Theatrical Puppetry on Film - Rentals and Purchases

Theatrical-based puppet films are different from television and web-based content, because of the position of the camera and the lighting set-ups for each shot. Television (even the 'Muppet Show') is shot with blanket lighting that ensures one sees everything equally. To be "well-lit" doesn't mean there is mood lighting- it means it is all washed in a white light equally and you can see the subject very clearly. This lighting is quick to set up and changes little between scenes. 

But a film is different, even though all of the content is shot with similar HD cameras.  A film tries to tell stories with images and put as little dialogue as possible to communicate the content of the story. Each shot takes hours to set up due to the intricate, mood lighting and camera movement... not to mention the movement of the puppet characters or the background. We film makers dream of our content being seen in a dark room with very good sound (also because the sound is often emphasised in a film rather than a TV product).
So please observe these films in the context with which they were meant to be viewed. Our films rarely are screened in a cinema, so hopefully you can create that atmosphere in the comfort of your own home.

Lorelei from Classics in Miniature
Lorelei originally comes from Celtic myth. She is also known from Homer's Odyssey as a Siren, where a lilting sound accompanies a seductive image. Along the Rhine River in Germany there is a meandering curve called Lorelei because of the strange sound coming from the wind around the bend. The traditional version weaves a tale of distraction for the Boatmen and they fall to their deaths while longing for ... what men long for in their dreams- the mermaid, Lorelei. This piece was inspired and loosely based on the Heinrich Heine 19th century poem of the same name. It is a cautionary tale but here it is also a tale of immense grief.
To rent the full 8 min film, click the link below.
Don Quixote from Classics in Miniature

Don Quixote by Cervantes is one of the funniest and most touching stories ever written, told with marionettes with MICHAEL YORK as the voice of Don Quixote, For families, lovers of literature, art and music.

QUIXOTE is the story of an aging Spanish gentleman who reads so many books about chivalry that he imagines himself to be a knight. Accompanied by this faithful squire Sancho Panza, he embarks on a series of absurdly fantastic adventures across 16th century Spain.
 

Produced by Classics in Miniature, Inc. Marionettes, exquisitely hand crafted by Russian Puppet artist Eugene Seregin, brought to life by master puppeteer Steven Ritz-Barr and co-director/cinematographer Hoku Uchiyama. Music by Frenchman, Jeremy Yeremian, harkens back to the middle ages when the Spanish countryside resonated with the sounds of the Moors, the Christians, and the Jews.
You can view The Making of the Puppet Film Quixote here.
Faust from Classics in Miniature
Legend has it that as a youth, the great German writer Goethe saw a Faust Drama performed in a Frankfurt market place by wandering puppeteers.
 He was so moved by the story (probably a version of Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus) that he became preoccupied with his own Faust for 
the rest of his life. 

This 30-minute film is a visual interpretation based on Goethe’s Faust, part one. Puppet Master STEVEN RITZ-BARR and award winning director HOKU
UCHIYAMA team up to create their own inspired version of the fabled medieval scholar, 

All Faust wanted was more power, more glory, and more cunning to lure a young woman, Gretchen, to his bed. But in the end, in the face of his own ignorance of the responsibilities of LOVE, he transcends his own devilish voices to achieve immortality.