Types of Puppetry: Bunraku

Here's a brief clip:

The illusion of life is stunning in Bunraku. In this brief clip from Alien Resurrection, the aliens were actually bunraku puppets shot against a green screen, and composited in:

Here's an incredible video of a bunraku master showing how the traditional bunraku puppets operate:

I love this quote from the video:

For example, when the puppet is experiencing joy -- "How delightful" -- I am transferring my feelings of joy to her. If the character feels sad I feel sad, too.

- Kiritake Kanjuro

This is a very important point to keep in mind for performance.