A gothic fairytale for grownups, 'The Harbinger' melds live performances, puppetry, animation and stage trickery to create a magical world where the lines between reality and make-believe fall away.
This classic tale of heroes and villains centres on a little girl and an old man who find themselves thrown together in the aftermath of civil war. Throughout the long years of his life, the old man has watched the magic in the world disappear, his crowded city sink into misery, and his nightmares come to life and stalk the streets. Haunted by painful memories of a much happier time and place, he toils away long days to forget. But when the young girl arrives, desperate for protection, the old man is forced to relive the pain and pleasures of his own past and uncovers a chance to change the city forever.
Written and developed collaboratively by Dead Puppet Society and La Boite Theatre and originally co-presented as part of La Boite’s 2010 Indie Season, 'The Harbinger' has received strong critical acclaim. Co-creator, Nicholas Paine of Dead Puppet Society gives his top five films featuring poppets.Corpse Bride
We love the fact that when you watch this film you know that everything you see actually existed in miniature and was brought to life frame by frame. It has such a strong colour palette and distinctive feel. We love how playful the story is setting the colour and life of the underworld against the darkness and sickness in the land of the living.{youtube}G9boDkpEyvc{/youtube}
Coraline
Similarly to 'Corpse Bride', 'Coraline' was made using stop motion puppets, but most of the faces were interchangeable frame-by-frame to allow the animators to control the lip-synch and expressions of the characters. Each face was created digitally to map it to the script and then they were fabricated using a 3D printer. This film has some scenes with amazingly complex spectacles that make it hard to believe that each of the puppets actually existed.{youtube}LO3n67BQvh0{/youtube}
Cicada Princess
This one is just a short, but its a touching story about the very short lives of Cicada's once they crawl above the ground. For the film the production team made literally thousands of tiny puppets using all sorts of ingenious mechanisms to bring them to life. It's simple, poetic, and absolutely unique.Pan's LabyrinthDel Toro's masterpiece includes some of the most frightening use of puppets that we've ever seen on film. His creatures are so strange and yet uncannily familiar. The beauty that he finds in the extreme darkness of his world is awesome.
{youtube}EqYiSlkvRuw{/youtube}
Where The Wild Things Are
This film is a clever mix of full body puppets and digital animation. The Wild Things' faces are so incredibly expressive and yet the fact that they are actually human performers gives them a believability and weight that makes them so endearing.{youtube}01-PqqifyjA{/youtube}
'The Harbinger' plays at the Street Theatre in Canberra from the 1st to the 4th October, The Australia Theatre For Young People in Walsh Bay on the 7th October and at the Arts Centre Gold Coast on the 9th and 10th October.
{youtube}AtSBIBmVrkA{/youtube}
