Traditionally, on Saturdays, we publish for you the answers to the quiz in the “Question - Answer” format. We have a variety of questions, both simple and quite complex. The quiz is very interesting and quite popular, we are simply helping you test your knowledge and make sure that you have chosen the correct answer out of the four proposed. And we have another question in the quiz - Based on which Krylov fable, Vladislav Starevich made one of the first domestic cartoons in 1913.
- A. “Quartet”
- B. “The Crow and the Fox”
- C. “The Cat and the Cook”
- D. “Dragonfly and Ant”
The correct answer is D. Dragonfly and ant
Yes, yes, don't be surprised! It was in 1913 that the Khanzhonkov Joint Stock Company made a cartoon based on Krylov’s immortal creation and duplicated it on different languages and was successfully shown throughout Europe))) Everything is as it should be: a silent black and white film, the music of a pianist behind the scenes...
“Did you know that this fable actually refers to an ant and a grasshopper? Yes, yes, a grasshopper, or as it is also called, a filly. The fact is that in the spoken language of the XVIII - early XIX centuries, the word dragonfly served as a general name for various insects: this was the name of both the grasshopper and the dragonfly... It is interesting that in vintage illustrations For this fable you can find images of a grasshopper.”
Animator Vladislav Starevich
Vladislav Starevich was born in 1882 in the city of Vilna (modern Vilnius) into a family of Lithuanian Poles.
Since childhood, Vladislav has been interested in studying insects and photography.
After graduating from high school, he served as an official.
In 1910, Starevich decided to film documentary about horned stag beetles and their battles for the mate. However, with the lighting required for filming, the males, alas, stopped fighting. Then Starevich made dummies from the shells of the stags and filmed the scenes frame by frame. As a result, the world's first puppet was created. animated film entitled “Beautiful Lucanida, or the Fight of Horned Beetles with Longhorned Beetles” (“Lucanus Cervus” – translated from Latin means “stag beetle”). The film had a pseudo-romantic plot about the love of a longhorn beetle for the queen of horned beetles, the beautiful Lyukanida, and the jealousy of her stupid and rude husband, the king. The libretto for this supposedly romantic plot, voiced over the video by the distributors, was done with great humor.
Khanzhonkov recalled:
“His first production, made according to his own script, was a 230-meter-long picture called “Beautiful Lucanida” or “War of the Horned Men with the Barbels,” released in March (in the new style in April) 1912.
The picture made everyone who saw it not only admire it, but also think about the ways it was staged, since all the roles in it were played by beetles. This was the first example of volumetric animation, which was then unknown either here in Russia or abroad. It was not drawings that were taken, but miniature figures - artificial beetles, made with delightful verisimilitude. For each frame, the beetles had to be given a special position, and sometimes even an expression.”
The film was a great success among Russian and foreign viewers until the mid-20s. The stop-motion technique of puppet animation was completely unknown at that time, so many reviews expressed amazement at how such incredible things could be achieved by training insects.
Thus, the London newspaper Evening News wrote about the film: “How was all this done? No one who saw the picture could explain it. If the beetles are trained, then their trainer had to be a person of magical imagination and patience. That the characters are beetles is clearly visible upon careful examination of their appearance. Be that as it may, we stand face to face with an amazing phenomenon of our century ... "
Soviet animation is exactly that part popular culture, which the USSR could rightfully be proud of.
The history of domestic animation began in St. Petersburg, at the beginning of the 20th century, when in 1908 the choreographer had his first “experience” Mariinsky Theater Mr. Shiryaev. His puppet cartoons are still a mystery to art critics; the figures against the background of motionless scenery not only move, but also jump.
The world-famous biologist Viktor Starevich has long been considered a pioneer of Russian animation. In 1912-1913, he made a series of puppet cartoons “featuring” insects. His most famous cartoon is “Beautiful Lyukanida, or the War of the Barbels and the Horned Horns.” After the revolution, Starevich left the country, and animation in the USSR found its use only in the early 20s in propaganda cartoon videos.
The first hand-drawn Soviet animation appeared in the mid-20s. And by the end of the 20s - early 30s, graphic artists at the Kultkino studio were producing the most memorable Soviet animated films that period. The works of animators Ivanov-Vano “Rink” (1927) and Khodateev “Organchik” (1933) are the first serious sources Soviet animation.
