Jiggly puppets slapping bass in new video for Pet Portrait from Joe Bichard

Date
12 February 2015

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Joe Bichard has made a live-action tale of a failing relationship for Pet Portrait’s new release Holy Hologram, just in time for Valentine’s Day! The video is populated by expression-free wooden puppets, dancing, slapping bass and having very passive aggressive conversations. The puppeteer band’s gestures are spot on, the dancing suitably lazy and the bathroom scene ties it all together with watery aplomb. The video is accompanied by subtitles narrating the demise of yellow puppet and blue puppet’s relationship. Somehow the tone of the conversation translates through their faces that exclusively feature pointy noses, and you kind of empathise with the characters as they jiggle away from each other into the night.

Joe graduated from the RCA’s animation course last summer. Having spent years slaving over seconds of footage, a live-action film was a welcome break. According to Joe, “any live-action filmmaker who claims that they work hard is a liar. A filthy, lazy liar. It’s easy.” Making the film entirely outside of his computer, Joe “went to B&Q and bought a workbench, a saw and a drill and started trying to make things… Most of the puppets only had one string controlling them, so their movements were gloriously serendipitous.” Nice work.

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Joe Bichard: Pet Portrait

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Joe Bichard: Pet Portrait

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Joe Bichard: Pet Portrait

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Joe Bichard: Pet Portrait

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Joe Bichard: Pet Portrait

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Joe Bichard: Pet Portrait

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Joe Bichard: Pet Portrait

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About the Author

Billie Muraben

Billie studied illustration at Camberwell College of Art before completing an MA in Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art. She joined It’s Nice That as a Freelance Editorial Assistant back in January 2015 and continues to work with us on a freelance basis.

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