History of Russian animation covers several periods, the largest of which was the Soviet one, mainly represented by the Soyuzmultfilm and Ekran studios.

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The first Russian animator (1906) was Alexander Shiryaev, choreographer of the Mariinsky Theater, who created the first Russian puppet cartoon, which depicts 12 dancing figures against a background of motionless scenery. The film was shot on 17.5 mm film. It took three months to create it. During creation, Shiryaev rubbed a hole in the parquet floor with his feet, as he constantly walked from the movie camera to the set and back.

These films were discovered in Shiryaev’s archive by film expert Viktor Bocharov in 2009. Several more puppet cartoons were also found there: “Clowns Playing Ball”, “Pierrot Artists” and love drama with a happy ending to Harlequin's Joke. Modern animators cannot yet unravel the secrets of the animator, since Shiryaev’s dolls not only walk on the ground, but also jump and spin in the air.

Another specialist of that time was Alexander Ptushko. He was a qualified architect but worked in mechanical engineering early in his career. When he entered Mosfilm's puppet animation department, he found the ideal environment to realize his mechanical as well as artistic ambitions.
He became world famous with the first Soviet full-length animated film, The New Gulliver (1935). This film changed the story of Jonathan Swift's novel in a more communist direction. He mixed puppet animation and acting in one frame. The film has amazing crowd scenes with hundreds of dolls, very expressive facial expressions in the animation, and also very good cinematography. Ptushko became the first director of the newly created Soyuzdetmultfilm studio, but soon left animation to devote himself to feature films. However, even in later films he used volumetric animation for special effects, for example in the film Ilya Muromets (1956).

Socialist realism

1950s (Thaw)

An animated film by Roman Kachanov and Anatoly Karanovitch, Cloud in Love (), is being released. Created in an avant-garde manner that combined the techniques of three-dimensional “translation”, simple “translation”, as well as puppet and hand-drawn animation, the cartoon received wide recognition in the USSR and abroad. Awarded with prizes at foreign film festivals. The first Soviet cartoon to be awarded the prestigious prize of the International Association of Film Critics FIPRESCI.

1960s

Around 1960 in Soviet animation a style change occurred. Realistic backgrounds and the characters began to appear much less frequently, giving way to caricature. Experiments have been carried out with various techniques(translations - The Story of a Crime (1962), glass painting - Song of the Falcon (1967)).

Volumetric animation is gaining momentum. The films of Roman Kachanov - Mitten (1967), Crocodile Gena become classics of domestic and world animation. These films are produced by the Soyuzmultfilm puppet film association (formed in 1953).

This period marks the launch of many TV series (Mowgli, Winnie the Pooh, Well, Wait!, etc.) and almanacs (Firefly, Kaleidoscope, Merry Carousel).

Most of the directors of Soyuzmultfilm were animators in the past. They often took part in drawing their own films.

Soviet animation is exhibited at foreign festivals and often takes prizes there (Mitten (), Ballerina on a Ship (1969), etc.).

1970s

In addition to Soyuzmultfilm, animation in the RSFSR is carried out by the Ekran studio, Sverdlovsk film studio and Saratovtelefilm, Permtelefilm, Volgograd, Gorky and Kuibyshev television and radio broadcasting committees.

The technical pinnacle of Soviet animation of the 1970s is the cartoon Polygon (1977) by Anatoly Petrov.

1980s and early 1990s

Long-form animation occupied a prominent place in animation in the 1980s.

Since the late 1980s, a simplified drawing with rough strokes has prevailed (“Koloboks are conducting the investigation,” “” (1989), etc.). This style can be traced in the works of the early 1990s, especially clearly from the Pilot studio. Gennady Tishchenko is one of the few who avoids this influence, preferring realism (“Vampires of Geons” (1991), “Masters of Geons” (1992), “AMBA” (1994-1995)).

1996 Computer cartoon "Constellation Leo". According to the magazine "Technique of Cinema and Television" in 2003, Yuri Agapov's film "Constellation of the Lion" entered the history of cinema as the first computer film filmed in Russia.

Movie restoration

Now in Russia the film association “Close-up” is engaged in the restoration of domestic films.

Russian animation today

In Russia, an animation festival is held annually in Suzdal (formerly "Tarusa") and every two years the international festival of animated films "Krok" (in other years it is held in Ukraine). There are other festivals of a smaller scale (for example, "Multimatograph"). The works of domestic cartoonists are also successfully exhibited at foreign festivals (for example, “The Old Man and the Sea” (1999), the animated series “Smeshariki”).

