Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Russia is a
pioneer country in animation, they developed it during czarist times
with own techniques with didactic purposes and to entertain
Imperial Court
as animation on paper rolls of Alexander Sirkayev or stop motion with
dissected insects of Lanislav Starevich
logically we're talking about the last days of the Russian Empire
and the October Revolution also ended their careers
Starevich emigrated to France
The animation was destroyed in Russia
fortunately it wasn't as serious as what happened in China
in the 60s they were the largest animation industry in Asia
but during the cultural revolution
Most animators were sent to labor camps
no animations were made until seven years later
propaganda shorts
and when at last at late seventies socialist system became less hard
and Chinese animation raised again
Japan was the largest animation industry in the world, the China would never
took back its prestige
Russian animation did not return until late 20s and unlike most
animation industries, was not grounded in Disney
it was based on experimentation and the use of artistic techniques
atypical looks
and the search an artistic and philosophical sense, we often see
very dark and thought for a very adult psychology vissuals, so
especially the otakus and Disney princesses, to appreciate these animations
it is not enough to watch them, you have to bebminded of what we are going to see
God! It was all communist apology!
No, wait!, that's true
Communist animation is and brutal
Eh...
Do you mean as a criticism or praise?
Animators developed their art as Ivan Ivanov-Vano
and Nikolay Khodatayev
and they created completely own styles to reach some
government commissions
Soviet animation was born
after building a Steel Cel it was dissociated from the rest of styles
of the animation world
The first feature film was an Hybrid Image "The New Gulliver" of
Alexander Ptushko
it was a pretty childish socialist fable
it was very successful so Ptushko, founded
Soyuzmultfilm Studios joining the three animation studios
existing in the Soviet Union
his plan was to emulate the Disney style
but the Soviet government decreted that the only artistic style
they will encourage was Soviet realism and in animation it meant
Cel Animation use
and the éclair, the Soviet rotoscoping
during the years 30 40 50 60
many animators appeared as Brumberg sisters
Mikhail Tsekhanovsky with The Wild Swans
and certainly Lev Atamanov with
"The Snow Queen"
the Soviet realistic animation masterpiece
Brrr... I find appalling the Hate to West that it shows!
Themes
were often socialist fables, but most were legends
and didactic stories
I like it, I thought it would be Limited animation ***
the style you say
appeared in America in the years 40 created by John Hubley
who had to leave Hollywood because of being of socialist ideology. In 1960
one of his animators, Gene Deitch
tried his luck in Czechoslovakia and there he founded Rembrandt studios
Rembrandt's first assignments were Tom and Jerry shorts
The original Tom and Jerry series closed because of its huge cost,
so Metro goldwyn mayer wanted to rescue them with this
ultra-cheap formula
the American audience didn't liked the Czechoslovakian tom and Jerry, they liked
the precious work of Hanna Barbera, but yes, Eastern Europeans liked it
Rembrandt opted for experiments in limited animation and won
prestige, they were nominated to four Oscars for best animated short
and won one in 1960 with Munro
a fable about a fouryears boy mistakenly recruited in the army
- Stop mourn like a little kid!
- Obviously
- As crying
Munro looked different - I order that this is a little boy
But in Czechoslovakia the most successful animation style was the stop motion
with authors such as Jiri Trinka, Karel Zeman and Stanislav Látal
the most famous was Jan ŠSvankmajer
his surrealistic style was so complex that the communist authorities
didn't knew whether it was or not social criticism, so they banned him
in 1972 and he didn't return until late 80s
but back to limited animation, where it was more successfulwas in Yugoslavia
inspired by Rembrandt Zagreb film created a style of
limited animation and they made more than 600 short
they were the first non-Americans to win the Best Short Film Oscar
in animation, in 1962 with Ersatz
Vukotić Dušan's
as being the first studio of Eastern Europe to bedistributed in the West
this caused the association between limited animation
and Soviet animation
What?
Russians did not do these nasty style?
Eh... yes, they made it.
As the Soviet regime turned to give to the filmmaker more creative freedom,
Aleksandr Ptushkotried to adapt the Zagreb style
History of a Crime
And because of this success Russian animators chose experimentations
cutting edge, like Nosyrev Leonid ,
Valery Ugarov
Eduard Nazarov
Ivan Ufimcev...
Although sometimes they were confronted with censorship like
Khrzhanovskiy Andreiy
who saw his short "The Glass Harmonica" cut.
But they didn't only worked with limited animation, Anatoly Petrov
is known for a photorealistic animation system that he invented
and also produced many animations in stop motion, as the works of
Vadim Kurchevskiy,
Nikolay Serebryakov and Roman Kachanov
Kachanov created Cheburaska animation series
that became the mascot of Soyuzmultfilm
But yes, definitely .. .
Limited animation was very popular in the Soviet Union
Look, look,
I'll show you the archetype of Soviet animation.
Okay,
yes!, now you deserve it!
Soviet Union is willing to offer asylum to this ship
- USSR? Hadn't they splited? - That's what we wanted to make
you think!
Death to capitalism! Grrr!