enabling a person to discover or learn something for
themselves
Project genesis
In 2009 or 10, I asked some of my freelance mascot clients
who make tv if they’d ever thought of doing children’s television. It wasn’t really their thing but it set me to
thinking about what I’d make if I could do my own thing. And a kid’s TV puppet show that taught anger
management and conflict resolution really struck a chord with me. I trained as a puppeteer and costume designer
at UCONN and I’d recently gotten back into puppetry via mascot making. I’d always loved the Jim Henson shows and
movies when I was growing up and still felt a deep connection to the art form,
even if I wasn’t practicing it in any significant way. This would be a great way of getting back to
it and I would make the puppets. My next
thought was that what would REALLY be great would be to do a show about what
happens behind the scenes of a children’s tv show that teaches anger management
and conflict resolution. That set me off
on years of writing, designing and planning.
I developed a whole series one arc of stories around this fictional tv
show and the people who worked there. I
tried to interest other people in working with me on the project (two writers,
a producer, etc.) with no luck- it was really my passion project. The producer suggested that if I really
wanted to make the show, the for real children’s tv version of the show, I’d
need to write and publish a book about the characters and that would build
interest in turning it into a series. I
designed many puppet characters for the behind-the-scenes tv show from the
stance of what would be funny? So there
was a binge-eating possum, an ostrich with its head literally up its butt, a
snappy crocodile (based on two friends in particular whose anger expressions
used to bother me, but more on that later, especially my own anger
expressions), cat and dog lawyers, a corndog police officer, an English bumble
bee robot, and after looking through my old sketchbooks, an armadillo character
I had been playing around with since going to art school in Tennessee. The armadillo, which will be referred to as
“he” for the time being, has been a 2-meter-tall foam core painting of an
armadillo on a trike for Beauvais Lyon’s 2D design class, a ceramic figure that
tragically cracked to pieces in the kiln, a hand puppet christened Jellybean
during my time at UCONN, and a globetrotting adventurer in the educational clip
art I was making with my sister. He
isn’t my muse but every time I go back to my sketch books to harvest old ideas,
I always land on the original sketch and am retaken by his asymmetrical eyes
under driving goggles and puffy lower lip.
A friend from church, Naomi Toilalo, was doing children’s tv
for MaoriTV and we’d talk now and then about what she was up to. I wrote up a script for the first episode of
the show (having long since moved away from the adult show as being unfeasible)
and pared down the large cast of characters to a more manageable 7: Klohwii (meant to be a pisstake of the
current trend of bizarre spellings parents take on for their kid’s names),
Jellybean, Goldie the still binge-eating hamster, Dr. Picklesniffer (a name
that I had spontaneously given the dog I had just adopted to make my co-workers
laugh. This same dog is the inspiration
for the Dr. puppet’s look), Coco the crocodile, Flash the rabbit, and Prickles
the puffer fish. Naomi and some other
friends and I did a reading of the script, which helped me to hear what was happening
but that was the last that I did with it until I started my 3rd year
project. I considered a few other ideas
for my project but rejected them in favour of pushing my passion project
further than it had ever gone before. I
couldn’t do a pure puppetry project because as an animator I was obliged to produce
animation to graduate. Instead, I wanted
to make a mascot Jellybean and composite him into a combination of animation
and live action. The backgrounds would
be still-frames of scenery like those sometimes used in the German film “The
Nasty Girl” 199? I couldn’t decide and
couldn’t decide how I would do it because I was very attached to the mascot but
had to use animation… but knew I could use motion capture and 3D and green
screens and all of the things we have at SIT to make it come to life.
Characters
Girl: There was never
a question that the main character, the human, wouldn’t be a girl. I’m a female and I think we need more girls
and their stories on TV and while I have opinions and could write about a boy’s
experiences, why can’t I write from my own worldview? There is a photo of me growing up that I
refer to in my art from time to time. I
might be around late 6 or 7 and I’ve got mismatched long socks on and
asymmetrical pigtails. I’m standing with
somebody, maybe Heather and somebody else, on Nordale St in front of our house
in Anchorage. It’s summer because
there’s no snow and I’m squinting into the sun, my head cocked to the
side. It’s an iconic image for me
because it expresses an utter disregard for the conventions of clothing or
expectations for dressing to impress others and I’ve either just suffered the
event that scarred my psyche or it’s about to happen. It’s a bubble moment. That kid has lots to say and that’s what I
based my girl character on, though I did decide to make the socks striped
tights to simplify things. She was
called Klohwii with an umlaut over the o for a long time to take the piss out
of people who spell their kid’s names “uniquely”. Her little brother was “Czuqii” (Chucky) but it would have been an inside
joke because the names would never be spelled out. I dropped Klohwii when I decided to take her
seriously and gave her the name Girl so she wouldn’t have the baggage
associated with any other name. She
couldn’t be Britney, or Tammy, or Sammy or anything because we all have ideas
about those names based on people we’ve known in the past with those
names. Everything is loaded and “Girl”
will be loaded for somebody out there, but it’s a fresh start and a clean slate
for this character right now. Maybe only
the imaginary characters around her call her Girl so it could be how she refers
to herself in her head, if you really stretch the idea. Girl is creative and loves to make art. She prefers to be home where she can really
be herself. School is full of people who
have expectations and judgements of everything she does. While she loves to learn and would never NOT
go to school, the learning is the draw and not the people that fill the
corridors. I’m American with a dual
citizenship with New Zealand. Because
I’m here and making things, I do think about making the show feel like it’s
here and other places, too. In America,
Girl’s dress would be called a “jumper” and her tie and tights would make her a
quirky dresser. In NZ and other places
with school uniforms, it’s sort of a generic school dress and the white shirt
and tie make it a little uniformy. The
tights are always going to be uniquely her.
