The genius puppetry behind War Horse | Handspring Puppet Company
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- Опубликовано: 4 апр 2025
- www.ted.com "Puppets always have to try to be alive," says Adrian Kohler of the Handspring Puppet Company, a gloriously ambitious troupe of human and wooden actors. Beginning with the tale of a hyena's subtle paw, puppeteers Kohler and Basil Jones build to the story of their latest astonishment: the wonderfully life-like Joey, the War Horse, who trots (and gallops) convincingly onto the TED stage.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at www.ted.com/tra....
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When Joey came out, I began to cry, and I am not even sure why. Truly moving.
The coolest thing I got from this clip is how 3 people synchronized their brains to make it look real.
also lmao at everyone going "thats not how you ride a horse!!!" no. thats how you ride a puppet horse polited by 2 humans, trying to keep her balanced while not breaking anything
Exactly, those comments are super annoying!
Agreed.
Corrected, however, it's piloted by 3 hoomans
Blows my mind how in synch they become after so many months of practising. Just the smallest movement and they know what the 'horse' is planning to do. So bloody natural looking. I would love to see this show (even though I know for a fact it would break my heart. There's bound to be something awful which happens to the horses..). Amazed.
I saw Warhorse on stage... Truly life changing.
+Daft Love Me too. Guys, if you ever have a chance to see it, don't miss it!!
I agree!
It’s so good, I’ve been lucky enough to see it twice over both hours it’s tour in Australia
Saw that a decade and more ago and it paved ways for my interest in equine sports and horse racing afterwards
CGI artist here... that puppet is badass and the knowledge those actors have that 'drive' it is immense and beautifully executed. Bravo!
War horse was the best play I've ever been to, from the start you forget the horses are just puppets,-it's amazing to see how they do it here. Great talk!
It's amazing how quickly you cease to "see" the puppeteers and focus only on the puppet.
But i am seeing normal, healthy Sleipnir
Fgtth😂
Emotional engineering. Thank you for walking on this planet.
Yes, I thought that was a very evocative phrase too :)
This is one of the best comments I've ever read on RUclips
You know how hard that is? I do technical theater at my school and just with the sets and props it is already hard enough. It would be very difficult to have a real live horse in the show and what about on stage? The horse may be scripted to be alone on stage and the way the horse acts on stage is critical for the storyline. Creating a puppet to use on stage gives control over what the horse behaves, subtle motions (such as ear flicks and the tail) are very vital to the horse's mood.
Hello 7 years later
Are you really telling us why a puppet horse is used on stage instead of a real one?
God damn I hate people.
@@michaelc3977 i think it was meant to be a reply to a different comment that was probably asking why they wouldn't just use a real horse... lol
@@Phantasmaphobic Okay, but I still hold my disdain for people.
Thank you so much for this absolutely beautiful posting I've been breaking and training Grand Prix horses my entire life.. watching Joey come to life has been absolutely amazing for me.. In tears❣ impeccably love the war horse! America should definitely have a statue of him!! For all of the horses that fought the War for us without any choice and we're 100% committed regardless of life or death!! God bless everyone of them and also for every soldier that was with them every step of the way!!!!
Handspring puppet company has been part of life in Cape Town for over 30 years. They have always inspired with their creativity , passion, social commitments. I am excited to see the show next week - it's finally got to Cape Town. Well done, Basil and Adrian and all involved in this creation.
All these years later and Joey is still a masterpiece of craftsmanship and engineering
I have not seen such beauty in a long time. Brought me to tears the moment that I saw the prototype. Brilliant performance as well by the puppeteers. Remarquable!
That hyena was terrifying.
I liked the hyena, myself.
IKR, it’s creepy XD No hate TED!
This is still one of my absolute favorite Ted Talks. It's remarkable how lifelike the puppets are.
I saw this performance in my city on Tuesday and it was spectacular. The horse's movements were so fluid and appropriate. Even though you knew there were puppeteers in there, you hardly noticed them. It was like each horse was it's own entity.
its the combination of the craftsmanship & the brilliant acting the truely breathes life into this, Fascinating to watch!
This is so cool, it's like you know it's a puppet, but it just moves and behaves so realistically. Truly outstanding.
I saw this is person years ago. One of my biggest wishes is for it to return to the stage in the US. So moving.
Honestly puppetry like this should be in Disney to bring animal characters to life. Think about how many more people would come to see puppets of famous Disney animal characters like Aladar or Simba
We have ponies ourselves and it's amazing to watch how they manage to make the movements. It's so real.
