To watch in HQ and listen in stereo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkWxBXmAkp4&fmt=18
To watch in HQ and listen in stereo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkWxBXmAkp4&fmt=18
The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson. Individually, a Muppet is properly one of the puppets made by Jim Henson or his company's workshop. Although the term is often used erroneously to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show and Sesame Street characters, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark linked to the characters created by Henson.
The word "Muppet" itself was said by Henson to have been created by combining the words "marionette" and "puppet"; however, Henson was also known to have stated that it was just something he liked the sound of, and he made up the "marionette/puppet" story while talking to a journalist because it sounded plausible.
After earlier unsuccessful attempts, The Walt Disney Company finally bought the Muppets in 2004. Exceptions include characters appearing on Sesame Street (as they were previously sold to Sesame Workshop), the Fraggles of Fraggle Rock (which are still owned by The Jim Henson Company), along with the above-mentioned non-"Muppet"-brand characters. The legal trademark on the term "Muppet" is currently held by The Muppet Holding Co., LLC (a division of the Walt Disney Company); although Sesame Workshop and the Jim Henson Company continue to use the term on their characters with certain permissions.
After nearly a decade, a new movie is in the works. Disney recently enlisted Jason Segel and Nick Stoller to create the next Muppet movie for the studio.
A common design for a Jim Henson Muppet is a character with a very wide mouth and large protruding eyes. The puppets are often molded or carved out of foam rubber, and then covered with fleece. Muppets may represent humans, anthropomorphic animals, realistic animals, robots, extraterrestrial creatures, mythical beings or other unidentified, newly imagined creatures, monsters or abstract characters.
Muppets are distinguished from ventriloquist "dummies", which are typically animated only in the head and face, in that their arms or other features are also mobile and expressive. Muppets are typically made of softer materials. They are also presented as being independent of the puppeteer, who is usually not visible—hidden behind a set or outside of the camera frame. Using the camera frame as the "stage" was an innovation of the Muppets. Previously on television, there would typically be a stage hiding the performers, as if in a live presentation.
The Muppeteer typically holds the puppet above his head or in front of his body, with one hand operating the head and mouth and the other manipulating the hands and arms, either with two separate control rods or by "wearing" the hands like gloves. One consequence of this design is that most Muppets are left-handed as the puppeteer uses his right hand to operate the head while operating the arm rod with his left hand. There are many other common designs and means of operation. In advanced Muppets, several puppeteers may control a single character; the performer who controls the mouth usually provides the voice for the character. As technology has evolved, the Jim Henson team and other puppeteers have developed an enormous variety of means to operate puppets for film and television, including the use of suspended rigs, internal motors, remote radio control, and computer enhanced and superimposed images. Creative use of a mix of technologies has allowed for scenes in which Muppets appear to be riding a bicycle, rowing a boat, and even dancing on-stage with no puppeteer in sight.
Famous Muppets from The Muppet Show and its numerous spin-offs include Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo the Great, Rowlf the Dog, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker, Scooter, Statler and Waldorf, the Swedish Chef, Sam the Eagle, Sweetums, Pepe the King Prawn, Rizzo the Rat and Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem. Other well-known Muppets include Sesame Street characters such as Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Elmo, Zoe, Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, Grover, Abby Cadabby and The Count, as well as the main characters of Fraggle Rock.
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Added: 3 months ago
Views: 10,612
It's because of moments like these that Sesame Street wasn't ALL bad in the 90's.
Added: 7 months ago
Views: 45,840
Starscape, MD
Cameras:
Chris Lonergan
Brett Kauffman
Doug LiVolsi
Steve Beckman
Starscape, MD
Cameras:
Chris Lonergan
Brett Kauffman
Doug LiVolsi
Steve Beckman
Edited By:
Chris Lonergan
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Added: 1 year ago
Views: 2,631
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