Shoot: VGA

Call time was bright and early this morning 8am. I arrived at the Jim Henson Studios right on time. The lot is small but very cool and intimate. It's a mixture of English village style architecture and more modern facilities. There are a couple of small office buildings and one sound stage centered around a cobblestone courtyard. Of course, Kermit presides over the front gate and sticks out from one of the more modern looking buildings. They call the sound stage, The Chaplin Stage, after the man who built the original studio there, Charlie Chaplin. There was an old makeup chair in our makeup room that was said to be the very one used by Mr. Chaplin himself. Very cool.

We met the director, Kirk, who did a couple of the Muppet TV movies. He was laid back and conversational with a good sense of humor, which always makes things easier. There were three of us live actors in the scene and four puppeteers who worked the CG characters. Coincidentally, one of the other actors on the job was the first referee on Extreme Dodgeball. Small world. The two CG characters were from the world of videogames, and a very unlikely pair they were. In the boardroom setup, the three live actors were meeting with the two CG guys. Their images were laid into the dv directly, so they were being controlled real-time by the four puppeteers. I didn't get to see the puppet master suite, but from what I understand, two puppeteers ran the face/head and voice of their respective characters and the other two puppeteers maneuvered the arms and body. I only got to talk with the voice guys and they were both very experienced and very funny. We could only see the CG between takes when we watched the monitor, but we could hear their voices. Of course, the time between takes was some of the funniest, and most off-color, stuff.

During the actual scene, we were given marks on the wall to serve as sightlines for where the CG characters should be. It was interesting playing to space, but I honestly didn't think much about it after the first few moments. The director encouraged us to improvise some throughout the scene which led to some great moments. I got a lot of the physical bits, fetching beer for the squirrel, etc. In the end of the scene, one of my cohorts and I get beaten senseless under the table by one of the videogame characters. So, one of the final things we did was each of us getting about 2 minutes of improvised audio that they might use for the beating. That was fun. Crying, whining, screaming, laughing, pleading, hallucinating...reminds me of a really messed up relationship now that I think about it. I had a blast with that too. Made me want to get on that voiceover demo I've been thinking about forever.

I didn't have to sign confidentiality papers, but I'm hesitant to get too detailed about the project since it's just now making the rounds. Everyone on the set was very nice and professional. That kind of environment usually leads to the best work from everyone. After a fun 12-hour day, I retreated through the rain back home, where I now intend to sleep soundly. I love this stuff.