Since the late 2000s, the Soyuzmultfilm studio gradually began to gain new life. The management has changed, new employees have appeared, filming of new cartoons has begun, many of which have already received awards at various festivals. Filming of the popular cartoon magazine “Merry Carousel” has also resumed, and the creation of the full-length cartoon “Suvorov” is in full swing.

Music

Soviet cartoons of the 1970s were often accompanied by music created at the Experimental Studio of Electronic Music (Moscow, founded in 1967) by composers such as Eduard Artemyev, Vladimir Martynov, Sandor Kallosh.

Other famous composers were Gennady Gladkov ( musical films“The Bremen Town Musicians”, “Blue Puppy”, etc.), Mikhail Meerovich, Vladimir Shainsky, Alexander Zatsepin.

Among modern composers we can highlight Lev Zemlinsky and Alexander Gusev.

Russian animation in Western culture

In one of the episodes of the American animated series “Family Guy”, a short cartoon “Shoe and Lace” was shown, parodying Soviet cartoons.

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An excerpt characterizing the History of Russian animation

Alexander refused all negotiations because he personally felt insulted. Barclay de Tolly tried the best way control the army in order to fulfill his duty and earn the glory of a great commander. Rostov galloped to attack the French because he could not resist the desire to gallop across a flat field. And so exactly, due to their personal properties, habits, conditions and goals, all those innumerable persons who took part in this war acted. They were afraid, they were conceited, they rejoiced, they were indignant, they reasoned, believing that they knew what they were doing and that they were doing it for themselves, and all were involuntary instruments of history and carried out work hidden from them, but understandable to us. This is the unchangeable fate of all practical figures, and the higher they stand in the human hierarchy, the more free they are.
Now the figures of 1812 have long since left their places, their personal interests have disappeared without a trace, and only the historical results of that time are before us.
But let’s assume that the people of Europe, under the leadership of Napoleon, had to go deep into Russia and die there, and all the self-contradictory, senseless, cruel activities of the people participating in this war become clear to us.
Providence forced all these people, striving to achieve their personal goals, to contribute to the fulfillment of one huge result, about which not a single person (neither Napoleon, nor Alexander, nor even less any of the participants in the war) had the slightest aspiration.
Now it is clear to us what was the cause of the death of the French army in 1812. No one will argue that the reason for the death of Napoleon’s French troops was, on the one hand, their entry into late time without preparation for a winter campaign deep into Russia, and on the other hand, the character that the war took on from the burning of Russian cities and the incitement of hatred of the enemy among the Russian people. But then not only did no one foresee that (which now seems obvious) that only in this way could the army of eight hundred thousand, the best in the world and led by the best commander, die in a clash with the Russian army, which was twice as weak, inexperienced and led by inexperienced commanders; not only did no one foresee this, but all efforts on the part of the Russians were constantly aimed at preventing the fact that only one could save Russia, and on the part of the French, despite the experience and so-called military genius of Napoleon, all efforts were directed towards this to stretch out to Moscow at the end of summer, that is, to do the very thing that should have destroyed them.
In historical works about 1812, French authors are very fond of talking about how Napoleon felt the danger of stretching his line, how he was looking for a battle, how his marshals advised him to stop in Smolensk, and give other similar arguments proving that it was already understood there was danger of the campaign; and Russian authors are even more fond of talking about how from the beginning of the campaign there was a plan for the Scythian war to lure Napoleon into the depths of Russia, and they attribute this plan to some Pfuel, some to some Frenchman, some to Tolya, some to Emperor Alexander himself, pointing to notes, projects and letters that actually contain hints of this course of action. But all these hints of foreknowledge of what happened, both on the part of the French and on the part of the Russians, are now exhibited only because the event justified them. If the event had not happened, then these hints would have been forgotten, just as thousands and millions of opposing hints and assumptions that were in use then, but turned out to be unfair and therefore forgotten, are now forgotten. There are always so many assumptions about the outcome of every event that takes place that, no matter how it ends, there will always be people who will say: “I said then that it would be like this,” completely forgetting that among the countless assumptions, completely opposite.
Assumptions about Napoleon's awareness of the danger of stretching the line and on the part of the Russians - about luring the enemy into the depths of Russia - obviously belong to this category, and historians can only attribute such considerations to Napoleon and his marshals and such plans to Russian military leaders only with great reserve. All the facts completely contradict such assumptions. Not only throughout the war was there no desire on the part of the Russians to lure the French into the depths of Russia, but everything was done to stop them from their first entry into Russia, and not only was Napoleon not afraid of stretching his line, but he rejoiced at how triumph, every step forward, and very lazily, unlike in his previous campaigns, he looked for battle.
At the very beginning of the campaign, our armies are cut up, and the only goal to which we strive is to unite them, although in order to retreat and lure the enemy into the interior of the country, there does not seem to be any advantage in uniting the armies. The emperor is with the army to inspire it to defend every step of the Russian land, and not to retreat. The huge Dries camp is being built according to Pfuel's plan and it is not intended to retreat further. The Emperor reproaches the commander-in-chief for every step of retreat. Not only the burning of Moscow, but the admission of the enemy to Smolensk cannot even be imagined by the emperor, and when the armies unite, the sovereign is indignant because Smolensk was taken and burned and was not given a general battle before the walls of it.
