For most things in life fundamentals are important, whether it's sports, business, hobbies, and of course puppetry.
Beginner puppeteers need to learn the fundamentals quickly and experienced ones should continually reinforce them.
Here are 3 important fundamentals that if done properly will help your puppet look more lifelike and be more entertaining.
Drop the Lower Jaw When people talk, their lower jaw moves up and down, so your puppet should mimic that motion.
To do that you need to drop your thumb when making the puppet talk instead of following the normal tendency of raising your fingers.
Moving your fingers up and down is a lot easier, but causes the head to flap in an unnatural manner.
You have to train yourself to drop the lower jaw.
Try working a puppet in front of a mirror and watch the mouth.
Practice dropping the lower jaw even if it means speaking slower than normal.
As you become more used to it, speed up the motion.
Make note of how it feels and then transfer it to the stage.
The good news is that once you've learned to drop the lower jaw and do it enough, it becomes a habit.
Use Proper Lip Synchronization Have you ever watched a movie or TV show where the words and mouth movement don't match? It's very distracting isn't it? The same is true for puppets.
Proper lip sync involves opening and closing the mouth for each syllable.
Open the mouth at the beginning of the syllable and close it at the end so you don't "bite" the words.
"Show" has one syllable, so the mouth should open and close once.
"Puppet" has two syllables so the mouth needs to open and close twice.
"Synchronization" has five syllables so open and close the mouth five times for that word.
If you're doing a recorded play and the puppet speaks too fast to get every syllable, make sure to get the first and last one right and as many in-between as you can.
Again, practicing in front of a mirror is a big help in learning proper lip sync.
Don't Freeze Your Puppet When people talk together they tend to move a bit.
Sometimes it's shuffling their feet back and forth, using arm or hand gestures, or swaying slightly.
If you stay in one position for a while, it becomes uncomfortable and causes you to move a bit.
Carry that over to your puppet; it shouldn't stand still like a stone statue but have some slight movements.
They need to be slight or they can become a distraction.
There you have it, three quick fundamentals that are important if you want your puppet to appear lifelike.
They are needful for beginning puppeteers to learn and experienced ones to continually reinforce.