Of course, director Alexander Ptushko is considered a recognized master artist standing at the origins of Soviet animation. He gained worldwide fame in 1935 after filming the first full-length cartoon in the USSR, “The New Gulliver,” which successfully combined animation and feature films. Soon Ptushko headed the first Soviet animation studio, Soyuzdetmultfilm. Even when he devoted himself entirely to cinematography, he used animation in films for special effects.
In the 40s and 50s, during the heyday of socialist realism in the USSR, truly masterpieces of hand-drawn animation were produced at Soviet studios. All the cartoons were so realistic that little viewers perceived them as “children's movies.” Soviet animation of that time is not just beautiful, it is highly moral and carries enormous educational power. “Cat House”, “The Ugly Duckling”, “Kashtanka”, “Naughty Kitten”, “Moidodyr”, “ Scarlet flower», « Snow Queen“- all new generations of children enjoy watching these cartoons, which are in no way inferior to the products of the Disney film studio.
During the thaw period from the mid-50s, Soviet animators devoted themselves to experiments in full. There is a lot of avant-garde, symbolic secular animation coming out. Most famous cartoon, made in a similar manner - “Cloud in Love” (1959), animators Karanovic and Kachanov.
At that time, hand-drawn animation was mixed with cut-out animation in combination with puppet animation. And I must say that this range of technology is somewhat difficult for children to perceive.
In the 60s, the famous Soviet cartoon “Mitten” by Roman Kachanov was released. A puppet cartoon in which a knitted mitten turns into a real puppy, thanks to the love of a little girl, could not leave either children or adults indifferent.
And in 1967, Kachanov made a puppet cartoon about Gena the Crocodile, which literally “exploded” with popularity among the Soviet children’s audience and continues its victorious march to this day. Children of our time love Crocodile Gena and Cheburashka just as much as they did almost 50 years ago.
One of the most outstanding animators Soviet period Fyodor Khitruk is recognized. He worked in different genres and styles, produced cartoons for children and adults and gave many generations of children the inimitable Winnie the Pooh, whose image eclipsed all foreign analogues with its character.
In Soviet animation, the most significant figure is still the artist Yuri Norshtein. His cartoons “Hedgehog in the Fog” (1975) and “The Overcoat” (1981 to this day) are the gold fund of world animation.
And, of course, to this day in domestic animation, having eclipsed all records of popularity in terms of views and circulation, the first place is occupied by the animated series “Well, wait a minute!” (60s-80s), the result of the creative union of animator V. Kotenochkin and screenwriters A. Khait and A. Kurlyandsky.
A huge part of the success of Soviet animation is the merit of famous Soviet actors. In the voices of Yanina Zheimo, Andrey Mironov, Anatoly Papanov, Vasily Livanov, Oleg Tabakov, Evgeny Leonov, Alisa Freindlikh, Oleg Anofriev, Alexander Kalyagin, Vladimir Vysotsky, Gennady Khazanov, Klara Rumyanova, Olga Arosyeva, Mikhail Kazakov, Vyacheslav Nevinny, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan and others meters of Russian cinema, the most notable characters of Soviet animation are voiced.
Victoria Maltseva
Well, who doesn't love cartoons? Now the industry has developed to such an extent that cartoons have such special effects and graphics that it is sometimes difficult to remember old “flat” films with poor quality drawing, without all kinds of effects, such as 3D. Modern children will never understand what a cartoon with plasticine characters about a crow with cheese means, what simple short cartoons with faded colors and slightly muffled voices of the characters, and there’s nothing to say about filmstrips!
The history of animation is another stage in the development of cinema, because from the very beginning, cartoons were considered a separate film genre. This happened despite the fact that cartoons have less in common with cinema than with painting.
We owe our cartoons to Joseph Plato
Like any other history, the history of animation and animation has had its ups and downs, shifts and long stagnations. However, what makes it interesting is that the production of cartoons has developed almost constantly and continues to do so to this day. The history of the origin of animation is connected with the estate of the Belgian scientist Joseph Plateau. He is famous for creating a toy called the strobe light in 1832. It is unlikely that our children would play with such a toy. modern world, but the children of the 19th century liked such entertainment. A drawing was applied to a flat disk, for example, a running horse (as was the case with Plateau), and the next one was slightly different from the previous one, that is, the drawings depicted the sequence of actions of the animal during a gallop. When the disk spun, it gave the impression of a moving picture.