The sovereign thinks so, but the Russian military leaders and all Russian people are even more indignant at the thought that ours are retreating into the interior of the country.
Napoleon, having cut up the armies, moves inland and misses several occasions of battle. In August he is in Smolensk and thinks only about how he can move on, although, as we now see, this movement forward is obviously detrimental for him.
The facts clearly show that neither Napoleon foresaw the danger in moving towards Moscow, nor Alexander and the Russian military leaders then thought about luring Napoleon, but thought about the opposite. The luring of Napoleon into the interior of the country did not happen according to anyone’s plan (no one believed in the possibility of this), but occurred from the most difficult game intrigues, goals, desires of people - participants in the war, who did not guess what should be, and what was the only salvation of Russia. Everything happens by accident. The armies are cut up at the start of the campaign. We try to unite them with the obvious goal of giving battle and holding off the enemy’s advance, but in this desire to unite, avoiding battles with the strongest enemy and unwittingly retreating under acute angle, we are bringing the French to Smolensk. But it’s not enough to say that we are retreating at an acute angle because the French are moving between both armies - this angle is becoming even sharper, and we are moving even further because Barclay de Tolly, an unpopular German, is hated by Bagration (who will become under his command ), and Bagration, commanding the 2nd Army, tries not to join Barclay for as long as possible, so as not to become under his command. Bagration does not join for a long time (although in this the main objective all commanders) because it seems to him that he is putting his army in danger on this march and that it is most profitable for him to retreat to the left and south, harassing the enemy from the flank and rear and recruiting his army in Ukraine. But it seems that he came up with this because he did not want to obey the hated and junior German Barclay.
The emperor is with the army to inspire it, and his presence and lack of knowledge of what to decide on, and a huge number of advisers and plans destroy the energy of the 1st army’s actions, and the army retreats.
It is planned to stop at the Dris camp; but unexpectedly Paulucci, aiming to become commander-in-chief, influences Alexander with his energy, and Pfuel’s entire plan is abandoned, and the whole matter is entrusted to Barclay. But since Barclay does not inspire confidence, his power is limited.
The armies are fragmented, there is no unity of leadership, Barclay is not popular; but from this confusion, fragmentation and unpopularity of the German commander-in-chief, on the one hand, follows indecision and avoidance of battle (which could not be resisted if the armies were together and Barclay was not the commander), on the other hand, more and more indignation against the Germans and excitement of the patriotic spirit.
Finally, the sovereign leaves the army, and as the only and most convenient pretext for his departure, the idea is chosen that he needs to inspire the people in the capitals to excite people's war. And this trip of the sovereign and Moscow triples the strength of the Russian army.
The sovereign leaves the army in order not to hamper the unity of power of the commander-in-chief, and hopes that more decisive measures will be taken; but the position of the army command is even more confused and weakened. Bennigsen, Grand Duke and a swarm of general adjutants remain with the army in order to monitor the actions of the commander-in-chief and excite him to energy, and Barclay, feeling even less free under the eyes of all these sovereign eyes, becomes even more careful for decisive actions and avoids battles.
Barclay stands for caution. The Tsarevich hints at treason and demands a general battle. Lyubomirsky, Branitsky, Wlotsky and the like are inflating all this noise so much that Barclay, under the pretext of delivering papers to the sovereign, sends the Poles as adjutant generals to St. Petersburg and enters into an open fight with Bennigsen and the Grand Duke.
In Smolensk, finally, no matter how Bagration wished it, the armies are united.
Bagration drives up in a carriage to the house occupied by Barclay. Barclay puts on a scarf, goes out to meet him and reports to the senior rank of Bagration. Bagration, in the struggle of generosity, despite the seniority of his rank, submits to Barclay; but, having submitted, she agrees with him even less. Bagration personally, by order of the sovereign, informs him. He writes to Arakcheev: “The will of my sovereign, I cannot do it together with the minister (Barclay). For God's sake, send me somewhere, even to command a regiment, but I can’t be here; and the entire main apartment is filled with Germans, so it’s impossible for a Russian to live, and there’s no point. I thought I was truly serving the sovereign and the fatherland, but in reality it turns out that I am serving Barclay. I admit, I don’t want to.” The swarm of Branitskys, Wintzingerodes and the like further poisons the relations of the commanders-in-chief, and even less unity emerges. They are planning to attack the French in front of Smolensk. A general is sent to inspect the position. This general, hating Barclay, goes to his friend, the corps commander, and, after sitting with him for a day, returns to Barclay and condemns on all counts the future battlefield, which he has not seen.
While there are disputes and intrigues about the future battlefield, while we are looking for the French, having made a mistake in their location, the French stumble upon Neverovsky’s division and approach the very walls of Smolensk.
We must take on an unexpected battle in Smolensk in order to save our messages. The battle is given. Thousands are being killed on both sides.
Smolensk is abandoned against the will of the sovereign and all the people. But Smolensk was burned by the residents themselves, deceived by their governor, and the ruined residents, setting an example for other Russians, go to Moscow, thinking only about their losses and inciting hatred towards the enemy. Napoleon moves on, we retreat, and the very thing that was supposed to defeat Napoleon is achieved.

