Indie director Doug Cook pulls the strings in Bow Valley College's virtual volume wall Over two shoot days Cook shot a short teaser for a Gothic folktale played out through marionettes and practical effects in a world made much larger by the capabilities of the virtual set.

Part of developing The Smolderkin is discovering what these characters will look and feel like before we eventually bring them to the screen.

Building the world of The Smolderkin means creating as much in-camera as possible. For the teaser, I built a circular fire pit at the centre of the ceremonial standing stones.

An important part of developing The Smolderkin has been discovering how traditional marionette puppetry, handcrafted practical sets and modern virtual production can work together to create a single cinematic world.

For this one, I hand-shaped the title from styrofoam, painted and weathered it, then experimented with lighting, smoke and practical effects.

The Smolderkin teaser represents an important milestone in the development of the feature film.

One of the things I've enjoyed most about developing The Smolderkin has been jumping between so many different creative disciplines. One day it's puppet building, the next it's production design, cinematography, writing or virtual production.

Using Unreal Engine, we built a virtual environment for an upcoming proof-of-concept shoot.

One of the things I've enjoyed most while developing The Smolderkin is bringing these prototype puppets from an idea in my mind to the camera.

This scene, filmed against a simple black backdrop, was designed to explore the tone, atmosphere, and performance.

These early prototype puppets have been an opportunity to experiment with scale, movement, materials, and personality.