Swazzle Creates Puppets for Japanese Subaru Commercial

Swazzle had teamed up with the Chiodo Brothers to make puppets for two Japanese Subaru commercials. Working from designs by Charlie Chiodo, Swazzle's team of talented builders created five full body puppets for the spots.

The two 15 second commercials were shot in Japan, and Swazzle sent eight highly skilled puppeteers overseas to work on the spots.

The puppets including two otters, a jellyfish, a camel, and a whale were mostly shot against green screen and the puppeteers were removed in post. In some shots, the puppets were shot in the car and on a live set, and the rods and puppeteers were painted out.

The finished commercials were just posted online and you can view them here.

The site is in Japanese, so to find the videos click on the third pink button. You'll find links to the videos in the bottom left corner. The top left image links to the two commercials, the image next to it links to an extended web only version. Below those are links to behind the scenes videos.

We've also posted behind the scenes photos on the Swazzle Facebook page.

Sprout Sharing Show

Check out The Sprout Sharing Show that premiers on PBS’s Sprout Monday May 5th. Working for the Chiodo Brothers, Patrick and I made all of the puppets, backgrounds, props and stage for the show. The puppets were all made from felt and they were designed to have a simplistic hand made quality. The Sprout Sharing show showcases drawings, photos, videos and more sent in by young viewers. Click here to see the puppets in action.

Puppets After Hours

Puppets After Hours, Saturday, September 15 @ 7:30 pm, Free-of-Charge. 1745 N. Spring Street #4, Los Angeles, CA 90012. This is an outdoor venue, so please dress comfortably. Light refreshments available.

Farmlab presents Puppets After Hours as part of the Accidentally on Purpose Series. A fully immersive evening of adult-themed puppet theater, interactive performance art, and live music featuring some of L.A.'s best best puppeteers. Puppets sing, dance, perform sketch comedy, and engage in avant-garde art installations. The audience is invited to walk among giant fish in our puppet aquarium. Pick up a drum and jam with the percussion performance art group GLANK. Join in three-part harmony with our Praying Mantis doo-wop girl group. After the show all are welcome to mix and mingle with the cast.

Created, Produced, and Directed by Frank Langley IV, Donna Kimball, and Jordan M. Albert, in association with the Chiodo Brothers Productions, PUPPETS AFTER HOURS boasts these talented performers:

Contributing artists include: Tim Blaney, Alison Mork, Scott Land, Kristin Charney, Victor Yerrid, Peggy Etra, Donna Kimball, Michael Oostrom, Kevin Carlson, Brian Clark, Eli Presser, Robyn Simms Johnson, Sean Johnson, Patrick Johnson, and more!

Puppets After Hours is not suitable for children.

Swazzle Workshop Shoot 1

Today we shot at the Chiodo Brothers Studio for the second day. We completed most of two new episodes of our Swazzle web series, the Swazzle Workshop. In one episode Mayor Mole stops by to make a garbage monster rod puppet, and in the other Mama Dragon drops in to make a dragon sock puppet.

In this photo, I'm performing Tiger, Tim is performing Mayor Mole, Victoria is performing Mousedeer, and Anita is assisting with arm rods.

New Swazzle Workshop episodes premier the first of every month.