Getting to Know Jenny Simmons, creator of the 15ft Elf
Posted on: 05 Dec 2023Last week, the city watched on as Redcliffe and Temple BID unveiled a new festive visitor to the city - a 4m-tall giant Elf on the Shelf known as Isembard Kingdom Brunelf - or just Brunelf for short. Set to pop up around the city in a host of secret locations, enterprising citizens can keep an eye on the R&T BID's social media for clues as to where to find the cheeky creature. As Brunelf appeared in his first locale, we spoke with Jenny Simmons, the puppeteer responsible for the eye-raisingly enormous elf.
Can you give us a quick introduction to yourself, and the project we’re here to see?
My name’s Jenny Simmons, and I was the maker for this project. The project we’re here for is a giant Elf on the Shelf, a giant 4-metre tall elf, and he’s going to move around different places in the city, spreading Christmas cheer – so people can go around the city and try to find him.
One of your trades is puppeteering – what lessons have you taken from puppets to give the Elf a sense of life?
It’s about where you position the joints, and the movement that it does have. Because it’s being moved to different locations, and it’s going to be doing different things in the locations in different positions, it means that it’s a puppet in the way that it can move and be in different positions rather than a static object.
So, it’s got shoulder, hip, knee and elbow joints – the head doesn’t move, but it moves like a mini elf would move.
A regular sized elf, you mean?
Yeah, a regular sized elf!
How long did it take you to make?
It took about three weeks of making – there was a bit more design time before that – and I had a little team, so a few different people coming in to help me with stuff. So, I’d say...if you put everyone’s working time together end-to-end, probably like 5 or 6 weeks.
Could you tell us a bit about your other work?
Yeah! I’ve done all sorts – I love making stuff, so I’ve done lots of theatre, film and events. Napoleon, that’s just come out, I worked on the breakdown for the horse blankets, making them look dirty and old. For Damsel, which is on Netflix soon I think, I was on the scenic construction team that made the caves – so they’re all polystyrene, they’re not real!
Then I’ve done theatre stuff – panto costumes are always really fun, and weird – and I’ve painted the signs for Oldtown at Boomtown this year. So, all sorts of different things, I just love making stuff – colourful things if I can.
If you were Mayor of Bristol for the day, what would you do?
Oh, it would be really cool if you could swim in the harbour! But that’s more than a day’s worth of work…
That’s within the scope!
Okay – then that would be really cool, a nice summer thing. I definitely feel like there’s something else that’s on the tip of my brain but I can’t remember. So I think that’s a good one. Imagine it in the summer, you could just hang out on the little bits and swim around. That would be lovely.
Thanks Jenny! Have a merry Christmas!
You can follow Brunelf's adventures and look out for where he'll pop up next by keeping up to date with Redcliffe & Temple BID on their Facebook, Instagram & website. To follow Jenny's work, follow her on Instagram.
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Patrick is a filmmaker with so much Bristol in his blood the white blood cells are graffiti'd. Educated at the Northern Film School in Leeds, he’s returned home to be a Videographer and Reviewer for 365Bristol and BARBI. When he’s not messing about with cameras, he enjoys playing guitar, spending far too much time on tabletop RPGs, and being an awful snob about cider. Have a look at his work here, or get in touch at patrickb@365bristol.com.