First cartoonist
But no matter how hard Joseph Plato tried to improve his setup, he failed to create a full-fledged cartoon. He gave way to the Frenchman Emile Raynaud, who created a similar device called a praxinoscope, which consisted of a cylinder with the same step by step drawings like in a strobe light.
This is how the history of animation began. Already at the end of the 17th century, the Frenchman founded a small optical theater, where he showed comic performances 15 minutes long to everyone. Over time, the installation changed, a system of mirrors and lighting were added, which, naturally, brought the world closer to such a magical action as a cartoon.
Animation continued to develop in France for the first decades of its life, along with theater and cinema. Emil Kohl was famous for his excellent acting performances, but still animation captivated him more, and in 1908 he “drew” his first cartoon. To achieve realism, Kohl used photographs and copied objects from life, but still his brainchild looked more like a comic book in motion than a film.
Theater choreographer - founder of animation in Russia
As for Russian figures in the field of animation, they took cartoons to a new level, now there were dolls in the role of heroes. Thus, in 1906, the first domestic cartoon was created, with which the history of animation in Russia began. choreographer of the Mariinsky Theater, edited the cartoon, actors which became 12 dancing dolls.
The short film, recorded on 1.5 cm wide film, turned out to be too labor-intensive. For three months, Alexander ran from the camera to the production itself so often that he even rubbed a hole in the floor. Shiryaev’s dolls don’t just move above the surface like ghosts, they jump, spin in the air, and perform incredible movements, as if they were alive. Famous historians and animators still cannot unravel the secret of such activity of the characters. Whatever you say, the history of Russian animation is a complex and serious matter, so even the most advanced specialists do not always manage to fully understand the principles of operation of a particular device.
Vladislav Starevich - a bright “character” of Russian animation
The history of the creation of animation is associated with the names of French scientists and directors. Vladislav Starevich was definitely " white crow"among these foreigners, because in 1912 he came up with a real 3D cartoon! No, the history of Russian animation had not yet reached the point when people thought of putting on special glasses, this man created a long-lasting puppet cartoon. It was black and white, strange and even scary, because make beautiful characters with my own hands it was a little difficult.
This cartoon was called “Beautiful Lyukanida, or the War of Horns and Longhorns.” The most interesting thing is that Vladislav Starevich used insects in his work, which was not accidental, because he loved these creatures very much. It was with this man that meaningful cartoons began, because Starevich believed that a film should not only entertain, but also have some kind of subtext. And in general, his films were conceived as some kind of teaching aids on biology about insects; the animator himself did not imagine that he would create a real work of art.
Starevich did not stop at “Lyukanid” alone; later he created cartoons based on fables, now they began to resemble some kind of fairy tales.
The history of Soviet animation began in 1924, when at the currently unpopular Kultkino studio, a few artists produced huge amount hand drawn cartoons. Among them were “German affairs and affairs”, “ Soviet toys", "An Incident in Tokyo" and others. The speed of creating one cartoon has increased significantly; if previously animators spent months working on one project, now the period has been reduced to 3 weeks (in rare cases more). This was done thanks to a breakthrough in technology. Artists already had flat templates that saved time and made the process of creating a cartoon less labor-intensive. The animation of that time gave the world a huge number of cartoons that are of great importance not only in Russia, but throughout the world.
Alexander Ptushko
This person also contributed to the development of our animation. He is an architect by training and also worked in the field of mechanical engineering. But when he got to Mosfilm, he realized that creating puppet cartoons was his calling. There he was able to put his architectural skills to use, and also helped create a good technical base at the most famous film studio in Russia.
He became especially famous after creating the cartoon "The New Gulliver" in 1935. No, this is not a superposition of text on the plot, this is some kind of reshaping of “Gulliver’s Travels” in the style of the USSR. And what is most important and new in Ptushko’s activities is that he was able to combine two completely different directions in the film industry: cartoon and acting. Now the emotions of dolls, mass participation, activity appear in cartoons, and the work done by the master becomes obvious. The history of animation for children with kind and beautiful characters begins with Ptushko.
Soon he becomes director new studio cartoons "Soyuzdetmultfilm", but for some reason leaves his post after some time, then all that is known about his cartoon activities is that it ended. Alexander decided to devote himself to films. But in his further film works he used the “tricks” of animation.
