Puppet fun effect

Two jointed figures dance beside an unchanged human dancer. a wide shot of three figures dancing in a line in a bare rehearsal room, the outer two remade as jointed wooden marionettes on strings with their limbs lagging behind every pull, the middle one entirely photographic and moving smoothly, the same choreography in all three so the lag is obvious, the mirrored wall doubling the strings, locked wide camera

Felt puppets play a scene above a plain booth edge. a wide shot of a plain wooden booth edge with two soft felt hand puppets rising above it, both with hinged mouths opening in exaggerated arcs as they turn to each other, the shoulders of the fabric bodies bunching over hidden hands, a plain dark curtain behind and a warm footlight below throwing their shadows up the curtain, static wide camera

A head becomes a felt hand puppet whose jaw opens on speech. a close shot of a person talking as their head becomes a soft felt hand puppet with a wide hinged jaw and two plain sewn eyes, the jaw opening and closing in exaggerated arcs on every word while the real neck and collar stay photographic beneath, the fabric creasing at the corners of the mouth, flat daylight, static camera at head height

Slack returns and a jointed body folds onto the floor. a close shot of a jointed wooden puppet figure standing upright, its strings going slack all at once so the knees fold, the arms drop across the body and the head tips forward onto the chest, the whole figure settling into a loose pile on floorboards with two small wooden knocks, dust lifting where it lands, low raking light, static camera on the floor

Four strings appear above a person and the limbs start to lag. a person standing on a bare stage floor as four thin strings drop from the darkness above and attach at the wrists and knees, the slack drawing tight one string at a time, each limb lifting a beat after its own string pulls so the movement always trails the pull, the shoulders rising last, the floor and the overhead light unchanged and photographic, camera tilting up along the strings

A full-size hand raises a jointed figure by its control bar. a close shot of a full-size human hand holding a wooden control bar above a knee-high jointed marionette standing on a table, the hand tipping the bar so the strings lift the left arm and then the right leg, the figure taking a stiff step with its foot clacking on the wood, the real hand skin next to the painted timber giving the scale away, soft overhead light, static camera

A queue of standing people turns to hinged wooden figures in turn. a wide shot of five people standing in a queue in a plain corridor, visible wooden hinges and brass pins spreading along the row from front to back so each becomes a jointed figure in turn, gestures turning stiff and stopping hard at the end of each arc, the person at the back still photographic when the front one is fully carved, slow pan down the queue

Elbows and knees become visible wooden hinges mid-gesture. a close shot of a person raising an arm as the elbow becomes a visible wooden hinge with a brass pin, the forearm turning to carved wood with a painted hand, the joint clicking audibly at the end of each swing and stopping hard instead of easing, the shoulder and shirt still photographic above the change, warm side light on the grain, macro camera on the joint

Giant wooden bars work a life-size jointed person from above. a wide shot of a life-size jointed figure standing in an empty warehouse with four long strings rising to two oversized wooden control bars high above, the bars tilting one after another and the figure answering each pull a beat late, dust turning in the shafts of high window light, the concrete floor and steel columns unchanged, slow crane down from the bars

A jointed figure walks and the feet arrive after the strings. a jointed wooden marionette version of a person walking along a hallway runner, each string pulling a knee up before the foot follows and lands with a small clack, the torso swinging slightly on its central string, the head hanging forward between steps and snapping up when the string tightens, the real hallway walls and skirting unchanged, camera tracking beside at shin height