Russian masterpiece that changed the world. Without it, there is no anime or Disney.
Immediately after the Great Patriotic War, Russian animators agreed to make real masterpieces. Large and colorful works immediately captured the world’s screens, on the masterpieces of which more than one generation of Western masters studied.
planned masterpiece
Cartoons of the post-war era from the USSR were distinguished primarily by the most detailed study of efforts and plans. These were hourly tapes based on Russian folk and classical European fairy tales with the indispensable victory of good over evil. These films were distinguished by a special color scheme: the colors of classic Soviet cartoons were bright, but did not hurt the eyes. The moderation and taste of Russian masters immediately conquered the whole world.
Among all the beautiful Soviet cartoons, the work of Lev Atamanov “The Snow Queen” is especially common. There was no doubt that this cartoon would become a masterpiece for all time after the premiere. In 1957, the work of Russian masters swept through the main film festivals of the world like a hurricane, collecting a bountiful harvest of awards in Cannes, Venice and Rome. The picture of Germany was immediately released worldwide, the film was shown in the USA, significant, French, Italy and Japan. It was on one of these sessions that the main anime master Hayao Miyazaki got.
A shot from the film “The Snow Queen”. Photo: afisha.ru screenshot
Japanese magician
The first cartoon that the future creator of Spirited Away and Oscar winner saw was Japanese. This is the painting “The Legend of the White Snake”. But this film could not be compared with the masterful work of Lev Atamanova. Seeing the “Snow Queen”, Miyazaki forever decided to connect his life with animation. Now he is considered among the masters of the genre in one world.
It is also striking that Hayao Miyazaki’s cartoons are not at all like all those examples of Japanese anime that appeared back in the 1980s. The natural locomotive of the Japanese animation industry, Miyazaki followed the Russian tradition over and over again: smooth movements, obvious fragments of frames, richness of colors. So without that powerful engine, perhaps the entire modern anime industry would not exist.
Disney taught artists how to work again
The special smoothness of the phenomena in the cartoons of Lev Atamanov arouses the envy of the main American animator Walt Disney. Over and over again, he carried films with Russian cartoons and entrusted them to his artist. In fact, they had to learn how to work again.
The secret of the Snow Queen is actually quite simple. Smooth and breathtaking movements were realized with the help of innovative “rotoscoping”: completely made-up actress Maria Balabanova was first shot on film, and then the image was superimposed on celluloid. The most interesting thing is that neither in the USA nor in Europe this method was secret. They couldn’t do a job of the same quality.
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