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A Music Video with Cowboys, Bar fights and Puppet Heartbreak

6/2/2015

 
In March 2014, puppeteer Kay Yasugi got on the puppet band wagon to film a music video for the Aussie folk duo Busby Marou to release their new song “A Second Mistake”. The film was directed by Renny Wijeyamohan (Open Door Films) and in case you may be feeling a little déjà vu, the puppets in the video are the very same ones that Kay made for a little Aussie doco about the Herpes virus on “Dating the H*Bomb” in 2012.  They were revamped (and re-wigged) for a big adventure involving lots of different film locations (which roughly translates as Kay operating the puppets while lying in the middle of a field, a saloon and even perched near a cliff). A highlight was staging a rather amusing puppet brawl with another (live actor) cowboy (who actually happened to be really nice off screen). That, and Michael (the green puppet who stars in the video as “Woody”) getting to show off the fruits of his puppet gym workouts (which he was pretty pleased about).

The film was also nominated for an ARIA Music Award for Best Video in 2014.

Here is a post about the video (which includes an interview with Busby Marou) on Yen Magazine
http://www.yenmag.net/music/busby-marou-video-premiere-my-second-mistake/

Puppetry Master Class with Noel MacNeal

5/2/2015

 
In February 2014, Emmy Award winning puppeteer Noel MacNeal (who has worked on Sesame Street, The Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House) came to Sydney from Brooklyn USA to teach 2 one-week master classes on puppetry for film and television. Kay was really excited to attend!

Over the 6 day workshops at Carriageworks, participants worked with a range of moving mouth puppets and learned about principles in lip-sync and eye focus (while getting used to working with a TV monitor where what you see on the screen is the reverse of what you are doing – this was a challenge in itself!). There were also exercises in developing puppet choreography and staging, which included creating music videos (with props!) and short variety acts.

The course also included a day where the participants were invited to ‘play’ with some of the amazing puppets from Erth like their dragon, dinosaurs and Australian animals, all of which explored skills in full body puppets and bunraku-style operating techniques.

All in all it was a fantastic masterclass - it was amazing to have Noel share his extensive knowledge and experience in puppetry and children’s television, and we were also very thankful to Erth and Carriageworks for making this all happen – we hope Noel will visit Australia again soon!
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Sketch by Kay Yasugi showing some notes on operating techniques

A Season of Experimental Puppetry in Melbourne

5/2/2015

 
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In November 2013, Kay Yasugi was involved in performing at Melbourne’s La Mama theatre for an evening of experimental puppetry for adults. Artists came to present 4 short puppetry works in development. Kay worked with Tim Denton and Annie Forbes from AboutFace Productions on their show “What I Leave Behind” (and somehow she went from being an outside eye to one of the puppeteers in the piece!). Annie and Tim have gone on to perform their show at the Melbourne Fringe in October 2014.

Other artists who performed on the night included Rod Primrose, Beth McMahon and Mike Bevitt (The Indirect Object) with Gabriel Partington, Alison Richards and Debra Batton. In the words of the event's curator Nancy Black (from Black Hole Theatre), “The work was bold, rough, raw, funny and strong.  The audience knew it was unfinished – and they responded with joy and excitement.”

A Music Video with Puppet Plants, Tree People and Glitter Hands

5/2/2015

 
In August-September 2013, puppeteer Kay Yasugi was involved in devising and creating a new music video for the Aussie music duo Ginger and the Ghost, for their new song “The Mark of Hearts. 

Arms were sprayed in glitter. Bodies were wrapped in branches. Hands were transformed into botanical critters. And everything, in the end, was covered in confetti and colour bombs. The result was an imaginative, other-worldly and slightly psychedelic clip that I hope you will enjoy.
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Willow tree people (Kay is on the right).
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Ginger on the set of The Mark of Hearts
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Glitter hands! Kay Yasugi with puppeteer Kailah Cabanas
Click here to find out more about Ginger and the Ghost

A Short Film with Cops, Danger and Ferrets

5/2/2015

 
PictureKay Yasugi about to operate "Richard" the ferret puppet in a police car
In March 2013, puppeteer Kay Yasugi worked on a short film with a difference.

It involved operating a very realistic ferret puppet – who ends up biting a police officer in the ‘nether regions’. The film is thus appropriately titled ‘The 8 Inch Pinch' and was directed by Scott Walker, produced by Sarah Nichols and stars Toby Truslove as the unfortunate police officer. As bizarre as this all sounds, the film is actually based on a true story of a Queensland constable who was given an assignment to transport an illegal ferret (ferrets are illegal in Queensland) to a wildlife facility – only to be attacked while driving in his police car. (In case you are wondering, the police officer is okay).

Here is the trailer:

Scott Walker - 8 Inch Pinch Trailer from BUDDY on Vimeo.

The film was screened at Flickerfest in January 2014. 

You can hear a radio interview about the film here
http://www.2ser.com/component/k2/item/6806-interview-the-8-inch-pinch

    Welcome!

    Hi there! Thanks for visiting Digital Seagull. Here is our blog, where you can check out our latest puppetry and digital media projects. 

    We're based in Sydney, Australia and are always interested in collaborating with people who want to work with puppets - whether it's for film, television, theatre, workshops, corporate clients or individual projects.

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