The Puppet Striker Show is a short film and a playable experiment made by two people in one week. Inspired by clashes between Yellow Vest protesters and the police, it places two puppets on a theatre stage. The Muppet-like characters, with simple mouths and floppy bodies, let us approach violence on both sides through a less literal visual language.

We wanted the animation to come from playing. Instead of keyframing a fight, we built a two-player fighting game in Unreal Engine and learned its physics system along the way. Each player used a controller to move, attack and open their character’s mouth.

The stage curtain doubled as the title sequence, carrying the project name and directors’ credits. A key press opened it, started the music and gave control to the players. We recorded the action as if shooting a scene, finding the choreography through repeated takes: who attacks first, when a puppet looks at the camera, and how the other responds. The physics generated much of the movement and reaction.

I worked on rigging, physics, lighting and grading, and built a Houdini grooming setup with different fur lengths for the two characters. I also contributed to the creative choices, including the curtain and music.

The result was a film of around twenty seconds and a playable game that we shared with our class.