Walt Disney and his "donation"
It turns out that the history of animation in Russia was built and pieced together not only by Russian researchers, scientists and just cartoon lovers; Walt Disney himself presented the Moscow Film Festival with a whole reel of high-quality film with everyone’s favorite cartoon about good old Mickey Mouse. Our domestic director was so impressed by the smooth and imperceptible change of frames and the quality of the drawing that he realized that we wanted the same! However, in Russia so far there have only been puppet shows with, to put it mildly, unpresentable toys. In connection with the desire for improvement, a studio was created, known to all Soviet and post-Soviet children - Soyuzmultfilm.
"Soyuzmultfilm" - nostalgia corporation
In 1935, our animators realized that it was time to change something in the life of hand-drawn pictures, it was time to throw out these old dolls and start doing serious things. The unification of several small studios scattered throughout the country began to create larger-scale works; many critics argue that the history of animation begins from this moment in our country. The studio's first works were rather boring, as they were devoted to the development of progress in Europe, but by 1940 specialists from Leningrad had moved to the Moscow Union. However, even after this, nothing good happened, since the war began, all organizations had a clear goal - to raise the patriotic spirit of the people.
The post-war period saw a sharp rise in the level of cartoon production. The viewer saw not the usual change of pictures and not the usual dolls, but realistic characters and interesting plots. All this was achieved through the use of new equipment, already tested by American comrade Walt Disney and his studio. For example, in 1952, engineers created exactly the same camera as at the Disney studio. New methods of shooting were created (the effect of three-dimensional images) and the old ones were brought to automaticity. At this moment, cartoons take on their new shell; instead of meaningless children's “movies,” educational works with some kind of subtext appear. In addition to short films, full-length cartoons are produced, such as “The Snow Queen”. In general, the history of animation in Russia begins with the creation of Soyuzmultfilm. For children in those days, even small changes were noticeable and even the shortest films were appreciated.
1980-1990s
After experiencing a change in direction in animation, Soviet cartoons began to get better from the end of 1970. It was in that decade that such a famous cartoon as “Hedgehog in the Fog” appeared, which was probably watched by all children born before the 2000s. However, a special rise in the activity of animators was observed in the 80s of the last century. At that time, the famous hand-drawn film by Roman Kachanov “The Secret of the Third Planet” was released. This happened in 1981.
This picture won the hearts of many children of that time, and adults did not hesitate to watch it, to be honest. In the same year, the famous “Plasticine Crow” was released, marking the arrival of a new animator, Alexander Tatarsky, at the Ekran studio. A few years later, the same specialist creates a cartoon “ Reverse side Moon,” the name of which tempts you to find out what is there on the other side of the Moon?
But plasticine is just “flowers”, since in Sverdlovsk, which actively took part in the country’s animation activities, hand-drawn films were created using glass. That’s when the glass artist became famous. Among such glass drawings is “The Tale of a Little Boat,” released in 1985.
The end of the 1980s is marked by sharp and rough strokes in the drawing, poor image quality and general blurriness, this is easy to notice in the example of “The Koloboks are conducting the investigation.” This fashion was like a disease that spread throughout the world of Russian animation; only a few artists got rid of the habit of sloppy drawing, although it can be called a separate style, as in painting.
In the 90s, Russia began to cooperate with foreign studios, artists signed contracts and, together with foreign specialists, created full-length cartoons. But still, the most patriotic artists remain in their homeland, and with their help the history of animation in our country continues.
Animation today
After the collapse Soviet Union Not only was a crisis blossoming in the life of the country, but also in the life of animation. It seemed that the history of animation for children, as well as for adults, was over. The studios existed only through advertising and rare orders. But still, at this time there were works that received awards (“The Old Man and the Sea” and “ Winter's Tale"). Soyuzmultfilm was also destroyed; the management sold all rights to the cartoons and completely destroyed the studio.
But already in 2002, Russia used a computer for the first time to create animation, and even despite the “troubled” time in the history of animation, the works of Russian animators took pride of place in world competitions.
In 2006, the production of cartoons resumed in Russia, “Prince Vladimir” and “Dwarf Nose” were released. New studios are appearing: “Melnitsa” and “Sunny House”.
But it turned out that it was too early to rejoice, since 3 years after the release of the last famous films the dark period of the crisis began. Many studios closed, and the state stopped promoting the development of Russian animation.