The hair is orange, yellow, and brown making her on the redheaded
side. Let’s have more redheads on TV! She has glasses and a gap between the front
teeth, a family and a personal trait until I got braces to straighten
them. The accent of the voice actor will
really place Girl and for this project, that accent will be Kiwi. But it could be from anywhere. With the right stories and a change of skin
tone and hair she could be living anywhere.
For now, though, she is a girl with a creator who is international with
ethnic European roots and a fondness for ginger hair and she reflects
that. Girl is spontaneous in the way of
children but also thinks deeply, hence her retreat to her room and her old
beanbag to puzzle over the problem of the day.
She has acted or spoken hastily during the day or maybe has been stifled
by a concern into silence and now has the chance to work through alternates to
what happened. She can interact with the
personification of different human ways of dealing with stress in the form of
her imaginary friends. It shouldn’t be
heavy or “wrong-making”- each of these characters has strong suits and flaws
that get them in and out of trouble so Girl can see what works and what doesn’t
without being judged.
Jellybean: In this
show, Jellybean is no longer a he but is gender neutral. Jellybean is the unconditional love and
support that Girl needs to develop into the fullest and best version of herself
that she can be. Making Jellybean gender
neutral is so, like with Girl’s name, the character gets a blank slate and a
fresh start. The viewer gets to decide
on the sex of the armadillo because maybe they need their best friend to be a
girl or a boy. Love shouldn’t be
confined to one sex or another. I slip
up all the time and even with this philosophy refer to Jellybean as “he”. This is probably the sex that I need more
support from. Jellybean’s size might
strike some as masculine while the flamboyant purple and yellow colouring might
strike others as feminine. Perhaps the
two together will lead others again to assign sexuality to this imaginary
character. Nothing is neutral,
everything is loaded and the show isn’t afraid to make some strong design
choices. Jellybean wears socks and red and white sneakers and takes great pride
in tying those shoelaces just so.
Jellybean lives in the aisle with a giant tree and flowers at the
end. The tree may be any season of the
year depending on how Girl is feeling or the needs of the story. Jellybean doesn’t speak, only honks. This is a choice that again resists putting
gender on this gentle giant and opens the possibility of using sign language in
addition to Girl’s translation of the honks for the viewer. Rather than being a hindrance or laughable,
Jellybean’s “language” should be treated as an opportunity for patience and for
growth from the others. There will
always be an undercurrent of internationalism in the show and this is another
place for that to show up. When under
stress, usually overt, Jellybean rolls up into a ball like the armadillo. Jellybean can be coaxed back out again. What are Jellybean’s flaws? Jellybean wants to protect Girl and will try
to figure out where trouble is coming from before Girl gets there. Sometimes this can lead to important
information being isolated from Girl’s understanding. Jellybean is not shy about pointing out that
something is wrong but is often startled by the vehement reactions of the other
characters and hides away until tempers calm down. Jellybean can grow by not running away and
exerting a peacefulness upon the scene when others are in conflict with each
other. Jellybean’s goggles and gloves
are a holdover from the trike days.
Gloves are also traditional hands dating back to the earliest days of
animation. It is thought that white
gloves made it easier for audiences to see the hands and any gestures being
made with them. Also, they cover up the
knuckles and nails and makes drawings hands smoother, a definite plus for any
artist. Jellybean is soft and furry and
is made of the old beanbag that Girl thinks on in her room. Turning from beanbag to big mascot is the
first step in Girl’s mental journey into the Imagination Warehouse to think.
