Pulling Strings:
Motion Control for 'The American Puppet'ICOM Magazine
April 2003There has to be someone pulling the strings in any show. Above the curtain, Mark, Tom and Anthony Mazzarella have crafted a masterful look at the history of Puppetry in America.
The Mazzarella’s first became interested in puppetry through a local Connecticut TV show they produced in the 1980’s called "Abrakadabra," which featured Mark Mazzarella, then a magician, and hosted a puppet act as well.
The American Puppet is a chronicle of puppetry’s fascinating and colorful evolution. Narrated by award-winning film and television actor Dan Lauria
(Wonder Years), this documentary takes viewers on a journey through time, and recounts the many contributions and influences puppetry has made on the American culture.
With memories of Charlie McCarthy, Howdy Doody, Lambchops, Kukla and Ollie, and of course, Kermit the Frog, these time honored characters bring to the screen the wonder and charm that has made them the popular culture icons they have become.
Through archival footage and a series of interviews, including the last interview given by legendary television puppeteer, Shari Lewis, the Mazzarella brothers chronicle the 300-year history of puppetry in America.
There were over 100 historic still photos and artwork that provided critical information about puppetry, researched over 5 years from places like the National Archives and the Library of Congress.
Behind the scenes, they relied on a plug-in for their nonlinear editor from StageTools, called "MovingPicture" to add life to what may have otherwise been boring static images.
MovingPicture is a plug-in to most nonlinear editing systems, including Avid, Final Cut Pro and Premiere that allows editors to create smooth pans and zooms of high-resolution still images directly from the editor’s timeline.
The inexpensive plug-in is very simple to use. The image appears on the screen. Dragging and sizing a framing box icon on top of it changes the view, adding key frames onto the timeline. There is a real time preview the motion without any rendering, so the design process is very rapid.
Since the zooms are based on high-resolution images, they do not visually fall apart when they are zoomed into. All motion paths are smooth, splined and tapered and finally, field rendered with sub-pixel accuracies.
In many instances, the Mazzarella’s were not allowed to remove the older photographs and fragile "broadsides" (old advertising placards), and resorted to digitally photographing them.
"We found MovingPicture two months before our production deadline and set about to replace all of the motion control in the show" said Director of Photography Tom Mazzarella. "It gave us a clean look and was very easy to use and fast."
"The American Puppet" aired on Connecticut Public Television as well as other PBS affiliates around the country. Anthony and Mark Mazzarella received an EMMY award for "Outstanding Achievement in Program Writing."
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