7/25/2005: Amazing French puppetry celebrating Verne

Undertoad · 07-25-2005, 01:22 PM

Thanks to Warch who spots this amazing French street puppetry, celebrating Jules Verne. The images shown here are pretty large but necessary to show the scale and the detail of the thing. It's massive, and it moves around in a natural way via its operators. They also have a massive elephant puppet, see the photo gallery here. Meanwhile the girl walks, rides her scooter, reacts to the crowd:

Warch also found two more amazing galleries before I could even post the images:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/jwz/489202.html

http://www.lean.to/gallery/royaldeluxe

And a full story that explains it in detail:

In 2005, France is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the death of one of its most popular writers: Jules Verne. The many events organised for this national commemoration will principally be held in Nantes, the novelist's birthplace in western France, and in Amiens, his place of residence, in the north.
...
Through his work, science (in the general sense, including the social sciences) became fodder for fiction. From 1862 until his death in 1905, encouraged by his editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel, Jules Verne produced some sixty novels grouped under the broad title Extraordinary Journeys. His genius lies in his ability to draw poetry out of the most austere learning and to create an atmosphere of fantasy based on exact scientific data.

The writer's dreamlike and avant-garde vision will be represented on stage by the street theatre company "Royal de Luxe" during a large town parade and four days of festivities in Nantes, from 19 to 22 May, and in Amiens, from 16 to 19 June.

The programme enticingly announces "The Visit of the Sultan of India Atop His Time-Travelling Elephant". The show will go on tour to Le Havre, in the north of France, in mid-July, then London in September, wrapping up in Bilbao, Antwerp and Calais in 2006. In parallel to this, video director Pierrick Sorin will present a short film on the same theme, inspired by the gigantic, elephant-shaped steam engine imagined by Jules Verne in his novel The Steam House.

xoxoxoBruce · 07-25-2005, 02:16 PM

Take that, Industrial Light & Magic.

Lucy · 07-25-2005, 08:04 PM

Amazing. So frickin' cool.

capnhowdy · 07-25-2005, 10:12 PM

Very good.
Maybe the french have finally found a game they can play.
Win?........we'll see.

Hobbs · 07-26-2005, 09:40 AM

The second link actually has captured video of the girl and an elephant. You have to see the motion on the girl to get the full idea that it is actually a humungo puppet. It's like a giant marionette with a combination of rope pulls and radio controls. It's amazing how many people it takes to work this chick. A cast of thousands.

jinx · 07-26-2005, 10:21 AM

The girl and the elephant are amazing... I'm not so sure about the cars stitched to the road though. I don't get it.

mrnoodle · 07-26-2005, 10:27 AM

Those are just French "boots." The people in that picture are cussing and calling the parking cops to get them removed so they can drive home.

Hobbs · 07-26-2005, 11:15 AM

I don't quite get it either Jinx. The explaination as to why really wasn't there. There was some explaination as to how it was done. Pretty complex for art. Apparently, "they" actually cored through the pavement and threaded the rope underneath the blacktop. The rope is one piece. There was some mention on the detail in the cars (?) such as papers on the seats inside the cars and other stuff in the gloveboxes (again ?).

capnhowdy · 07-26-2005, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

Those are just French "boots." The people in that picture are cussing and calling the parking cops to get them removed so they can drive home.

..now that's funny as hell.

Queen of the Ryche · 07-26-2005, 03:27 PM

Explanation was that it "came to the Little Giant in a horrible dream....and the dream was realized....." Not much of an explanation, but then again they are French.

warch · 07-26-2005, 06:51 PM

Apparently the audience watched the little giant sleep and when she had to, she took a pee. Oui!

Trilby · 07-26-2005, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by warch

Apparently the audience watched the little giant sleep and when she had to, she took a pee. Oui!

Good. Now make that into a haiku.

xoxoxoBruce · 07-26-2005, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jinx

The girl and the elephant are amazing... I'm not so sure about the cars stitched to the road though. I don't get it.

That's the french NEA at work.

