Muppet Movie Kermit's banjo
- Thread starter flimzy
- Start date
I might suggest that the banjo featured in the Disney+ prop show is potentially "A" real deal, and not necessarily "THE" real deal. It could simply be a second banjo prop. Perhaps the rigging for making Kermit "play" in the swamp scene required some more space inside the body of the banjo. This saloon scene just shows Kermit "carrying" the banjo and not playing it at all, so a less bulky version could be used. To me, the swamp banjo is the one with the desirable prop collecting "magic" due to the song sequence being so iconic, so personally that would be the version I'd want to replicate! 
I'm loving your progress on this project so far!
I'm loving your progress on this project so far!
Hi,
I just stumbled upon this thread, and it looks like you did some incredible work here. A couple things, you probably already know. There obviously were two types of shots in the song. In the close up shots, where Jim wasn't under the water in a tank on the Universal lot. Jim controlled the puppet's mouth and Kermit's left "playing/picking" hand. Another puppeteer controlled the motion of Kermit's right hand going up and down the neck of the banjo/frets.
In the long crane shot push in shot, (yea it was crane even though it was only a foot or so above the water. Kermit's mouth is controlled by Jim with him in a tank under the log, under the water. Kermit's left hand doesn't move and his right hand is controlled with a servo. But most people thought it was a hole in the banjo, but it was controlled via an armature that went around the back of the banjo.
In the medium close up shots (where you pan down to show all of Kermit), Jim is controlling Kermit's mouth while in a tank, under the log, under water. But both hands are controlled remotely with servos. The one thing Henson was never happy about (besides spending two days in a tank) was that banjo always look too deep, and it didn't move like it was a free object, because it was locked down to Kermit/The Log. But that was to accommodate the servos.
I just stumbled upon this thread, and it looks like you did some incredible work here. A couple things, you probably already know. There obviously were two types of shots in the song. In the close up shots, where Jim wasn't under the water in a tank on the Universal lot. Jim controlled the puppet's mouth and Kermit's left "playing/picking" hand. Another puppeteer controlled the motion of Kermit's right hand going up and down the neck of the banjo/frets.
In the long crane shot push in shot, (yea it was crane even though it was only a foot or so above the water. Kermit's mouth is controlled by Jim with him in a tank under the log, under the water. Kermit's left hand doesn't move and his right hand is controlled with a servo. But most people thought it was a hole in the banjo, but it was controlled via an armature that went around the back of the banjo.
In the medium close up shots (where you pan down to show all of Kermit), Jim is controlling Kermit's mouth while in a tank, under the log, under water. But both hands are controlled remotely with servos. The one thing Henson was never happy about (besides spending two days in a tank) was that banjo always look too deep, and it didn't move like it was a free object, because it was locked down to Kermit/The Log. But that was to accommodate the servos.
OK its been a long time, but I finally got time to carry on with this project. So the situation is may main week point is electronics, always has been, if there isn't a black and red wire involved I'm stuck. So I found two approaches to programming the lip sink to output Arduino code. I've gone with the one that lets me animate in blender first.
This YouTube channel finally inspired me to carry on with this project. Animating in blender is much easier for me than straight programming https://www.youtube.com/@timhendriks93
github.com
Thankyou Tim Hendriks your amazing.
GitHub - timhendriks93/blender-servo-animation: Export your Blender animation to servo position values. They can be used with an Arduino compatible micro controller to move PWM-driven servos according to your animation.
Export your Blender animation to servo position values. They can be used with an Arduino compatible micro controller to move PWM-driven servos according to your animation. - GitHub - timhendriks93/...
github.com
for anyone wanting to do something similar but like me runs to the hills when Arduino is involved there is also Bottango
Developed by Evan McMahon another genius
www.bottango.com
Bottango | Easy Robot and Animatronic Control
Bottango is an intuitive, visual tool for controlling robots, animatronics, and all kinds of hardware.
www.bottango.com
drusselmeyer
Master Member
Animatronics are amazing, but this is Horrifying.
Kermit's head was built for a hand. Puppeteers are apparently extinct.
Kermit's head was built for a hand. Puppeteers are apparently extinct.
Many of the muppeters are my friends but I don’t think any of them would be willing to sit in my sideboard ready to perform when ever I wanted.
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animator
Sr Member
Are they really your friends, then?
Ok I’ll ask one of them but I’m sure he’ll tell me that he’ll want paying ,perdeiums, and a Winy Baygo
Stark Naked
New Member
I love this. Looking forward to seeing it working. Sorry I did t see this thread earlier. Sequencing servos to move to lyrics and music would be perfect to do in XLights. I use this for Xmas light sequencing.
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Stark Naked
New Member
Do you think you could 3D print the banjo? Any chance of sharing files?
Omri Avital
New Member
Hi! If you ever had the chance of printing / finding 3D file of the banjo to print - I'm also looking and be happy if you can share
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