Team Smithereen: Spectacular Kills

The puppet stunt team and the stars of Team Smithereen, the new stunt puppet show from The Dan Clark Company/Wildbrain/Jetix Europe attempt outrageous stunts on a daily basis. Every stunt has a high degree of risk, and they always goes terribly wrong in a visually spectacular fashion.



The puppet "kills" ad a degree of difficulty to Team Smithereen - director/creator Dan Clark, puppeteers/puppet captains Sean and Patrick Johnson, prop masters/production designers Brandon Minton and Lisa Cota, puppet builder Mark Villalobos, and director of photography Ivan Corona, must all work together to pull off puppet kills that are completely unexpected, visually spectacular, and outrageously funny.




Recipe for Spectacular Team Smithereen Puppet Kills:
Begin with new puppet building materials like foam latex, silicone, and wax, combine with methyl cellulose, liquid nitrogen, and shampoo, mix with a blender, paintball guns or blow torch, shoot at super slow speed with a hi-def camera, throw in some green screen compositing, and a dash of sophisticated digital animation, cook and let cool. Now you have Team Smithereen, a visually delicious hot snack.

Please note: The Team Smithereen crew is a group of highly trained professionals, do not attempt these puppet kills at home.

Props to Props

The props department for Team Smithereen, the new stunt puppet show from The Dan Clark Company/Wildbrain/Jetix Europe, was called upon to create a variety of unusual props, vehicles, and set pieces. Their daily duties ranged from driving a remote control watermelon at high speeds through a graffiti covered ally, to throwing pumpkins from a two story building, to blasting liquid nitrogen from a sealed plastic container under nine feet of water.

In this photo from the set of Team Smithereen prop master and production designer, Brandon Minton prepares to shoot a high powered paintball gun at an unsuspecting stunt puppet.

Stunt Puppet Preparation

Prepping for a puppet stunt on the new Dan Clark Company/Wildbrain/Jetix Europe stunt puppet show, Team Smithereen can be a big job. In this photo Team Smithereen prop master and production designer Lisa Coto covers the digital green screen stage in plastic, prepping for a particularly messy puppet stunt.

Swazzle Lends a Hand

Team Smithereen, the new stunt puppet show from The Dan Clark Company/Wildbrain/Jetix Europe posed puppetry challenges unlike any other puppet show. To meet these challenges The Dan Clark Company called upon Sean and Patrick Johnson, the co-owners of Swazzle, a highly successful Los Angeles based puppet company.

Since 2004 Swazzle's team of talented professional puppeteers have presented hundreds of puppet shows at venues all over California. Swazzle works with the best in the puppetry field, so it was fitting that Sean and Patrick Johnson were asked to personally assemble the puppeteers for Team Smithereen. Sean and Patrick pulled together L.A.'s top puppeteers, and as puppet captains they collaborated with director/show creator Dan Clark to meet the unique challenges posed by Team Smithereen.

Smithereen Puppet Legs

Team Smtithereen, the new stunt puppet show from The Dan Clark Company/Wildbrain/Jetix Europe employs a brand new style of puppetry that utilizes latex puppets, hi-deff green screen compositing, and sophisticated computer animation. In this shot from the Team Smithereen green screen stage, puppeteer Jonathan Kidder prepares to perform Whoop's feet.

Team Smithereen Behind the Scenes Video

Dan Clark Company producer Don Asher uses a hand held Flip Video to record behind the scenes footage of the new Dan Clark Company/Wildbrain/Jetix Europe stunt puppet show, Team Smithereen.

Team Smithereen Water Puppets

Although the new Dan Clark Company/Wildbrain/Jetix Europe stunt puppet show Team Smithereen employs digital green screen compositing, and sophisticated computer animation, the creative team behind Team Smithereen is dedicated to doing the puppet stunts practically.



For a swimming sequence, the crew submerged a large green screen in the pool at the Team Smithereen production house in the Hollywood hills. In this photo, director of photography, Ivan Corona shoots the puppet swimming with the Hi-Deff camera safely enclosed in an underwater camera bag. Team Smithereen puppet captian and puppeteer, Sean Johnson wears a green screen suite, and performs stunt puppet Thrill Kat diving into the pool.



In this shot, Team Smithereen director of photography Ivan Corona reviews the last take, and puppet captain and puppeteer, Sean Johnson poses with Team Smithereen stunt puppet, Thrill Kat.



Television puppetry requires the use of a monitor, so that the puppeteers can see what they are doing. The Team Smithereen underwater stunt sequence made the use of a monitor impossible so every shot needed to be checked immediately to make sure the performances were spot on. In this shot, Team Smithereen director of photography Ivan Corona, puppeteers and puppet captains, Sean and Patrick Johnson, camera assist Marleen Schlawin, and Team Smithereen show creator and director, Dan Clark review the last underwater take.

Team Smithereen Milk Blast

Team Smithereen, the new stunt puppet show from The Dan Clark Company/Wildbrain/Jetix Europe involves many unusual stunts. In this behind the scenes photo Team Smithereen, prop masters/production designers Lisa Coto and Brandon Minton aim a high powered air cannon filled with a milky viscus cellulose fluid at the team's umbrellas.

Team Smithereen Puppeteers

Team Smithereen's unique puppetry style demands the most from L.A.'s top puppeteers. In this photo, Team Smithereen puppeteers Brian Clark, Russ Walko, and Felix Pire puppeteer Brave Little Francis.

Many Francises Lie in Wait

A bunch of Brave Little Francis puppets await their fate on the set of the new Dan Clark Company/Wildbrain/Jetix Europe stunt puppet show, Team Smithereen.

Smithereen Photo from the Set: 11/03/08

This photo from the set of the new Dan Clark Company/W!ldbrain/Jetix stunt puppet production Team Smithereen shows stunt puppet Whoop fling into action. All of the puppet's eyes will be computer animated, and in this photo Whoop's small black tracking dots are visible.

Sci-fi Team Smithereen

On the set of the new Dan Clark Company/W!ldbrain/Jetix stunt puppet production Team Smithereen, puppeteers Russ Walko and Sean Johnson perform Thrill Kat in his special sci-fi gear.

More Team Smithereen Logo Concepts

This image shows more Team Smithereen logo concepts by Patrick Johnson.

Animation Magazine Visits Team Smithereen

On Thursday the Team Smithereen crew welcomed a visitor from Animation Magazine. It might seem unusual for Animation Magazine to be interested in a puppet show, but Team Smithereen actually utilizes an innovative mix of latex puppets, digital green screen compositing, and computer animation.

Director and Team Smithereen creator Dan Clark gave him a full tour of the Team Smithereen house. He got to see first hand how the latex puppets were built, and fabricated, then he visited props and editorial, finally he toured the green screen stage to see the stunt puppets in action.

After the tour the whole Team Smithereen crew gathered outside for a round table interview. Animation Magazine is a super cool publication, and the interview was a blast. Look for the Team Smithereen article in the February issue of Animation Magazine.

Team Smithereen Monster Fight

In this early Team Smithereen concept drawing by Dave Pressler, stunt puppet Whoop is getting ready to box a giant monster.