Neil's Puppet Dreams Intro

Direction & Production Design

The Jim Henson Company 2013

Going deep into the mind of Neil Patrick Harris...

BEHIND THE SCENES: https://vimeo.com/58424461 Everything you see was built/crafted by hand then photographed. Client | The Jim Henson Company Production Company | Digital Twigs Starring | Neil Patrick Harris Produced by | Clark/Serrato Creative Director, Compositor | Ryan Wehner Production Designer | Mike Pasley Director of Photography | Chris Vanderwall Swing | Jonas Studer Production Assistant | Mike Kasper Art Department Mike Pasley, Jonas Studer, Sean Johnson , Patrick Johnson, Brian Clark, Michael Serrato, Neil Patrick Harris Sound Design | Markaholic Stop motion software: Dragon Frame Motion control: Dynamic Perception Processed in: Lightroom 4 Composited in: After Effects CS6

 

The Process...

The Time I Felt NPH...

Every good thing you've heard about NPH is true. Trust me, I've been inside his head. The intro for Neil's Puppet Dreams, Produced by Digital Twigs, took me places I never thought I'd go. The animatic called for us to whiz through Neil's brain past gears and pulley's, swimming puppets, and all the good goo inside us all.

The show planted NPH inside his dreams, which are entirely populated by puppets. With so much felt and fur on screen, the interior of the charming showman needed to compliment that. The end result was a brain 'tube' lined with mind-mush made from felt. 

What else went inside that beautiful noggin? Check out the behind the scenes video...

ORIGINAL VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/53998665 For the opening of Neil's Puppet Dreams we wanted to capture the quintessential moment of the show; Neil entering the puppet world that exists in his dreaming mind. The strangeness of the puppet-verse intrigued us and we imagined a transition essentially between the waking world and the dreaming world. Visually we wanted to show Neil's insides as the inner workings of a puppet. We knew right away we wanted to do it all practical, and include the Henson Alternative puppet parts. So we proceeded by building the inside of Neil's head/brain out of meat and felt. It got a little smelly but it was worth it. Follow Digital Twigs! DigitalTwigs.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digitaltwigs Twitter: https://twitter.com/digitaltwigs Music by Delicate Steve (Courtesy of Luaka Bop) Buy the song: http://alturl.com/bjw3x

I Spy With My Tripe Eye...

Ugh. This job stunk. It wasn't the work, it was the tripe...

 

Tripe is smelly. Really smelly. I don't know how it tastes, but I know how it smells.

Bad.

Our concept for the Neil's Puppet Dreams intro imagined Neil as a sophisticated puppet. The transition flew us from fleshy eye socket to a felty, mechanical interior and then through his brain-tube packed with puppets. We wanted the eye socket to look grotesquely real. A trip to the grocery store was in order!

The shopping list consisted of thin cut pork chops, bacon, tripe, and cottage cheese. None of these items do well if you don't keep them refrigerated, let alone under hot lights. The raw ingredients were left until the very last minute. Once all the meat was pinned into place, we set up the shot, but it didn't take long before everyone started vomiting all over the place.

After many hours of aggressive non-stop vomiting everyone passed out, and we finished shooting the next day. It was quite a mess! It's just like that old saying; When there's a throw up show down, you still have to show up and throw down.