [[Mick Foley]] has used a sock puppet called ''Mr Socko'' as one of his signature weapons.
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Larger and more complex hand puppets generally have, at minimum, a complete working hinged mouth, and usually arms as well.  Special variants exist with additional manipulable parts: e.g., eyelids that open and close.  Most hand puppets depict only the upper half of the character, from the waist up, with the stage covering the missing remainder, but variants also exist that have legs.  The legs usually just dangle, but in special cases the legs may be controlled either from behind the stage using strings that dangle over the top of the stage and control the legs from above (like a [[marionette|marionette's]], or by another puppeteer using rods from below, hidden by a lower and more forward part of the stage.
  
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In the 1993 movie ''[[Freaked]]'', [[Bobcat Goldthwait]] plays Sockhead, a character who is a talking sock puppet.
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== Technique ==
  
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The late [[90's]] [[MTV]] sock puppet show, [[Sifl and Olly]], ran for 2 years and grew a [[cult following]].
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=== Basic Positioning ===
  
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As with any stage performer, the puppet should always face the audience; it may turn somewhat to one side or the other, but generally not more than about 45 degrees away from straight forward.  This allows the audience to see the puppet's face.
  
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{{Commons|Sock puppet}}
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Since the puppet stage is normally taller or higher than the seated audience (in order to best hide the puppeteers and provide room for them to work), the puppet must be made to lean forward slightly with its head tilted somewhat down, in order to make eye contact with the audience.  A puppet that fails to do this appears to be staring over the heads of the audience or, in extreme cases, at the ceiling, a mistake often made by novice puppeteers.
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[[Category:Dolls]]
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[[de:Sockenpuppe]]
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Vertically, the puppet should be kept elevated, with its shoulders well above the stage.  Ideally, most of the puppet's torso should be kept visible to the audience at all times.  A puppet that is not properly elevated is said to be ''drowning''.
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[[nl:Sokpop]]
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=== Diction ===
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The term ''diction'' refers to the manner in which the puppet's mouth opens and closes in order to appear to form words or sounds, similar to [[Lip sync|lip syncing]]. 
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As a rule, the puppet's lower jaw ([[mandible]]) should open downward, with the upper jaw, which is usually contiguous with the rest of the head, not raising much.  This mimics the way the [[human]] mouth works.  A typical novice mistake is to reverse this and open the puppet's mouth like that of an [[aligator]], flipping the top.  With practice, this tendency can be suppressed.  When learning the technique, it often helps to move or lean the entire puppet, or at least the head, forward slightly each time the mouth opens; with more experience, this becomes less necessary.
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The basic mainstay of diction for most puppeteers is ''syllabic diction'', i.e., opening the puppet's mouth once for each syllable, closing it at the end of the syllable.  Another common novice mistake is to reverse this, closing the mouth on each syllable, which makes it look as if the puppet is biting off its words; this effect should be carefully avoided.
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When the puppet must speak very rapidly, a variant on syllabic diction may be used where some syllables are omitted.  It is important to open the puppet's mouth for the first and last syllables as well as all long or emphasized syllables, but most audiences will not notice if some of the unimportant syllables are omitted, provided it happens fairly quickly.  As the puppet's speech (or song lyrics) slows down, it becomes more and more important to include every syllable.
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More advanced forms of diction are possible.  Ultimately the experienced puppeteer will master ''phonetic diction'', in which the degree to which the puppet's mouth is open at any given point mimics the motion of the human mouth forming the same series of [[phoneme|sounds]]; thus, the mouth will be open wide for a long O vowel, briefly close almost completely when forming a [[dental consonant|dental]] [[plosive consonant|stop]], and so on and so forth.
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=== Arm Rods ===
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A hand puppet's arms are often controlled by the puppeteer's free hand via rods, which attach to the insides of the puppet's wrists in some fashion (most commonly via [[rubber band]]s, but other attachment methods may be used).
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=== Body Movements ===
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== See Also ==
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* [[Muppet]]
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* [[Human-Arm Puppet]]
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== External Links ==
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* [http://www.onewaystreet.com/ One Way Street] Produces and sells hand puppets, as well as scripts and other materials, and holds instructional workshops for puppeteers, using hand puppets.  Their puppets generally have arms manipulated with rods.
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* [http://www.puppetproductions.com/ Puppet Productions] Produces and sells hand puppets, stages, and other materials.
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[[Category:Puppets]]

Revision as of 15:39, 13 August 2005

A hand puppet is a type of puppet that is primarily controlled by a hand that occupies the interior of the puppet. Larger varieties of hand puppets place the puppeteer's hand in just the puppet's head, controlling the mouth and head, and the puppet's body then hangs over most or all of the forearm of the puppeteer, and possibly extends further. Other parts of the puppet may be controlled by different means, e.g., by rods operated by the puppeteer's free hand, or strings or levers pulled from inside the head or body. A smaller variety, simple hand puppets often have no significant manipulable parts at all.

