While I enjoyed the movie A Bug's Life, I didn't want to do cute, anthropomorphic, talking bugs. I imagined puppets that would crawl around and interact with their environment in much the same way that real insects do. I needed to do some research.

Erin Sullivan, entomologist and bug keeper at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, was kind enough to consult with me on the design of the puppets during the early stages of production, and allow me access to the zoo's "Bug World" in order to observe real bugs in action. (The term "bugs" is used loosely, to include insects, spiders, or any other creepy-crawly things.)

One of the first things we talked about was how the ants in A Bug's Life have four legs, instead of six. Like most of the computer generated insects I've seen in movies recently, this seems to be a concession made in order to simplify the animation process. Puppet and cartoon hands are often made with only three fingers, but I felt that leaving off a whole pair of legs would eliminate the fundamental structure of the insecta class.

What style of puppetry would best depict six or even eight-legged creatures? A lot of puppetry styles avoid showing legs altogether, or simply let them dangle behind the playboard. Marionettes are capable of being strung with multiple limbs, but I felt that the strings would be too noticeable in proportion to an insect's thin extremities. How else could I give a range of motion to so many legs, not to mention antennae and mandibles? Reading about an insect's exoskeleton led me the think in terms of lightweight, rigid materials.

I experimented with heavy gauge aluminum wire, bending pairs of legs from single pieces of wire, and holding them together at the body with plastic zip ties. I eventually came up with a design using four pieces of wire to create six legs and two antennae. The piece of wire which formed the back left leg would also be one of the right front legs. By manipulating the back four legs, the front two legs and antennae would move in tandem. I didn't have knee joints and the full range of motion that real bugs do, but the overall effect of the articulated wire skeleton was surprisingly convincing. Erin agreed, and was happy to see the appropriate number of appendages.

I had figured out the basic design of the puppets, but I was still designing the set in my head. Watching the insect dioramas at the zoo gave me the idea for a table top style stage. The wire skeleton puppets were lightweight and could even be posed in standing positions on a fabric covered surface. The 9' x 2' playboard grounded the puppets and gave them a solid connection to their environment.

After showing me how a scorpion glows under black light, (its true!) Erin told me that many species of insects see only in the ultra-violet spectrum. It seemed only appropriate to design the show in blacklight, using the bright fluorescent colors to give the whole production an exotic look. At this point, the decision was made to depart from the realistic depiction of actual insect species. Instead of a cast of characters in muddled browns, blacks and grays, the fluorescent spectrum allowed me to combine colors and create new looks for the various types of insects.

Since the show wasn't going to have any dialogue, music and sound would provide much of the story structure. Working with Pete Remine of the Toucans, I recorded a variety of short musical vignettes, using steel drums, synthesizers, bass clarinet, and a variety of percussion instruments. Each of these vignettes corresponded to a certain insect character and type of action. These sections were sequenced together on a multitrack tape deck, and overlaid with an environmental recording of crickets, frogs, and other critters. These sounds from nature added a nice ambient touch to the musical soundtrack.

My partner Margaret and I rehearsed to the taped soundtrack, adapting the different types of insect movements we had seen to work with our puppets. Erin kept us on the right track, making sure we knew how a dung beetle rolls its ball (backwards, pushing with his hind legs), and how a spider spins her web (from the inside out)

The Secret Life of Bugs was presented at the Woodland Park Zoo on October 23,1999. Many of the kids from the zoo's Bug Club attended, and correctly identified the different types of insects throughout the show. The cast currently includes: ant, butterfly, caterpillar, dragonfly, dung beetle, mosquito, moth, and stag beetle. Currently in the planning stages are a praying mantis (manits religiosa) and a walking stick (megaphasma dentricus). Since the music was composed in discreet sections, I am able to rearrange the sequence of scenes and add or remove new ones as I create them.

With over 800,000 known species of insects, I don't think I'll have to worry about

Originally Published in VOL 51, NO 3 SPRING 2000
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