Dr. Picklesniffer:
This name just makes me laugh and I will run with it until I am told in
definite, no uncertain terms that it will not do. Then I will change it to “Dr. Bezansniffer”
which is German for Picklesniffer, per Google translate, anyway. The doctor was a Chihuahua/dachshund mix with
a red cross on his back and a monocle originally. He had a German/Spanish accent because in the
adult show, there was some unfortunate joke about Nazis escaping to South
America after the war. My friend Gaby
from Mexico’s grandfather was German and when I found that out, I was instantly
contrite. Terrible, terrible joke. He will now have a kindly, adult male accent
of some variety, TBA. The doctor is made
out of medical junk that might have been carried around by a country doctor and
more bits are secreted in the bag. The monocle
gave one of my American friends a “Dr. Mengele-vibe” and may need to be changed
to reading spectacles after some more market research. Why
these bits of things and not others? I
looked up medical kit pictures and chose objects that would make sense for his
different body parts. The shaving brush
was hard because what about it is particularly medical? I chose it after much thought because it
could be used by the doctor who once owned the kit to shave his own beard or to
lather patients up to shave them prior to surgery. The head is an old leather
canteen/bladder. It’s an odd choice, but
it looks like a head and fits in with the medical bag. It could be changed to a hot water bottle or
to a metal canteen with a leather or canvas cover. The doctor has a very masculine “fix it and
forget it” approach to problems. He’s
got an answer, he delivers it whether it’s been requested or not and then moves
on, confident he's been listened to.
It’s always greatly perplexing to the doctor when his very sensible
advice is ignored or is, gasp, NOT the right solution after all. The doctor is avuncular and arrogant in a
very nice way. He’s the logical and
confident part of the human stress response that is positive that there is a
solution to every problem. One of his
ears is a fake telegram with my mother’s name and birthdate on it. My grandparents had a photo of the telegram
my dad sent to them announcing my birth and I liked the idea of combining that
with my mother. The other ear is a
prescription for something involving marshmallows, a funny throw away detail
that doesn’t mean anything. The tail is
a thermometer which Douglas Bishop asked was a deliberate choice- I think he
meant was it deliberate that the thermometer was coming out of the butt? I had not thought of the proximity of the
thermometer to the dog’s behind and it’s sometimes insertion there to read
temperature. It was just a familiar
looking medical object that could be turned into a tail that is sometimes
curved, sometimes straight. Putting the
doctor together was time consuming and tricky. He had to be dignified AND cute
and like he was made out of doctor stuff.
He’s little but like my beloved dead dog, has the confidence of a much
larger dog. He knows he’s important and
enjoys a good pat from Girl but does not puff himself up like Prickles does to
hold his own against bigger characters.
Like a Chihuahua, though, he will shake when stressed out or excited or
cold. The doctor listens to the other’s
hearts with his stethoscope to hear how they’re really feeling. He serves a very important diagnostic and
get-to-the-point function in the story because people often lie about how
they’re feeling and he can tell. I
considered changing him to a NZ pekapeka bat (the ears certainly would have
made the transition flow) but I LOVE MY DEAD DOG and I don’t have anything to
say about bats, even ones that sing to their mates. Plus, it was hard to get into the groove of
drawing a bat. Not my jam.
Goldie: She is the
worrywart of the group and binge-eats when she can’t handle the stress. This is a holdover from the edgy adult show
but one that seems to have hit a nerve with adult females who have often
remarked about how some girls will self-harm when they hit a certain age. Goldie certainly does inflict a great deal of
damage upon herself when upset compared to the others but constantly regenerates. It should be comic and poignant, too, when
she starts to eat or cook to relieve anxiety.
Each of these characters should cause people to say “I do that” or “I
know somebody who does that”. Goldie was
a hamster until very recently when I made applying for local funding a priority
for the project. Hamsters are a
childhood pet in the US but don’t show up on this side of the world due to
quarantine laws. I did a search of NZ
animals and settled on the possum for the cute factor, it’s similarity to the
hamster and by happy accident, it’s tendency to eat its way through NZ forests
to the detriment of local species.
Possums are protected in Australia but are pests and thus subject to
eradication efforts in NZ. Goldie will
not be hunted but WILL be an immigrant- how recent has not been determined. Her family might have been here for many
generations and insecure about her sense of belonging or she might have an
Australian accent and be a recent newcomer who must struggle to learn about the
new culture she’s living in. I am a dual
citizen but I will never truly be Kiwi.
And it’s not necessary for me to be.
Immigration does not mean absorption or suppression of the old world it
means a combining of the two; a new creation, a strengthening. Goldie is very concerned about the happiness
of others and how they’re feeling. She
worries about EVERYTHING and it is exhausting.
Her concern for how she looks to others and what they’re thinking about
her leads her to suppress her feelings and give up quickly during disagreements
to keep the peace. It’s an endless
cycle.