That hyena has got to be the creepest looking thing I've ever seen
To all the people complaining about the woman ridding the puppet, she is not a horse rider in any way shape or form, her name is Zem Joaquin and she is an eco designer, no doubt seeing that she shares a passion for eco friendly building and crafting materials is most likely why she was given the chance to ride joey.
Never hurts to do a little reading before flying off the handle about her not keeping her heels down, sitting too far back or mounting from the right. also she most likely mounted form the right so the audience wouldn't see her being given a leg up, it doesnt look good as part of a demonstration
this is still one of the most beautiful and impressive pieces of art i have ever seen
I love that they treat him as a real horse!
The face looks like a dog
+Jessica Topenio Actually standardbreads and some draft varieties have that slightly bowed face, it didn't look too dogish. It would have been great if they could have gotten some jaw movement on it but that may have made the head too heavy
+Marion Storms oh
We saw it last night in Melbourne. It is absolutely astonishing! We were on the aisle seats and Joey came thumping past us and he nudged my partner on the shoulder. It was a horse! The production was mind blowing, with projections constantly changing sets, battle scenes..... not quite speechless, but totally entranced!
0:25 Know it's a puppet but I saw him grab and hold hyena like a wet cloth and went “Naww... don't hold him like that.. big meanie” Then he hid under his paw and made me go “I know fella... what they doing at you eh?”
Then his head flopped off the table and I wanted them to stop talking and lift him up cos it looked like he just died on the vet table and they weren't bothered.
Says more about the genius of these puppeteers I think. They can make a primitive wooden hyena make me immediately see him as a real animal.
Surprisingly, that horse screeching gave me the chills.
Phenomenal work. It is truely amazing how simple yet complex it is to animate a puppet. Master at their craft
I saw this just the other day in Toronto. Absolutely incredible. It took me about 5 minutes to ignore the puppeteer who controlled the heads and only saw HORSES. Congratulations to the entire puppet team in Toronto on a job incredibly done
Saw War Horse at Lincoln Center in NYC. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! The puppeteers brought the horses to life!
Wow. Joey is simply amazing. Those who actually know what art truly is will know this. Ignore the ignorant among us.
I'd never heard of this production; that was such a fantastic job of puppet construction and puppeteering! I'm completely blown away!
There truly are some incredibly talented people in this world.
I am so overwhelmed...I actually cried when I saw this I thought it was so beautiful
Absolutely loved watching the stage show so amazing and emotional totally just forgot they were puppets and got fully engaged in the story with amazing music
i just saw the show a couple of days ago it was amassing when the horse is revealed it is so breath taking how big and life like it is
this is truly a beatifully piece of artwork i actually at one point was so convinced this was a real horse props to everyone that had something to do with this amazing production it is hands down one of the most complex and creative things done by the human mind
Bumped into this by accident, but WOW!! How incredible is this!
At first I was skeptical with the puppeteer's ability to control the horse, but wow! After the demonstration I am thoroughly impressed.
I love how they bow at the end because they are actors
What a delightful, beautiful piece of artistry. Truly inspiring.
The actual performance of this was truly on another level.. Amazing!!
Now, why did I tear up when the horse stepped out onstage? 😅 (War Horse was a story I avoided for years. Book, play, or movie - I know I would bawl)
Absolute genius..... What an amazing and moving show War Horse was....
Coming from a theater background... This is a godsend. The theatrical possibilities are endless now OwO it's reminiscent of Lion King styling. Hopefully these puppets can soon be rented out to theater companies!
guys it's not meant to be completely realistic it is a puppet! I love the structure of the horse and I can't wait to go and see it for my birthday in November! It's going to be spectacular!!!
They hit all the letters of "TED" with this one!
I think this was so wonderful, complete with humor.
"and our next door neighbor, catherine" absolutely choked laughing
It must feel amazing to play that puppet...
This company is awesome! I've seen their work in "War Horse" at Lincoln Center, and it is AMAZING. You absolutely forget you are watching puppets.
Fascinating :)
To all the Neigh-sayers (pun intended) TED is about expansion of knowledge and ideas. The diversity of TED's ideas is amazing. Not every subject will inspire, but every talk is an expansion of the mind :)
:P
I traveled to London to watch the premier of Warhorse at the theatre, needless to say it was worth every penny.
it's the LEG ACTING from the dudes in the horse for me
The guy talking is just adorable!
beautiful. saw the play & 5 minutes in, you dont see the handlers, it becomes a real horse.
When I looked in my subscription box I read "the genius puppetry behind war"
Now that is a TED talk I would have been interested to to watch something about the psychological manipulation of the masses when the world turns to war...
Lol I imagine a troop of Muppets with assault rifles
Ahhh I went to see War Horse when it first came out in the theatre - nee to see it again, the puppetry is astounding. I loved the book as a child and so it is so special!
