Morehead Planetarium stars new puppet show 'The Longest Night'

The Morehead Planetarium is known for productions that take viewers to the stars.

But this season it will take audiences on a journey to a new world.

“The Longest Night: A Winter’s Tale” — a collaboration between the planetarium and the Paperhand Puppet Intervention — runs through Feb. 24.

The 26-minute film is a fable about a young girl who travels with her family of nomadic storytellers. On their tour of the countryside they explore the concept of winter and the idea that it’s a time for rest, while spring is a time for growth.

The collaboration includes fanciful, original music, imaginative storytelling and computer-generated imagery comparable to that of Pixar.

“If you see a movie and you’re watching this other world, this is more like you’re in this other world,” said Jay Heinz, Morehead’s digital production manager.

Peter Althoff, the planetarium’s digital artist, said the 68-foot, 360-degree dome fills viewers’ peripheral vision, ensuring that they are immersed in a world they have never seen before.

The planetarium design team filmed Paperhand puppets on a green screen and synthesized the video with CGI.

One puppet — a dragon that requires 15 people to operate — is a principal character in the film.
Donovan Zimmerman, Paperhand’s artistic director, designed the dragon’s head with an open jaw and light-up eyes. But the Morehead team built the body digitally.

“They basically tried to mimic puppeteering with animation,” he said. “And it was beautiful to see what they did.”

Heinz described the process as two days of video shooting and 10 months of CGI work.

Paperhand provided the planetarium with hand-drawn images of houses, stone walls and trees.

Morehead designers used these illustrations to create a 3-D environment and provide a backdrop for “The Longest Night.”

Although this is Paperhand’s first foray into film and CGI, Zimmerman said the production preserves Paperhand’s traditional use of masks, puppets, stilts and shadows.

“It was important to highlight all the different styles of puppetry,” he said. “And to tell a story that appeals to the human heart and make it be as universally appealing as possible.”

The collaboration between Morehead and Paperhand has allowed the planetarium to experiment with science and technology through storytelling.

“I think it was fun to work with them because we have to do a lot of science that is completely accurate,” Heinz said. “And this one was all just creative.”

Contact the desk editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.