Flash: Is a rabbit who
runs away rather than stand his ground.
He’s always been the joker and the addition of computer components and
technology makes his coping mechanism grounded in concerns that I never had
while growing up. These days, kids are
exposed to others all the time through devices and the internet. Even if you never post a silly picture of
yourself online, your parents or anybody else might and it just won’t go away. The Bullies can get to you even while you’re
trying to go to sleep. The
interconnectedness of the modern world is a strength, too and if Girl and the
others have questions, Flash can always get them the answer or an expert who
knows what’s what. Flash is relentlessly
curious about the world and wants to know what’s going on. Flash wears two witbits so he can keep track
of his JPM (jokes per minute). The jokes
can be hurtful, though, and his tendency to perform for a crowd will need to be
tempered by his friends who will remind him that he doesn’t live in an echo
chamber with appreciative fans; what he says has consequences. Flash’s teeth are USB sticks, his eyes are
webcams and his tail is made from plugs.
He’s the most outward focused of the group and escapes onto the internet
and conducts research- he’s truly a strength and a weakness. As important as he may be in this
description, I don’t spend much time thinking about him or drawing him. He’s not a priority right now and may not be
as much a secondary as a tertiary character.
This will keep developing.
Teppy: formerly Coco
the Crocodile. I wanted a “Girlie-Girl”
character and with her long fingernails, big eyelashes and shiny braces, Coco
was it. I talked to woman who created
characters for hearing impaired awareness, I think? And she said that having
clearly defined archetypes for each character was important. In keeping with her croc nature, she snaps at
anyone who challenges her and then tries to smooth it over with a charming
smile. This is a shout out to all my
cranky bitch friends and I was sure that this was something OTHER people do
until I did it a few months ago. I knew
the second after I had done it and cringed.
I am them and they are me! All of
them. Coco became Teppy, a tuatara, when I changed Goldie to a possum. Tuataras
are native to NZ, especially Southland, and are lizards so the transition felt
right. From what I’ve observed, tuatara
freeze and wait for you to bugger off which is bad for drama so I kept the croc
reactions. She’s hard as on the inside
but warm on the inside so I made her out of two tarnished and discarded pieces of
silver, a teapot and a sifter spoon.
That was another hard one but it works.
The pieces will clank together when she walks and it will be FINE,
really it will. She loves shiny things
and will collect them enthusiastically and will also spend a great deal of time
polishing her butt or admiring her reflection in her tail. Teppy is confident, sassy, and stubborn. She is loyal to her friends and in charge at
all times. She has real leadership potential
but can sabotage herself by refusing to allow dissent or brook compromise. She gets right in there when she wants
something and is totally willing to play on people’s desire to please to get
her way. Teppy brings up questions, like
Goldie and all of them, really, about negativity and gender stereotyping. Why have I chosen to pair these traits with
these genders? I could swap and you’d
still see negativity and in some cases a fake neutrality because some traits
are socially acceptable for boys (assertiveness) and others acceptable for
girls (nurturing). The key will be in
making each character a full person with good and bad traits and not
stereotypes.
Prickles: After seeing
the Czech stop-motion film “Toys in the Attic”, I was inspired to push my
character designs further by taking them from conventional puppets to something
with more visual interest and make them out of junk. It took a while to work out who would be made
from what. I considered making Prickles
out of kitchen utensils, but this didn’t shed any light on him. I lit on a ball of yarn full of knitting
needles because Prickles is soft on the inside and pointy on the outside and
this is a combination of objects that occurs anytime a knitter sets down their
project; the needles ALWAYS go into the remaining yarn. Form follows function and this assortment of
objects also lends itself to Prickles’ expansion when he puffs up to protect
himself; the yarn expands, the needles get longer and more protrude making his
little mohawk even more alarming during his tantrums. Prickles is the littlest of the imaginary
characters in size and age- he throws some real toddler tantrums when crossed
and has a very black and white view of the world. In an early version of the script, Prickles can
finally admit that he throws big fits because he’s little and nobody would
notice him if he didn’t make a big deal out of everything. He really wants to be friends with
everybody’s best friend Jellybean but doesn’t know how to express himself. He gets embarrassed when Girl points out that
his outsides do not fit his soft insides but is secretly pleased that he’s
finally being understood. He collects
socks, SINGLE socks, and is genuinely surprised to be corrected and told that
they really come in pairs. His Sock
Museum is a monument to OCD and the single mindedness of the collector who
doesn’t let reality impact on his adoration of the object of his desire. I
don’t imagine that bird and bug collectors think that they’ve killed the thing
that they purport to love above all others but instead consider that they have elevated and preserved it.
