Boo! - A Shadow Puppet Film
Here’s a wee shadow puppet film called Boo! that I made for my favourite theatre The Little Angel Theatre to help during the lockdown. This week, they will be sharing on their website and social media lots of lovely resources on how to make your own shadow puppet show!
https://littleangeltheatre.com/schools-and-community/at-home-resources/shadow-puppetry/
There’s more writing and thoughts below the video!
At the start of the lockdown, as the enormity of the global situation we had all been put into started to settle in, I knew I needed to keep productive, keep a routine, look after myself and jump start my creativity. I’ve had plenty of ideas but they all seemed too big. I was focusing on the big picture and not the small steps and goals that lead up to that big picture. I was scared of starting and of failing if I did!
I KNEW THAT TO MOVE PAST THE FEAR OF STARTING, I HAD TO GIVE MYSELF SOME SMALL GOALS TO ACHIEVE.
If I wanted to make a theatre show or a film, I should maybe start with something short, sweet and realistic. I knew it had been a while since I had made some shadow puppets and (fortunately!) I had some brand spanking new shadow puppet making supplies left over from a workshop that was (unfortunately) cancelled due to COVID-19.
I looked back at some old shadow puppets I already had and remembered how much I had enjoyed making seal shadow puppets and creating underwater scene for them to live in. This reminded me of a seal I met at a Seal Sanctuary in Oban, Scotland named Boo, because that was the sound he made the first night after he was rescued. Although I am living in Brighton, I was hearing the seagulls but I wasn’t seeing the sea - I was really missing it! And I have a huge fondness for British wild life. Everything was coming together very quickly!
So myself and my musician partner Iain J Scott discussed our favourite types of British sea life (I love puffins and saw them in the wild on the same trip I met Boo! - Iain suggested the basking shark) and I began making.
I decided to make Boo from soft aluminium wire because I had some left over from another project and I always like to try something new when I start a new idea - I always ask myself, what is something I can do to push what I already know and what could look really interesting! Its as a gamble and I loved how the Boo puppet looked. However, I also knew the rest of the animal puppets would be a bit smaller than Boo and working with the wire would be too fiddly - also Boo took a lot longer to make so I stuck to normal shadow puppets.
We made a shadow screen together out of a clothing rack, cardboard, cable ties and our spare room bed sheet - because who was going to stay during the lockdown! It felt good to be able to make something out of the bits and bobs I already had. We had to wait until the sun had set before we could film as the spare room got far too much light even with the curtains closed, (Turns out shadow puppetry is a bit tricky when the clocks go back!)
Iain wrote the music while I edited the film together and that’s how we made Boo!
I want to thank the Little Angel Theatre for sharing my little film and inspiring me to make something special during the lockdown! And reminding me I can still be creative and make beautiful things in my spare bedroom!
You can check out my Instagram page for some work in progress photos
I hope my wee film maybe inspires you to make a shadow puppet and reminds you of the British wild life we’re not able to see this summer and what they might be up to while us humans are staying in our homes!