The day after his son’s departure, Prince Nikolai Andreich called Princess Marya to his place.
- Well, are you satisfied now? - he told her, - she quarreled with her son! Are you satisfied? That's all you needed! Are you satisfied?.. It hurts me, it hurts. I'm old and weak, and that's what you wanted. Well, rejoice, rejoice... - And after that, Princess Marya did not see her father for a week. He was sick and did not leave the office.
To her surprise, Princess Marya noticed that during this time of illness the old prince also did not allow m lle Bourienne to visit him. Only Tikhon followed him.
A week later the prince came out and started again old life, with special activity being engaged in buildings and gardens and ceasing all previous relations with m lle Bourienne. His appearance and cold tone with Princess Marya seemed to say to her: “You see, you made it up about me, lied to Prince Andrei about my relationship with this Frenchwoman and quarreled me with him; and you see that I don’t need either you or the Frenchwoman.”
Princess Marya spent one half of the day with Nikolushka, watching his lessons, herself giving him lessons in the Russian language and music, and talking with Desalles; she spent the other part of the day in her quarters with books, an old nanny, and with God's people, who sometimes came to her from the back porch.
Princess Marya thought about the war the way women think about war. She was afraid for her brother, who was there, horrified, without understanding her, by human cruelty, which forced them to kill each other; but she did not understand the significance of this war, which seemed to her the same as all previous wars. She did not understand the significance of this war, despite the fact that Desalles, her constant interlocutor, who was passionately interested in the progress of the war, tried to explain his thoughts to her, and despite the fact that the people of God who came to her all spoke with horror in their own way about popular rumors about the invasion of the Antichrist, and despite the fact that Julie, now Princess Drubetskaya, who again entered into correspondence with her, wrote patriotic letters to her from Moscow.
“I am writing to you in Russian, my good friend, wrote Julie, “because I have hatred for all the French, as well as for their language, which I cannot hear spoken... We in Moscow are all delighted through enthusiasm for our beloved emperor.
My poor husband endures labor and hunger in Jewish taverns; but the news I have makes me even more excited.
You probably heard about the heroic feat of Raevsky, who hugged his two sons and said: “I will die with them, but we will not waver!” And indeed, although the enemy was twice as strong as us, we did not waver. We spend our time as best we can; but in war, as in war. Princess Alina and Sophie sit with me all day long, and we, unfortunate widows of living husbands, have wonderful conversations over lint; only you, my friend, are missing... etc.
Mostly Princess Marya did not understand the full significance of this war because the old prince never talked about it, did not acknowledge it and laughed at Desalles at dinner when he talked about this war. The prince's tone was so calm and confident that Princess Marya, without reasoning, believed him.
Throughout the month of July, the old prince was extremely active and even animated. He also pawned new garden and a new building, a building for courtyard workers. One thing that bothered Princess Marya was that he slept little and, having changed his habit of sleeping in the study, changed the place of his overnight stays every day. Either he ordered his camp bed to be set up in the gallery, then he remained on the sofa or in the Voltaire chair in the living room and dozed without undressing, while not m lle Bourienne, but the boy Petrusha read to him; then he spent the night in the dining room.
On August 1, a second letter was received from Prince Andrei. In the first letter, received shortly after his departure, Prince Andrei humbly asked his father for forgiveness for what he had allowed himself to say to him, and asked him to return his favor to him. The old prince responded to this letter with an affectionate letter and after this letter he alienated the Frenchwoman from himself. The second letter from Prince Andrei, written from near Vitebsk, after the French occupied it, consisted of brief description the entire campaign with the plan outlined in the letter, and with considerations for the further course of the campaign. In this letter, Prince Andrei presented his father with the inconvenience of his position close to the theater of war, on the very line of movement of the troops, and advised him to go to Moscow.
