Bobbie the Boat Shoot

Wow, it has been almost a year since we shot this stuff, but I've come across some behind-the-scenes pictures from a shoot I did for the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary . It was a pilot project that aims at teaching children about the importance of boating and water safety. Bobbie the Safety Boat, the star of the project, is actually a large robotic character that interacts with people at various events and locations (boat shows, water fronts etc.) and also does presentations to kids about promoting water safety at school, scouts, etc. I got to perform Bobbie at a number of events and in these training videos a few years back and it was a lot of fun. (I'm featured more in video's 3 and 4.) He even has a water sprayer that can squirt water at people; best believe I had a good time with that.




What we were shooting was a series of PSA's that involve Bobbie, and some other puppet characters that I designed. The Bobbie puppet for the video's was build by Matt Fichner, and I built an additional 6 characters to round out the cast.




The 2-day shoot we did late last summer involved some PSAs I wrote for 5 of the characters to teach water safety. We shot them at a gorgeous lake-side location in Quebec. It was my first experience puppeteering in the water; it was a great learning experience. Jessica Fitzpatrick and I puppeteered assisted by my brother Nick. The finished PSAs have yet to see daylight, but I'll be sure and post them when they do. The best I can do for now is this clip that was put together to thank the folks who lent us their boat and dock.



Here are some shots from shooting in the water!




On a unrelated puppet note, Puppets Up! the international puppet festival is next weekend (Aug. 8th and 9th) in Almonte, ON. I'll be there with my puppets both days and I highly recommend you check it out if you are in the area. Information is here.