And · 07-31-2005, 12:53 AM

What's gonna be nasty is when the puppet breaks free and starts devouring people.

bargalunan · 08-08-2005, 05:06 AM

test

07-25-2005, 01:22 PM	#1
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	7/25/2005: Amazing French puppetry celebrating Verne Thanks to Warch who spots this amazing French street puppetry, celebrating Jules Verne. The images shown here are pretty large but necessary to show the scale and the detail of the thing. It's massive, and it moves around in a natural way via its operators. They also have a massive elephant puppet, see the photo gallery here. Meanwhile the girl walks, rides her scooter, reacts to the crowd: Warch also found two more amazing galleries before I could even post the images: http://www.livejournal.com/users/jwz/489202.html http://www.lean.to/gallery/royaldeluxe And a full story that explains it in detail: In 2005, France is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the death of one of its most popular writers: Jules Verne. The many events organised for this national commemoration will principally be held in Nantes, the novelist's birthplace in western France, and in Amiens, his place of residence, in the north. ... Through his work, science (in the general sense, including the social sciences) became fodder for fiction. From 1862 until his death in 1905, encouraged by his editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel, Jules Verne produced some sixty novels grouped under the broad title Extraordinary Journeys. His genius lies in his ability to draw poetry out of the most austere learning and to create an atmosphere of fantasy based on exact scientific data. The writer's dreamlike and avant-garde vision will be represented on stage by the street theatre company "Royal de Luxe" during a large town parade and four days of festivities in Nantes, from 19 to 22 May, and in Amiens, from 16 to 19 June. The programme enticingly announces "The Visit of the Sultan of India Atop His Time-Travelling Elephant". The show will go on tour to Le Havre, in the north of France, in mid-July, then London in September, wrapping up in Bilbao, Antwerp and Calais in 2006. In parallel to this, video director Pierrick Sorin will present a short film on the same theme, inspired by the gigantic, elephant-shaped steam engine imagined by Jules Verne in his novel The Steam House.

07-25-2005, 02:16 PM	#2
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Take that, Industrial Light & Magic. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

07-25-2005, 10:12 PM	#4
capnhowdy Blatantly Homosapien Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 6,200	Very good. Maybe the french have finally found a game they can play. Win?........we'll see. __________________ Please type slowly. I can't read very fast............... and no holy water, please.

07-26-2005, 09:40 AM	#5
Hobbs Professor for the school of ass-clownery Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Surprise! Posts: 404	The second link actually has captured video of the girl and an elephant. You have to see the motion on the girl to get the full idea that it is actually a humungo puppet. It's like a giant marionette with a combination of rope pulls and radio controls. It's amazing how many people it takes to work this chick. A cast of thousands. __________________ That's it! Send in the chimps! Last edited by Hobbs; 07-26-2005 at 09:40 AM. Reason: added link

07-26-2005, 10:21 AM	#6
jinx Come on, cat. Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: general vicinity of Philadelphia area Posts: 7,013	The girl and the elephant are amazing... I'm not so sure about the cars stitched to the road though. I don't get it. __________________ Crying won't help you, praying won't do you no good.

07-25-2005, 08:04 PM	#3
Lucy Colloquialist Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Georgia Posts: 75	Amazing. So frickin' cool.

07-26-2005, 10:27 AM	#7
mrnoodle bent Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: under the weather Posts: 2,656	Those are just French "boots." The people in that picture are cussing and calling the parking cops to get them removed so they can drive home.

07-26-2005, 11:15 AM	#8
Hobbs Professor for the school of ass-clownery Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Surprise! Posts: 404	I don't quite get it either Jinx. The explaination as to why really wasn't there. There was some explaination as to how it was done. Pretty complex for art. Apparently, "they" actually cored through the pavement and threaded the rope underneath the blacktop. The rope is one piece. There was some mention on the detail in the cars (?) such as papers on the seats inside the cars and other stuff in the gloveboxes (again ?). __________________ That's it! Send in the chimps!

07-26-2005, 03:27 PM	#10
Queen of the Ryche is fleeing the scene Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Beautiful CO Posts: 1,510	Explanation was that it "came to the Little Giant in a horrible dream....and the dream was realized....." Not much of an explanation, but then again they are French. __________________ Once, in an interview, Chuck Norris admitted that he was not the most awesome thing ever. He declined to elaborate; but I believe we all know that he was referring to the existence of chocolate covered bacon. I'd rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.

07-26-2005, 06:51 PM	#11
warch lurkin old school Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Minnesota Posts: 2,796	Apparently the audience watched the little giant sleep and when she had to, she took a pee. Oui!

07-31-2005, 12:53 AM	#14
And Conjunction Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Conjunction Junction Posts: 168	What's gonna be nasty is when the puppet breaks free and starts devouring people. __________________ -And, Word Wrangler and Keeper of the Cuttlefish.

08-08-2005, 05:06 AM	#15
bargalunan Abecedarian Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Nantes (France) Posts: 175	test

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