At dinner that day, in response to the words of Desalles, who said that, as heard, the French had already entered Vitebsk, the old prince remembered Prince Andrei’s letter.
“I received it from Prince Andrei today,” he said to Princess Marya, “didn’t you read it?”
“No, mon pere, [father],” the princess answered fearfully. She could not read a letter that she had never even heard of.
“He writes about this war,” said the prince with that familiar, contemptuous smile with which he always spoke about the real war.
“It must be very interesting,” said Desalles. - The prince is able to know...
- Oh, very interesting! - said Mlle Bourienne.
“Go and bring it to me,” the old prince turned to Mlle Bourienne. – You know, on a small table under a paperweight.
M lle Bourienne jumped up joyfully.
“Oh no,” he shouted, frowning. - Come on, Mikhail Ivanovich.
Mikhail Ivanovich got up and went into the office. But as soon as he left, the old prince, looking around uneasily, threw down his napkin and went off on his own.
“They don’t know how to do anything, they’ll confuse everything.”
While he walked, Princess Marya, Desalles, m lle Bourienne and even Nikolushka silently looked at each other. Old Prince He returned with a hasty step, accompanied by Mikhail Ivanovich, with a letter and a plan, which he, not allowing anyone to read during dinner, placed next to him.
Going into the living room, he handed the letter to Princess Marya and, laying out the plan of the new building in front of him, which he fixed his eyes on, ordered her to read it aloud. After reading the letter, Princess Marya looked questioningly at her father.
He looked at the plan, obviously lost in thought.
- What do you think about this, prince? – Desalles allowed himself to ask a question.
- I! I!.. - the prince said, as if awakening unpleasantly, without taking his eyes off the construction plan.
- It is quite possible that the theater of war will come so close to us...
- Ha ha ha! Theater of war! - said the prince. “I said and say that the theater of war is Poland, and the enemy will never penetrate further than the Neman.
Desalles looked with surprise at the prince, who was talking about the Neman, when the enemy was already at the Dnieper; but Princess Marya, who forgot geographical position Nemana thought that what her father was saying was true.
- When the snow melts, they will drown in the swamps of Poland. “They just can’t see,” the prince said, apparently thinking about the campaign of 1807, which seemed so recent. - Bennigsen should have entered Prussia earlier, things would have taken a different turn...
“But, prince,” Desalles said timidly, “the letter talks about Vitebsk...
“Ah, in the letter, yes...” the prince said dissatisfied, “yes... yes...” His face suddenly took on a gloomy expression. He paused. - Yes, he writes, the French are defeated, which river is this?
Desalles lowered his eyes.
“The prince doesn’t write anything about this,” he said quietly.
- Doesn’t he write? Well, I didn’t make it up myself. - Everyone was silent for a long time.
“Yes... yes... Well, Mikhaila Ivanovich,” he suddenly said, raising his head and pointing to the construction plan, “tell me how you want to remake it...”
Mikhail Ivanovich approached the plan, and the prince, after talking with him about the plan for the new building, looked angrily at Princess Marya and Desalles, and went home.
Princess Marya saw Desalles' embarrassed and surprised gaze fixed on her father, noticed his silence and was amazed that the father had forgotten his son's letter on the table in the living room; but she was afraid not only to speak and ask Desalles about the reason for his embarrassment and silence, but she was afraid to even think about it.
In the evening, Mikhail Ivanovich, sent from the prince, came to Princess Marya for a letter from Prince Andrei, which was forgotten in the living room. Princess Marya submitted the letter. Although it was unpleasant for her, she allowed herself to ask Mikhail Ivanovich what her father was doing.
“They’re all busy,” said Mikhail Ivanovich with a respectfully mocking smile that made Princess Marya turn pale. – They are very worried about the new building. “We read a little, and now,” Mikhail Ivanovich said, lowering his voice, “the bureau must have started working on the will.” (IN Lately One of the prince’s favorite pastimes was working on the papers that were to remain after his death and which he called his will.)
- Is Alpatych being sent to Smolensk? - asked Princess Marya.
- Why, he’s been waiting for a long time.

