Strings/Puppetering?

[Ki-Ki]

I'm shooting a relativly short horror film this fall on a windy island. It's basically about a Grim Reaper sort of character that we hope will look incredibly..realistic for what it is. It's looking to be about 7ft - 8ft tall that can hover or fly slightly. But the only way I can think of getting this done is with some sort of Puppetering or as in the movies you see it done with invisible strings.

Has anyone ever done anything similar and have any advice to pass on. It's very hard to stand ontop of a 50ft high island in tall winds, 8ft up puppetering or moving around a 7ft grim reaper. Or so I'm guessing it would be, any suggestions? Anything is appreciated. =]

 

[clang]

since you'll need to be removing strings from footage anyway, you should be talking to special effects people about the whole greenscreening technique - with proper planning, you may be able to use a more manageable sized puppet (or person in costume) shot in a studio then composited onto island footage and made to look bigger.

But how practical it all is will depend on how complicated your shots are - if Mr Reaper is just flying around, that's relatively easy, but if he's scything off people's heads and otherwise interacting with actors and objects, it could be a lot harder

 

[Knoxworth]

Could film on location and just track the shot as best you can. I think a green screen floaty effect probably compromises his vision for chasing people around etc.