These Secrets for a Puppet-Lover to Keep

The one thing I always liked about working with kids was the looks on their faces when their minds were blown. Children can feel emotions so deeply, sing along to songs so wholeheartedly, their imaginations captured so vibrantly.

I felt the same way when I brought a group to visit the active production facility of stop motion animation studio Screen Novelties.

Everybody was like "Whoa."





Screen Novelties' office serves as kind of a gallery for their past work, including some recognizable stuff...



...like the sock puppets from the Flight parody that aired on the Oscars telecast last year.



Others are just creepy and spooky and weird in the best way possible.







We got to visit their puppet fabrication studio, where 3D-printed heads get fitted for wigs and eyeballs and interchangeable mouths, but I promised not to tell you exactly what I saw. You'll see it soon enough in its finished form.



We also visited their set shop and soundstage, where every set was a hot set, and we peered out from behind curtains to catch a glimpse at frame-by-frame animation in progress – green screen magic whose secrets I cannot reveal (yet).



This might be as close as I ever get to an actual Muppet. And I'm OK with that. These are the guys who restored the original Rudolph and Santa puppets from Rankin/Bass. That makes them puppet royalty to me, if there is such a thing.

For more photos and to read the full recap, visit AtlasObscura.com.

Related Post:
EVENT: The World of Stop Motion at Screen Novelties