When Mikhail Ivanovich returned with the letter to the office, the prince, wearing glasses, with a lampshade over his eyes and a candle, was sitting at the open bureau, with papers in his far-off hand, and in a somewhat solemn pose, reading his papers (remarks, as he called them), which were to be delivered to the sovereign after his death.
When Mikhail Ivanovich entered, there were tears in his eyes, memories of the time when he wrote what he was now reading. He took the letter from Mikhail Ivanovich’s hands, put it in his pocket, put away the papers and called Alpatych, who had been waiting for a long time.

Publications in the Cinema section

The origins of Russian animation: 1920–40s

From film adaptations of Mayakovsky's poems and soundtracks from Shostakovich, the story of Gulliver the pioneer and copying of Disney techniques with the approval of Stalin himself - the first decades of Soviet animation were extremely interesting.

Avant-garde 20s

Although the first experiments in animation in Russia began to be undertaken even before the revolution (puppet cartoons by Alexander Shiryaev, short films by Vladislav Starevich, shot using stuffed insects), the starting point of the domestic animation tradition should be considered the first cartoon filmed in the USSR - “ Soviet toys» Dzigi Vertov (1924). The plot of the short film is based on political cartoons by the artist Denis published in the newspaper Pravda, ridiculing the enemies of socialist society. Other cartoons appearing at the same time were also aimed at adults, not children - “Humoresques” by the same Dziga Vertov, “German Affairs and Deeds” by Alexander Bushkin, “China on Fire” - a cartoon on which almost all the main animators of subsequent decades: Ivan Ivanov-Vano, Vladimir Suteev, Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg, Olga Khodataeva.

Vladislav Starevich (1882-1965). Photo: kino-teatr.ru

Dziga Vertov (1896-1954)

Ivan Ivanov-Vano (1900-1987)

First children's cartoon- “The Rink” by Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky (the animator in this short film was Ivan Ivanov-Vano) was released in 1927. The story about a boy who, wanting to punish a fat man who was pestering a beautiful figure skater, by chance won a speed skating competition, became very successful and laid the foundations for children's animation.

The same Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky also directed the first puppet cartoon - “The Adventures of Bolvashka” (1927). Then this direction will be developed by Maria Benderskaya, who released the films “Moidodyr” and “The Adventures of the Chinese.”

Another important cartoon of the time was "The Samoyed Boy", made by sisters Zinaida and Valentina Brumberg and Olga and Nikolai Khodataev in 1928. In fact, this is a seven-minute life story of an ideal Soviet citizen - the brave boy Chu, who first exposes the evil shaman, and then enters the workers' school in Leningrad in order to return to his native camp and change his life for the better. “Samoyed Boy” is also interesting aesthetically: it uses images of the original visual arts northern peoples.

From the point of view of visual aesthetics, the first soviet cartoons were filled with the spirit of the avant-garde. Nikolai Khodataev, Mikhail Tsekhanovsky, sisters Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg, Ivan Ivanov-Vano, creating new art, were focused on finding new forms - both in graphics and in editing. Animation opened up hitherto unprecedented horizons for artists. As one of the founders of Russian animation, Ivan Ivanov-Vano, wrote: “There is nothing inaccessible for animation. This is an art of possibilities not limited by technology, where reality is closely intertwined with fantasy and fiction, where fantasy and fiction become reality.”

Still from the cartoon “Soviet Toys”. 1924

Still from the cartoon "Rink". 1927

Still from the cartoon “Samoyed Boy”. 1928

Literary 20s

During these years, animation is elevated to the rank of a new art; it actively borrows literary images and ideas: cartoons based on the works of classical authors (“The Adventures of Munchausen” by Daniil Cherkes, Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Vladimir Suteev based on Raspe), modern children’s writers (“The Cockroach” by Alexander Ivanov based on a poem by Chukovsky, “Senka the African”) are being released on screens "Daniil Cherkes, Yuri Merkulov and Ivan Ivanov-Vano based on the fairy tales of the same Chukovsky). Among these cartoons, “Mail” by Mikhail Tsekhanovsky, a film adaptation of the book of the same name by Samuil Marshak, especially stands out. This cartoon went down in history as the first sound Soviet animated film.

Not only are they starting to collaborate with animated films best writers and poets (among them Evgeny Schwartz, Samuil Marshak, Korney Chukovsky, Sergei Mikhalkov, Valentin Kataev, Yuri Olesha) of that time, but also composers. Dmitry Shostakovich specially writes music for “The Tale of the Priest and His Worker Balda” by Mikhail Tsekhanovsky. Unfortunately, the film was not completed, and only one episode of it has survived.