Simple hand puppets

The simplest hand puppets are those with few or no moving parts. They can be stiff, made from e.g. a hard plastic, but are more often flexible, made from fabric, possibly with some stuffing and attached decorations for eyes, nose, and so on. The mouth may be a mere decoration that does not open and close, or the thumb may enter a separate pocket from the rest of the fabric and so simulate a mandible, allowing the puppet to talk.

Simple hand puppets are usually not much larger than the hand itself. A sock puppet is a particularly simple type of hand puppet made from a sock. A glove puppet is slightly more complex, with an internal division for fingers allowing independent manipulation of a character's arms.

Simple hand puppets, especially of popular licensed characters, are often distributed as children's toys or party favors.

Larger Hand Puppets

A nearly-completed hand puppet with arm rods. This puppet will be complete once eyes and hair are added.

Larger and more complex hand puppets generally have, at minimum, a complete working hinged mouth, and usually arms as well. Special variants exist with additional manipulable parts: e.g., eyelids that open and close. Most hand puppets depict only the upper half of the character, from the waist up, with the stage covering the missing remainder, but variants also exist that have legs. The legs usually just dangle, but in special cases the legs may be controlled either from behind the stage using strings that dangle over the top of the stage and control the legs from above (like a marionette's, or by another puppeteer using rods from below, hidden by a lower and more forward part of the stage.

Technique

Basic Positioning

As with any stage performer, the puppet should always face the audience; it may turn somewhat to one side or the other, but generally not more than about 45 degrees away from straight forward. This allows the audience to see the puppet's face.

Since the puppet stage is normally taller or higher than the seated audience (in order to best hide the puppeteers and provide room for them to work), the puppet must be made to lean forward slightly with its head tilted somewhat down, in order to make eye contact with the audience. A puppet that fails to do this appears to be staring over the heads of the audience or, in extreme cases, at the ceiling, a mistake often made by novice puppeteers.

Vertically, the puppet should be kept elevated, with its shoulders well above the stage. Ideally, most of the puppet's torso should be kept visible to the audience at all times. A puppet that is not properly elevated is said to be drowning.

Diction

The term diction refers to the manner in which the puppet's mouth opens and closes in order to appear to form words or sounds, similar to lip syncing.

As a rule, the puppet's lower jaw (mandible) should open downward, with the upper jaw, which is usually contiguous with the rest of the head, not raising much. This mimics the way the human mouth works. A typical novice mistake is to reverse this and open the puppet's mouth like that of an aligator, flipping the top. With practice, this tendency can be suppressed. When learning the technique, it often helps to move or lean the entire puppet, or at least the head, forward slightly each time the mouth opens; with more experience, this becomes less necessary.

The basic mainstay of diction for most puppeteers is syllabic diction, i.e., opening the puppet's mouth once for each syllable, closing it at the end of the syllable. Another common novice mistake is to reverse this, closing the mouth on each syllable, which makes it look as if the puppet is biting off its words; this effect should be carefully avoided.

When the puppet must speak very rapidly, a variant on syllabic diction may be used where some syllables are omitted. It is important to open the puppet's mouth for the first and last syllables as well as all long or emphasized syllables, but most audiences will not notice if some of the unimportant syllables are omitted, provided it happens fairly quickly. As the puppet's speech (or song lyrics) slows down, it becomes more and more important to include every syllable.

More advanced forms of diction are possible. Ultimately the experienced puppeteer will master phonetic diction, in which the degree to which the puppet's mouth is open at any given point mimics the motion of the human mouth forming the same series of sounds; thus, the mouth will be open wide for a long O vowel, briefly close almost completely when forming a dental stop, and so on and so forth.

Arm Rods

A hand puppet's arms are often controlled by the puppeteer's free hand via rods, which attach to the insides of the puppet's wrists in some fashion (most commonly via rubber bands, but other attachment methods may be used).

Body Movements

See Also

External Links

  • One Way Street Produces and sells hand puppets, as well as scripts and other materials, and holds instructional workshops for puppeteers, using hand puppets. Their puppets generally have arms manipulated with rods.
  • Puppet Productions Produces and sells hand puppets, stages, and other materials.
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