Animatronics
RC Animatronic Head on marionette puppet
Sammy Without Strings | 2021 | Dir. Ralph Parker III
“the delicate and impactful story of Sammy, a Black puppet who desires freedom from performing for oppressive audiences.”
Sammy Without Strings was truly a challenge. The puppet’s head was only 4 ½ inches tall. The heads were 3D printed by Lucas and were then painted by the art department. The head would then come back to Lucas and his team for the installation of eye mechanics and RC servos. All electronics were hidden within the puppet in order to allow the marionette team the flexibility to make him dance across stage.
Click the video below for a behind the scenes look with the Director, Ralph Parker III.
Click above to see a behind the scenes look with the co-writer and director Ralph Parker III
Sammy singing to the crowd.
All 4 puppets built for the film. 3 Puppets had RC heads.
Sammy seeing his love.
Scale draft of the puppets silhouette done by the art department
First set of RC internals
Modified controls for ease of performance
RC Animatronic Plants
They Bloom and Fade | 2021 | Dir. Zharia Spaulding
“While mourning the death of her family, a hedge witch accidentally creates a magical invasive plant that produces both fond memories and destruction, forcing her to choose between keeping a piece of her family alive or saving herself.”
They Bloom and Fade had Lucas and his team build 3 different puppets in order to sell the idea that the plant is growing larger and taking over the house. These plants would combine servos and some pullies to sell all the required motions and actions. All of the skins for the plants was done by the art department.
Version 2 of Plant. Used pullies for dying effect.
Version "Baby" used servos for the flower growing out of the doll.
Early tests of version "Baby" plant
Version 1 plant used 7 servos to get a wide range of motion and possibilities.
Version 1 during the skinning process.
Version 1 plant took 3 operators on set to perform.
Bubbling Mold Spores
Full body RC and Hand Puppet
Umbra | 2020 | Dir. Connor Meehan
“Derrick moves into a new home only to find it is infested with a strange mold and harboring dark secrets. A shadow looms over Derrick, growing in cadence with his fear of living in isolation.”
Umbra had Lucas and his team build 2 humanoid mold puppets. These creatures would have a RC head and the bodies were either rod controlled or hand operated through the wall.
Puppet operated with a rod from the other side of the wall.
Full body creature going from its hunched state to standing. The creature's body was operated through the wall, while the head and neck were operated with RC.
BTS from testing of the full body creature.
Stunt and RC Hair balls
KILL THE CAT! | 2020 | DIR. BRAIN STORCK
The magical Cat needed to have hairballs that could ride around on the floor and be hit by actors. For the film, Lucas and his team created a slew of hairballs each with their own purpose. One hid a RC car so that it could be driven around. Another was weighted so it could be hit with a shovel and bounce off.