Still from the cartoon “The Adventures of Munchausen.” 1929

Still from the cartoon “Senka the African”. 1927

Still from the cartoon "Mail". 1929

In many ways, this interest, in addition to the creative opportunities that animation provided, was also associated with censorship pressure on screenwriters, writers, and composers, who, in order to survive, looked for themselves in other areas - works for children, the stage. Although here, not everything was rosy. As artist Lana Azarkh, who collaborated with the Brumberg sisters, recalls: “They were absolutely not afraid to experiment. They were widely educated artists, knowledgeable about art from all over the world. Another thing is that they were restrained, tortured, prohibited. Grymz from the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences sat at the artistic councils and said that children would not understand this. But despite everything, real masterpieces came out.”

Satirical 30s

In the early 30s, a satirical direction in animation began to develop: “The Tale of Tsar Durandai” by Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Zinaida Brumberg, “Organchik” by Nikolai Khodataev based on “The History of a City” by Saltykov-Shchedrin, “Quartet” by Alexander Ivanov and Panteleimon Sazonov based on Krylov's fable, "Black and White" by Leonid Amalrik and Ivan Ivanov-Vano is a film adaptation of Mayakovsky's poem of the same name.

Particularly notable is the film “The New Gulliver” by Alexander Ptushko (1935), where the classic plot is quite boldly rethought: Gulliver in the cartoon becomes a Soviet schoolboy who, instead of Swift’s Lilliput, finds himself in the capitalist world.

But all these cartoons were separate experiments that were created in scattered cartoon workshops at Mezhrabpomfilm, Sovkino, Moskinokombinat, Gosvoenkino, and Mosfilm. In 1936, they were all united into a single institute - Soyuzmultfilm. The studio staff included already well-known animators - Ivan Ivanov-Vano, Olga Khodataeva, Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg, Vladimir Suteev, Dmitry Babichenko, Alexander Ivanov and others.

Still from the cartoon “The Tale of King Durandai.” 1934

Still from the cartoon "The New Gulliver". 1935

Still from the cartoon "Black and White". 1932

As Fyodor Khitruk, who has worked at the studio almost since its founding, recalls: “Nothing happens without purposeful work. Soyuzmultfilm was looked after, the best personnel were selected for it, the artists were taken care of. In a word, they created tolerable conditions so that the created cartoons could then be successfully sold. Well, we must not forget that we were not particularly affected by censorship. There were some ridiculous moments when they insistently asked to change the overly pessimistic ending, but that’s just the little things. In general, there was no obscurantism; we were relatively free. We also constantly studied - we watched Western cartoons in industrial quantities.”

Pro-Disney 30s

Speaking of Western cartoons. In 1935, Walt Disney's Funny Symphonies was shown at the Moscow International Film Festival. This event greatly influenced the minds of Soviet animators. As the same Khitruk recalls: “The Disney film from the “Funny Symphonies” series did not fit into any framework of the usual consciousness. It was such a class of directing, such a fusion of plasticity, music, ideas and characters - amazing.<...>For me, these films were more than art, they were divination, witchcraft. In terms of movement, character, and acting, something more convincing happened to me than in feature films.”

Still from the cartoon “Kotofey Kotofeevich.” 1937

Still from the cartoon “Funny Symphonies”. 1935

Still from the cartoon “It’s Hot in Africa.” 1936

It was according to Disney canons that Soyuzmultfilm developed in the first years: for several years they mastered celluloid technology - a production conveyor like Disney's, new animators were trained according to American manuals. Now animators have a division of labor: instead of people who did everything at once, narrow specialists began to work - phasers, drafters, outliners, fillers. Of course, this speeded up the process and made production cheaper, but at the same time, in such cartoons it became more difficult to capture the artist’s individual style. They also borrowed from Disney the “éclair” or rotoscoping technology, which was based on filming the movements of live actors. Willy-nilly, Soviet animators also borrowed the style of Disney films.

Ivanov-Vano recalled this period like this: “How could this happen? I then asked myself this question many times until I found the correct answer. As sad as it may be, all of us at first in our work new studio They found themselves captive to the Disney method and were forced to copy not only the technology, but also some of the principles of character construction and movement. The fact is that training in the courses for cartoonists was carried out mainly on textbooks, developed by Disney for its animators. All the most expressive and characteristic forms of movement of the characters - gait, jumps, runs, falls - were carefully looped and recorded on special tapes, which were then used by the animators in order to save time in their work."