Very amazing Horse costume...the movements seem totally real. It's one of the best costume i've ever seen.
This is brilliant! Props to the puppeteers controlling that horse, it feels so very alive!
This TED talk was good. People shouldn't downrate things like this just because it isn't a science/technology subject.
Those are so cool.. Reminds me of the Lion King performance, especially the hyena
Beautifully well done. I'm usual all for bashing an art piece on TED, but considering the achievement of making the horse it seems worthwhile this time.
There's something beautiful about this that special effects today can't capture.
Well that, and if you've ever tried to coax a convincing emotional performance from a live horse, you know that they're terrible actors. ;) The genius of this puppet is that the true emotional essence of the horse is captured through perfectly coordinated movements. I think the puppet is much better than a real horse, actually. The handlers really are true artists. The body language is absolutely spot on. :)
I saw the play last week in NYC. The horses were so mesmerizing that for long gaps I would miss every word the human actors were saying.
Everything else is perfect. These creations are glorious. But when it gets to the rear legs, it all ends.
I think I want to see the play more than the movie!
Phenomenal craftsmanship. Very fascinating.
amazing how life-like that horse is, me knowing horses :)
Reading War Horse on my Nook...awesome book! Hopefully will ge able to see the play and movie next year!
Лошадь выглядит необычно, даже страннно. Но для постановки, фрагменты которой показали в конце, такое решение попадание в яблочко.👏
Cannot understand all the hate on this. It is amazing. Would like to see you create, or even work one of these
Grandioos dat mensen dit kunnen creëren en fantastisch hoe deze twee heren dit met passie kunnen vertellen :-) Chapeau!
Living breathing imagination comes to life., motion and art becomes life. Bravo
War Horse was awesome when I saw it; at fist the guys outside the horse catch your eye all the time, but then you completely forget they are there.
I saw this movie when I was younger. And I almost cried XD
Holy crap it's a steampunk HORSE! ha ha! That's amazingly done!
Absolutely amazing!
I don't givwe a fuck if this talk isn't "fundamental TED". So long as they still upload talks of every nature, I think it's a GOOD thing to branch out.
I'm amazed, I watched this video twice, and I can't wait to show it to someone else
Maravilhosossssss!! Genais! Estou fascinada, como amante de cavalos e da arte genuína!! Parabéns aos criadores e executores do Joey!
how could 32 people dislike this? It's incredible!!
So imaginative and exciting. Can't wait to see War Horse here in Wilmington.
In movies they can do it in multiple takes and often have more than one horse to represent the same horse. Stage productions are done live. Horses aren't always willing to follow instructions, puppets do everything you want.
at 2:14 it looks like the hyena dies.
I love this!!!!!!!!!!
I drew horse puppet designs when I was younger. I would have loved to have been involved in war horse! :( . Oh well, they did a fantastic job! Awesome!
This is cool!
Those guys inside the horse must be very fit. Holding that much weight while working to manipulate the horse would make you fatigued very quickly. And to make it seem so horse-like, they are very talented.
Oh I so wish War Horse would come to the West Coast.
@1989Gez1989 when it reared back and shrieked did your hair stand on end too?
Really, that's ALL you got out of this? A few seconds out of 18 minutes? Wow. Just....wow!!!
It's a REAL pity that this gorgeous creation is not being used in the Spielberg movie.
@harrisontan I don't think Kousaburo means it in a 'No they can never compare to a puppet', I think he/she means that sense of awe and magic that a lot of people get when they see a puppet, such as the ones used in Warhorse, come to life in front of them. It's obvious you can recreate a horse via the use of CGI and rendering, no one questions that, but puppets tend to have a way of capturing an audience in a different way to CGI.
Beautiful creation !! In accordance with the highest standards faultlessly.
They should've made Joey even more realistic and have the tail go up and have drop a load on the stage.
Just so amazing as it is though!!!
I had to watch this for drama and.... that's actually cool not gonna lie.
I love their passion for this art and I hope that they take it to a new level. I was quite disappointed when I saw the two men in the final product. If they could engineer some light electric or mechanical mechanisms to bring the horse to life instead of the two men then I think it would have been amazing. The concept is wonderful without but for it to be perfect, it CAN'T have people.
@badmotorpetey The "Ur-Story" concept you speak of in this sense is probably referring to the overall presentation of the puppet: Being alive. Always making sure the puppet looks alive whether it's moving, breathing, reacting to it's environment etc. I don't think the gentleman was using the appropriate explanation for the word "Ur" because the word usually signifies "earliest, original, primal stage." Hope this helps out a bit.