martin jago
animatronics puppets SFX
Creation of the exploding geisha heads for practical VFX element replacement shots in the Ghost in the Shell live-action movie.
Fabrication of VFX replacement horse riding rigs for Disney's live-action movie, Mulan.
From a stage show in development
Mechanic build and electronics for the life sized polar bear used to promote the Sky Atlanic tv series "Fortitude"
Animatronics and additional on set puppeteering for Asylum Models on the Tales of The Riverbank movie.
Animatronic 'Mole" head for Ray Grigg's production of "Wind in the Willows" currently in development.
Part of the animatronics and stilt development crew for the Professor Lupin werewolf transformation in Harry Potter 3.
Design & constructed of the mechanical elements of 'The Bombe' decoding machine with DB Props for the Alan Turing biopic "The Imitation Game".
Rebecca Negan operates animatronic Vogon arm on set of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Mechanical head build and electronics supervision for animatronic black bear used for the BBC tv period drama "Our Zoo"
Design and build for the mechanical elements of the elephant and tiger characters for the Chichester Festival production of "Running Wild"; Revived at The Open Air Theatre, Regents Park in May 2016.
Collapsing mechanical rig for Westray's decapitation on a London street in Ridley Scott's movie The Counselor.
Latest Update: June 2023
Currently based in Wellington, New Zealand where I have been working on a number of practical Special Effects, Creature and Puppet projects since 2007 for the teams at Weta Workshop, NZFX and DCFX including: The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey, Ghost in the Shell, Disney's live-action Mulan, Amazon TV’s The Rings of Power and more recently, the forthcoming reimagining of Time Bandits for Paramount / Apple TV.
2022 saw me back with the Weta Workshop crew for the first time since Peter Jackson’s initial Hobbit movie, developing a series of fun, creative, interactive pieces with their new Live Entertainment Events division for an exciting new exhibition in China. In addition to this I had the opportunity to assist in the completion of some larger scale animatronics and create a mechanical puppet for Dune: Part 2, to be released in November. The year came to an end overseeing the ‘stickies’ elements within Clint Ingram’s SFX team on Kiah Roache-Turner’s forthcoming spider-horror movie Sting, in Sydney.
2023 has already brought further collaborations with Weta Workshop on more large scale international alien franchises, along with independently designing/building more earth bound puppets for stages much closer to home.
It has also been an opportunity to continue to develop my own writing on the New Zealand inspired puppet television series, Flightless Mammals, a personal project since arriving in the country almost 15 years ago - with hopefully more content, characters and more to report later in the year.
After over a decade as New Zealand permanent resident I finally became a dual NZ-UK citizen in March '23.