Shanky’s Whip

OVERVIEW

For Shanky's Whip, we built a fully articulated, life-sized ostrich puppet from scratch designed to move and hold pose exactly like the real thing.

The armature was engineered so every limb and the head/neck could be posed and locked into position, letting us treat the bird less like a static prop and more like a performer that could be directed shot by shot. The face carries the same level of articulation, giving it a genuine range of expression rather than a fixed sculpted look.

The wings were built to fully expand and were finished in real ostrich feathers, so the texture, weight and movement read as authentic on camera rather than approximated. It's the kind of detail that only holds up under close-up scrutiny when it's built right full-scale, fully practical, and built to survive repeated handling across a shoot.

Client: Shanky’s Whip

Production Company:

Director:

Style: Large scale animatable realistic animal prop