Our brief was to make a pair of real Guinea pigs get up and dance and perform tricks with a Hula Hoop!

Due to the extremely short lead time it was decided to make rod operated puppets using taxidermed skins from real animals. We were assured (and passed on the assurances to our client) that the Guinea Pigs had lived happy lives and died peacefully, as they do.

Simple armatures (skeletons) were made so that control rods could be attached at various points on the body. Once inserted, the Guinea Pigs had to be carefully re-stuffed and beautified to bring them back to life.

The puppets were controlled by three people (in close proximity) and filmed in a Bluescreen environment so that the action appears as though within their cage.