A monitor inside the puppet shows a general shot of Jabba that helped the puppeteers operate, although they could not tell where the frame of the shot was from the image; the team depended on feedback amongst themselves, and their training under Jim Henson gave them experience in coordinating to create a single creature. Philpott and Barclay would go inside the puppet early in the day and remain there for almost the entire nine-and-a-half hours of filming each day, so much so that other cast and crew members did not know who they were during breaks. The two would only occasionally leave the suit to discuss Jabba-related business, but preferred to remain in character within the suit. Philpott and Barclay employed an approach by Jim Henson in which they took direction while in character; director Richard Marquand agreed to give Jabba direction as if the character was the actor, and they talked back to the director as if the puppet itself were a live performer. It took about three weeks to film the Jabba's Palace scenes, and an additional week to film the Sail Barge scenes; Philpott and the puppeters said they experienced few problems operating Jabba due to the effective design work of Phil Tippett, Stuart Freeborn and John Coppinger. Philpott's previous experience with "The Dark Crystal" helped prepare Philpott for the role of Jabba, although as a result, he later said he wasn't as "overawed" by the experience as he might have been. Nevertheless, he described the experience as "great fun" and said he enjoyed being the center of attention among the many other puppets and live actors in Jabba's Palace. During the scene when Princess Leia is presented to Jabba after freeing Han Solo from the carbonite, Marquand told Philpott to try to get Jabba to really lick the side of Carrie Fisher's face in order to create a genuine disgusted reaction. Philpott resisted at first since the tongue, which was covered in K-Y Jelly, was difficult to control, but Marquand convinced him to do it. During the scene in which he made the attempt, Philpott accidentally stuck the tongue into Fisher's ear, which caused a commotion on the set, although Philpott was unaware of what had happened until he emerged from the costume. The brief scene in which Jabba eats the frogs took several takes to get correctly since it was difficult for Philpott to reach Jabba's mouth with the left arm; the filmmakers originally tried to use an actual frog but it kept escaping and hopping around the set.