Original 40s

That bright style of Soviet animation, which had already begun to take shape in the 1920s, was lost for a while. However, even during these years, interesting original works appeared - for example, films by Vladimir Suteev (“Noisy Swimming”, “Why does the Rhinoceros’s Skin Have Folds”, “Kolobok”, “Uncle Styopa”).

All these films are black and white, although since 1937, when the first color cartoon was released (Sweet Pie by Dmitry Babichenko), many films have been released in two versions at once.

The years 1939–1941 are perhaps the most productive for Soyuzmultfilm of that period. Now the classics of Russian animation are coming to the screens: “Limpopo” and “Barmaley” by Leonid Amalrik and Vladimir Polkovnikov, “Moidodyr” by Ivan Ivanov-Vano, “The Tsokotukha Fly” by Vladimir Suteev. These cartoons are becoming less and less like Disney films; the artists' signature style is clearly visible in them. It is from them that the original Soviet school of animation originates.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, animators, those who did not go to the front, switched to shooting propaganda film posters. The production of children's cartoons is proceeding extremely slowly - there are not enough materials, evacuation to Samarkand and return re-evacuation to Moscow takes a lot of effort and time, at some point the studio is even producing buttons and combs from film. Nevertheless, these years saw the release of “Yolka” and “Telephone” by Mikhail Tsekhanovsky, “The Stolen Sun” by Ivan Ivanov-Vano, and “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”

Cartoons, both Russian and foreign, are loved by people of all ages, not just children. But we don’t think much about how the cartoon appeared, who invented it, what was the first cartoon created in Russia, and more. If you already want to choose an interesting animated story for you or your child, enjoy the fabulous storyline and just relax, you can do this on the portal, where a huge selection of cartoons is presented.

The history of Russian animation is very rich, and it can be divided into several main periods. In any case, the largest period was during the Soviet era, when the creators were mainly Soyuzmultfilm and Ekran.

Alexander Shiryaev became the first animator in Russia, this happened in 1960. It is he who is the father of the first puppet cartoon, where the story talks about twelve dancing little figures, while the scenery of the picture remained unchanged and motionless. The unique first cartoon was shot on 15.5 millimeter film; the author spent three months to release it.

Graphic animation was born between 1924 and 1925. During this period of time, the Kultkino studio, together with a small staff, was able to show the country a huge range of animated films, which includes such works as “The Story of a Disappointment”, “Humoresques”, “An Incident in Tokyo”, “German Affairs and Deeds” and much more other. At this time, the first technologies appeared that help speed up the process of creating cartoons.

Back in 1934, the famous corporation from the United States of America, Walt Disney, sent a roll of film to the Moscow Film Festival. This tape contained everyone's favorite cartoon with Mickey Mouse. Fyodor Khitruk talks about the moment when he saw how quickly personnel was changing, it was amazing that such new opportunities were closed to Russians. Based on this interest, the famous Soyuzmultfilm studio appeared in 1935, whose employees carefully studied Western technologies and capabilities.

But it was only in 1952 that Soviet animators and directors were able to create a complete analogue of Disney's multi-plane camera. In 1953, the cartoon “Naughty Kitten”, Kashtanka, was released. All these cartoons carried both artistic and educational value. This period was marked big amount masterpieces, one of which " The Snow Queen».

If we talk about the seventies, then the film adaptation animated films Studios such as Ekran Studio, Sverdlovsk Film Studio and many other regional studios were involved in this work. The most famous film at this time was “Polygon”, authored by Anatoly Petrov. In the eighties, the first film was released that was completely drawn - this is “The Secret of the Third Planet”.

Today in Russia there are three largest and most significant studios: Pilot, Melnitsa and the Master Film Film Company. In 2006, Soyuzmultfilm began to regain one of the leading positions.

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 mean, 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 guys 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 seemed like 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 Reynaud, 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 sketched 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

Concerning 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 Mariinsky Theater, edited a 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 making beautiful characters with your own hands 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 person 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 a huge number of 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 bring his architectural skills to life, 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: cartoons 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 the director of the new cartoon studio “Soyuzdetmultfilm”, but for some reason he leaves his post after some time, and all that is known about his cartoon activity 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 gave the Moscow Film Festival 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 stories. 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, they are filming full-length cartoons, 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 “ back 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 drawing, poor quality images and general blurriness, this is easy to notice in the example of “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 participated. Nevertheless, any level to which the history of Russian animation has “climbed” is important, because each of them led to perfection.

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 hand-drawn 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.