Now many domestic studios produce beloved cartoons, sometimes the stories do not fit into an hour-long film, so you have to draw 2-3 or even more parts. So far, no failures are expected in the history of animation in Russia.
Whatever you say, even adults love to watch cartoons and sometimes do it more attentively than their young children, and all because modern cartoons are bright, interesting and funny. Now they cannot be compared with puppet shows, where cockroaches and other insects took part. Nevertheless, any level to which the history of Russian animation has “climbed” is important, because each of them led to perfection.
They can’t come to a common opinion, what was the very first cartoon in the world? Three cartoons at once can lay claim to the palm. These are "Phantasmagoria" by Emile Cohl, as well as "The Humorous Phases of Funny Faces" and "The Haunted Hotel" by James Stuart Blackton. Even before 1900, J. Stewart Blackton, along with Thomas Edison, made "moving drawings" and filmed them, thereby combining film techniques with graphics. The resulting film was called Humorous Phases funny faces" and presented to the French public on April 6, 1906.
Using the same dynamic animation technique, Blackton created another film in 1907, The Haunted Hotel. But in our understanding, these cartoons were still very imperfect, and only demonstrated some of the capabilities of the animation technique, which was then called the “American Movement.”
Later, these possibilities were used by the French cartoonist Emile Colas in the cartoon Phantasmagoria, shown by Gaumont in August 1908. Although “Phantasmagoria” lasts only one and a half minutes, many experts consider it to be the first full-fledged cartoon in the world. It was drawn on white paper and filmed in negative, with light lines on a dark background creating an unusual effect.
The first cartoons of Russia and the USSR
By the way, the very first cartoon was made in Russia in 1912, and first soviet cartoon published in 1924. It was called “Soviet Toys” and, of course, promoted the Soviet system.
It came out in 1928 and was called Plane Crazy. Disney's very first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered on December 21, 1937. It was a cinematic sensation. In the same year, for his first cartoon, Walt Disney received one full-length and seven small (according to the number of dwarves) Oscar statuettes. Since February 4, 1938, this cartoon has been widely released and to this day occupies a high place among the best animated films.
In Russia, the first steps in creating animation were taken at the beginning of the 20th century, just like in the West. There was no celluloid in our country, so two methods were used: “landscape” - drawing on plain paper, and puppet animation. The process was quite labor-intensive because the scenery and characters had to be manually redrawn from one sheet of paper to another.
One of the pioneers of Russian animation was beetle lover Vladislav Starevich. He quite clearly and naturally managed to convey the details and individual features of his characters, which were insects.
The arrival of socialist ideology in Russia affected literally everything, including cinema and even animation. If in all other countries animation developed as an entertaining art, in the USSR the first cartoons immediately acquired a political connotation. V. Mayakovsky was one of the first to express ideology in animation. He tried to revive the scenes from his “Windows of GROWTH”.
The first attempts at creating cartoons did not bring much fame to their authors. The formation of this type of creativity occurred in the 30s. At the same time, in 1936, not without the participation of the Komsomol Central Committee, the first and most famous animation studio, Soyuzmultfilm, appeared in Moscow.
Animation courses were opened at the studio. Their graduates included such famous cartoon creators as F. Khitruk, B. Dezhkin, R. Davydov, G. Kozlov and others.
In the period from 40 to 60, many bright names appeared in the history of Soviet animation and their famous works. These are the cartoons “Puck, Puck” by B. Dezhkin, “Golden Antelope” and “The Snow Queen” by L. Atamanov, and the later “Who Said Meow” by N. Degtyarev. All these works can rightfully be called classics of Soviet animation.
Soviet cartoons, as before, could hardly be called entertaining creativity, or special art for children. All of them had a kind of satirical and philosophical overtones. Separately, we can highlight the director Yu. Norshtein, whose works “Hedgehog in the Fog” and “Tale of Tales” received worldwide recognition over time.
Yuri Norshtein
Subsequently, Russian animation acquired many original and effective techniques. Cartoons were not only drawn, but also sculpted from plasticine, bent from wire, and sprinkled with sand and coffee.
IN Soviet years The “Iron Curtain” prevented the global recognition of Russian animation, but today we can be proud of the work of our animators; their work is appreciated both in Russia and abroad.
