Head full of gears

I just learned this week that the Corpse Bride used a rather novel solution to animation of the puppets faces. The puppets heads were full of watch gears and by sticking an allen key into the top of the head and giving it a tweak the face could be made to move. The gears move paddles that in turn push or prod the latex skin.

The eyebrows are attached to paddles and that are movable externally and the eyeslids use a replacement technique. The rest of the armatures are quite conventional ball sockets and hinges with metal rods made from stainless steel.

You can watch Mike Johnson demonstrating the Corpse Bride Puppets, on G4 TV's "Attack of the Show".

Corpse Bride's Mike Johnson Part 1

Corpse Bride's Mike Johnson Part 2

All of the armatures were made by Mackinnon And Saunders from Altrincham in Cheshire.