4th Year Major Project 2026

My original aim for my major project for fourth year of Design for Film was to make a marionette-style puppet of an animal figure, after learning how to make a humanoid marionette-style puppet while on Erasmus. I decided on a dragon. I also wanted to do some level of miniature work, but not to the extent of exact proportions being needed, which is how I came to the concept of a fifteenth century puppet show. The final project was the creation of a 15th century mystery/ morality/ miracle play-inspired travelling puppet theatre set, along with a dragon puppet as an allegorical character for the Devil. It is puppeteered by a group of travelling members of the 15th century carpenters' guild. A few-second clip in a market square shows the puppet theatre being used to entertain children. the play that is being portrayed is a Christian version of King Arthur and the Sword in the Stone, with the kingdom of Camelot being the setting.

The Process

A big part of this project to ensure a successful finish was the research put into the time period I wanted to portray. I began to research Camelot and the period it was set in (late 5th to early 6th century). I went back and forth on what time period to set the travelling puppet theatre in. I looked at the 2008 TV show Merlin for inspiration as well. i found during my research that the sword in the stone is often depicted in a churchyard due to Christian influence. 

I also came upon the history of mystery, morality and miracle plays during my research. Morality plays teach lessons through allegorical characters and settings. They were from the 14th to the 16th century and featured personified concepts alongside angels and demons, engaged in a struggle to persuade a generic human protagonist toward good/ evil. Miracle plays were performed in open spaces during the 15th century. Mystery plays were founded on Biblical stories, and were performed on wagons, and in small town guilds as a result of a ban by Pope Innocent II. Mystery plays also neglected three unities- time, place, and action- and, therefore, could represent any location or time, ad would not be tied down by each story. They could pose two different time periods/ locations together that are not cohesive. Also, rather than simply presenting fictional plays, the mystery plays depicted what medieval people recognized as historical and religious truths. 

Puppets assisted in bringing religious teachings alive within the Church during the Middle Ages (476-1520). Before the Theatres Act 1843 abolished the monopoly of the patent houses, marionettes were associated with lesser entertainments of a nondramatic nature. The 15th century in England saw the beginnings of marionette use. 

There were guilds for each specific craftsmanship in the 15th century, with each guild being responsible for producing and performing one or more scenes for plays. The last of the original guilds in England dissolved in 1847. For carpenters. the 15th century saw significant advancements in joinery (mortise and tenon), leading to more complex furniture like the frame-and-panel system. 

Armed with this research, I made my final designs for the theatre set, along with two backdrops and a dragon puppet. I did up some technical drawings for measurements for a metre cubed-sized set and 30cm puppet, and also did Autocad drawings for everything. I ended up using the Autocad drawings for lasercutting the fire effects as well as the tree line for shadow puppetry, and some 2-dimensional trees for the set. I then made a foam, card and lasercut prototype of the puppet, as well as a scaled down card prototype of the set. 

For the puppet creation, I sourced base blocks of wood from IADT's workshop. I cut them into rough shapes using the band saw, and sanded them to shape. I then drilled holes into each block for the attaching rope, as well as drilling holes into the head base block. I then bent wire into shape, hot glued it to the base block, and filled it with tinfoil. Finally, I wrapped each tinfoil section of the head with thinner wire to secure it.  I then used FreeForm SCULPT Epoxy Putty to cover the base blocks with a first layer and then I sculpted out a carved wood effect with a second layer. I used 6mm sisal rope to attach each body part. I then painted each layer to build up the colour, then varnished over it and drybrushed gold over the top. I also cut a piece of wood for the handle controller, and torched, wirebrushed and varnished it, as well as drilling holes for the head and tail end ropes. I then used more epoxy putty to stick the rope onto each attaching point on the dragon, head, wings and tail. 

For the theatre set, I got my dad to help me cut out the separate pieces to my measurements, and to show me how to do mortise and tenon joints, as he is a carpenter for 40 years. I marked off where to chisel on each pillar and base board, using a mortise gage. I then chiselled the mortises into the pillars and the tenons into the boards. For two of the pillars, I sawed the edge off from the bottom as they weren't going to be attached. The base boards and pillars are easily detachable. I used the band saw to cut the pillar tops out, keeping the wood long until the end. The back two needed to be bigger to cover two pillars, for the backdrop. I used the mortise gage to cut out the shapes for the crosses, glueing two pieces of wood together. I also used dowls glued into the pillars to attach the pillar tops. The crosses were stuck onto the pillar tops as they did not need to be removed for deconstruction​. I created dovetail joints with my dads help, sawing with a Japanese saw that cuts on the pull to cut out the end of the crenellation and using a dovetail drill bit for the pillars. I also cut out the shape of the crenellations using the mortise gage and the bandsaw.  I cut out the backdrop and back top, as well as two supporting pieces of wood to be attached to either back pillar. I aged the wood by using a grinder to add texture, then blowtorching each piece and then wire brushing. I added a 'wood carving' to the front that is a mix of a cross and a 15th century carpenters' guild logo, using epoxy putty, painted. I also made dowls to hold the structure together and varnished them to make them authentic looking. I also made the flag from fabric and stuck it onto the back  

I cut out three wooden trees on the bandsaw and make them look chiseled using my multitool. I then molded one of them and cast others from resin and painted them all to look wood-carved. I also laser-cut a few more and painted them, to be stuck onto the floorboard in front of the backdrop. I laser-cut fire effects and covered them in epoxy putty, and then painted and varnished them to look wooden. I framed the two backdrops, one on each side of the board, by sticking fabric on, and then I used epoxy putty to make the crosses on each end of the frame, on both sides. I then painted the two backdrops, one a churchyard and the other a castle and kingdom. I fully varnished the set and tested what it looked like with everything. As the puppet show was looking a little less made for children and colourful, I made bunting using more sisal rope and fabric to hang around it, and painted on the front pillars and crenellation. Finally, I made a wooden frame and stapled the sheet that I used to varnish the set to create the shadow puppetry. 

Process Galleries

Research Process

Puppet Creation Process

Theatre Creation Process

Detailing Process

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