Prof Jesson

[David Wilde]

Thought you would all like to see this Fab pic!

[Chris]

That's a beauty David. And that proscenium! It's got everything on it hasn't it? But it's the front panel I really like. And I must get a big tambourine!

[Richard Coombs]

Great pic David ..thanks for sharing.

Ive seen black and white pics of the puppets in action before , but only tightly framed within the proscenium
( isn't there a book or something of the show with photos in order ? )

Anyhow what I could not appreciate form those other pics was the size of the puppets ...they are quite large
( either that or Jesson is a very slight and elfen buit man )

Always nice to see such large puppets.
Great for visibility if playing to a large crowd ( which I am sure this Proff did very often !)

Cheers
Richard

[David Wilde]

Well as you have brought up the subject of large crowds........

[Richard Coombs]

Isn't that Geoff Felix's first Mayfayre Audience ?

( I am pretty sure he goes back as far as black and white days )

R xx


I got myself a couple of GoPro cameras when working in the States last year.
They are those very tiny lightweight cameras that can shoot both pictures or videos.

Used mostly by surfers , skydivers , skiers motorcyclics and extreme sports-folk of all types , the cameras can be put in very strong plastic cases that have fixing points to allow them to be mounted virtually anywhere -to helmets , chest harnesses , wrist straps , canoe paddles , surf boards , bike frames , parachutes etc etc



Some of the housings for said cameras are totally waterproof and dive friendly , but that is beside the point.


I shot some great backstage footage of me doing my show at Heights of Abraham last Summer , for many different angles , as the cameras were a doodle to rigg up inside the booth.
I bought a spare plastic housing when I bought the cameras with the express intention of building a puppet that can raise the camera to take a shot of the audience. ( American or Japanese tourist or such like )

Have not begun that project yet , as other things are making call on my time...but its in my noggin' and in the 'pipe-line' so to speak.


The idea is to be able to capture very big crowds from the puppets eye point of view.
Not as big as this Jesson crowd - well not so far - but you never know.
But it would be nice to have a record of those really bumper audiences that sometimes come along.

Best Richard

[lesclarke]

Wow, all that shed building has certainly got you into shape Richard!
But do you really need all of those eight cameras ?

[Chris]

Surely Richard has explained that Les?

I shot some great backstage footage of me doing my show at Heights of Abraham last Summer , for many different angles , as the cameras were a doodle to rigg up inside the booth.

.... can't have too much of a good thing!

[lesclarke]

Lots of cameras, filming from lots of angles, my mind goes back to the split-screen movies of the sixties, I'm thinking of The Thomas Crown Affair, the stylish Steve McQueen heist movie. I think Richard is planning his own heist movie of a Punch & Judy Man who commits an audacious crime between shows.

If, for instance, he had a pitch at a venue that was, let's say at a great Height, he could Hang-glide down to a nearby city, the hang-glider could be made to look like a Buzzard, it is after all difficult to judge scale without a proper reference, commit the Heist, possibly involving the use of a large puppet figure, and then obviously using a cunning disguise, make his way back to that High point in time to perform his next show.

To give himself a bit of extra time he could devise an automaton warm-up routine, and of course for dramatic effect he would arrive back just in time. To keep the story moral he would be found out, on the evidence of a
perceptive child.

Must go now to answer what is no doubt yet another unsolicited phone call, TPS Chocolate Teapot!

[Richard Coombs]

My goodness Les ...I little holiday break away from home certainly does wonders for you creative imagination ....
Where did that train of thought come from ? I could see the whole movie in my minds eye with me starring in it like a rotund Tom Cruise.


Sorry David for your lovely thread about Jesson getting sidetracked like this

Oddly enough Les , your timing is spookily accurate though.
I AM currently in the early stages of building something vaguely like an "automaton" for my Heights booth.

It is one of the several versions of my new Ghost.
The main part of finishing it off and getting the ( very simple ) movements working will not happen until mid June as I will need the Heights booth built in my garden to "fit" the automaton/ghost in its place.

But I will make sure there are action pics of it when I build it.

Weird how art imitates life.

Best
Richard

[lesclarke]

Interesting stuff Richard. The type of thinking behind, and mechanical skills of automata do not come easily to me, keep meaning to have a go at a basic movement, bit put off by some of the impressive examples I have seen.

Tim Hunkin did a good TV series years ago. Frank Nelson is worth Googling for his own site and Youtube clips.

Really nice guy, exceptional woodcarving and mechanical skills. Also his pieces usually have a very witty concept, such as his Lion Tamer, where an uncooperative lion eventually puts his head in the Lion Tamers mouth!

Perhaps its time I took the plunge, I have just made two seagull heads, would be nice if they could in turn pop above the playboard while I was out front, actually coincidentally more or less that idea was suggested to me yesterday! So they would need to rise up and turn left and right, and then descend.

[Richard Coombs]

0ooh thats a tricky mix of movements Les. good luck building that !

my ghost is to be much simpler.

as the curtain opens first his hands will creep around and clutch the curtain edge then the ghost will peer around the contain.

the whole thing reverses when the curtain closes,

time will tell

[lesclarke]

S1: "He won't get round to it you know!"
S2: "Yep, probably just shove us on sticks."
S1: "Going anywhere nice for your holidays this year?"
S2: "Not really thought about it, probably go to the coast late on,
or might get an early short break in North Wales."
S1: "What's that up there, looks like a very large Buzzard."

[Chris]