Fozzie's entrance in The Muppet Movie

[Johnboy]

If you recalled the scene where Fozzie Bear first appeared in the movie on stage then says " Let's start off with a bang"!, how did they do that scene where he stands up?

 

[gfarkwort]

Like they did the fireys in the Labyrinth and Kermit on the Muppet Show when he danced with Gene Kelly......like a bluescreen except black

 

[Beauregard]

And then the puppeteers wore black, and can hardly be seen.

 

[McFraggle]

I'm still amazed by them riding bikes.

 

[Beauregard]

LEW: Everyone asks us how we did that scene.

BEAU: How did we do that?

Of course the answer is, Marriotets. But it is still a very high teck scene.

BTW, is the "Black-screne" the way they did Kermit hop-dancing along teh road with Robin on his shoulder in MCC?

 

[muppetmayhem]

I'm still amazed by them riding bikes.

Same here. According to the knowledge I know about how they puppeteer, it seems impossible!

 

[Violia]

I saw a Jim Henson making of once along time ago hat explained how they did it, unfortunately I can't remember how!

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Nowadays they shoot the original characters against a blue or green screen and then generate the background either by a different film or by computer. The Jim Henson Hour was shot that way with Jim and the Lion in the beginning, and the Muppet Central part of the show was shot against a blue-screen (I believe) and the computers and tv's were computer generated later.

In the old days, the puppeteers wore black with a black background and shot the film and then overlaid this to background film, and that is why you can sometimes see through "Disco Frog" or "Octopus' Garden" Piggy and Kermit to the background. Also, if you look REALLY close, you can see a "ghost" of the performer, too!

 

[McFraggle]

Pretty impressive.

 

[SkeksisGirl]

Same here. According to the knowledge I know about how they puppeteer, it seems impossible!

Well, according to Jim Henson in his Secrets of the Muppets episode of "The Jim Henson Hour" which I have on tape still. ::Hugs the tape to death.:: For the scenes where Kermit is riding the bike, in wide shots where it's full body, it's a marrionette, for close ups it's Jim on a Dolly under Kermit.

In "Great Muppet Caper" when it was more than one Muppet, they had the tires of some bikes linked together and pilled them by a trike in front. If you watch GMC you can see the two Trikes that are pulling everyone. One of the Trikes is being ridden by Brian.