The Animated Artwork of the Day Thread

[Esn]

Now for something a bit different...
"Fatum" (Latin for "Fate"), Soyuzmultfilm. 1992, Akop Kirakosyan. Accompanied by Beethoven's Symphony no. 3, "Eroica".

Kirakosyan is now head of the Soyuzmultfilm studio.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/dJpiS6qiqq0&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/dJpiS6qiqq0&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

I can't separate this one from the context of lawless 1990s Russia when watching it. It just fits so well.

The studio itself was pretty lawless as well:

In the mid-1990s, Sergei Skulyabin illegally took over the company and used hired thugs to keep the animators in line and the government officials from asserting legal authority. The legal director of Soyuzmultfilm kept a very low profile after having been beat up in an alley and forced to go to the hospital with injuries to the head, and during this period many documents were signed by Skulyabin illegally on behalf of Soyuzmultfilm.

[Esn]

"My Life", a film about the life of a pig. Argus International, 2000.  Won the "Funniest Film" award at Annecy.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/0LOGFXXSwlU&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/0LOGFXXSwlU&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

[Tophatwonder]

I really think that embedding video in the post itself is a lot better than just posting a link to the film.  It's more... visually enticing, ya know? And better for lazy people.

What I admire especially is how real and alive each of the characters seems to be, even though most of them have little screen time.  Even the most at-first-glance simple characters turn out to have more to them.  I think this is because you get the sense that each of them has their own stories going on, though the film doesn't focus on them.  All-too-often in some films, characters seem to exist at the convenience of the main plot.

that was a amazing video, thanks for posting it, very good story line, pretty sad though.

[crumb]

Now for something a bit different...
"Fatum" (Latin for "Fate"), Soyuzmultfilm. 1992, Akop Kirakosyan. Accompanied by Beethoven's Symphony no. 3, "Eroica".

Kirakosyan is now head of the Soyuzmultfilm studio.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/dJpiS6qiqq0&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/dJpiS6qiqq0&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

I can't separate this one from the context of lawless 1990s Russia when watching it. It just fits so well.

The studio itself was pretty lawless as well:

that was done brilliantly!... maybe perfectly! i loved it, love the turtle and the music fits as well.
mm mm mm
ill watch my life now

edit:
amazing how it represents the story

[Pieter]

That turtle was a little slow haha.

I need time to watch all of these.

[Esn]

That turtle was a little slow haha.

My favourite moments (spoilers):
-still smoking his pipe while doing push-ups
-that wry look he gives at the end when he shows his badge

[Tophatwonder]

lol that turtle angered me the whole time the robbers were looting all the stuff, in my mind i was pretty sure he was going to get there and they all will be gone. I was going to say" slow and steady doesn't win the race" until iseen the ending lol.

[Esn]

"Lion and Ox" (1983), the last directorial work of the great Fyodor Khitruk (creator of the Russian "Winnie-the-Pooh" films, among others).  By the way, he's 91 now, and his new book about animation just came out.  I'm itching to get my hands on it.

It's a very serious film, so don't watch it if you want something light and funny...
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/XCiEqwmjV7w&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/XCiEqwmjV7w&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

What I love most is the sense of power in the movements of the lion and ox. Very effective.

[Esn]

Another day, another film.
Here's "Ryaba" by A-Film Studio (2006).  Take it as a fable about the value of the extraordinary...
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/H5SF95_bU1A&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/H5SF95_bU1A&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

P.S. Don't be afraid to comment about films that were posted in the thread a while ago.

[Esn]

An earlier film by the studio that made "My Life".

(copied text from my blog entry)

"The Treasure Under the Mountain" is a feature film that was never finished or released, based on Tolkien's "The Hobbit". Only the prologue survives. This video dates from about 1994, and was made by the company which is now called Argus International. It was Roman Mitrofanov's first directorial work. Some have speculated that maybe work was stopped because artists in Russia were just finding out about how copyright laws limited what they could make.

Translation/subtitles were made by myself.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/tWdjlogaAaA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/tWdjlogaAaA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

Full text of song from the video:

Goodness and laughter, laughter and joy
Smiles light up the faces of all
and souls, like windows, are thrown wide open.
The sky up above shines clear and blue.
No-one wants to believe that bad dreams may come true,
nor know that some day
that some day the weather will worsen.

But the tempest arrived, as is always the case.
Disaster moves in to take merriment's place,
With fire and armor and no shred of mercy.
The desperate bell rings too late to assist,
And how will a mere paper dragon resist
a brave paper dragon
against one that's real?

When all is stretched thin by eternity's freeze,
When all is enveloped by blankets of time,
The Earth bit by bit becomes merged with the sky,
And night bit by bit becomes merged with the day.
But somebody here's left a track in the snow
which leads to a faraway
which leads to a faraway hope.

The rhymes aren't perfect, but I came closer than I thought I would while still keeping the translation accurate.

[Esn]

This is the only surviving scene from The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda.  It would have been the first Soviet animated feature film; a film-opera with a score by Dmitry Shostakovich, directed by Mikhail Tsekhanovskiy.  Work was started in the early 1930s and everyone involved was very excited about the project. However, the film was killed by three blows: first, the denunciation of Shostakovich's music in the 1936 edition of the newspaper "Pravda", leading to a forcible termination of his contract to finish the score; second, the first screening of Disney's cartoons in the USSR in 1934, and the subsequent government consolidation of all animation studios into one big one and decree that animators must from now on only imitate Disney's style (whereas this film was the culmination of the independent development of Soviet animation in the 1920s and 1930s, and was certainly not in Disney's style); and finally, the destruction of almost the entire film in a fire during WW2.

All that's left is the "market scene":
<a href="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1524708&amp;amp;server=www.vimeo.com&amp;amp;show_title=1&amp;amp;show_byline=1&amp;amp;show_portrait=0&amp;amp;color=00ADEF&amp;amp;fullscreen=1" target="_blank">http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1524708&amp;amp;server=www.vimeo.com&amp;amp;show_title=1&amp;amp;show_byline=1&amp;amp;show_portrait=0&amp;amp;color=00ADEF&amp;amp;fullscreen=1</a>

There's also a CD which has 50 minutes of Shostakovich's score for the film. On the Amazon profile, you can listen to some of the other parts which would have been in the film. The music is very good.

(see my blog post for further information)

[Pieter]

Here's something rather random I found on youtube...
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/U6kNxf6axY4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/U6kNxf6axY4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

I'm gonna watch all of Esn's contributions now 

[Esn]

Here's something rather random I found on youtube...

Heh, I really liked the laser-eyes of the narwhals. Oh, and the "I can't remember every little detail" line at the end.    But I still kinda thought that having the battle be broken up by a girl in a white dress telling everyone that they should "look at themselves!" was painfully cliche.

[Esn]

Someone recommended me this 1939 MGM cartoon directed by Hugh Harman called "Peace on Earth". I'd never seen it before, and I was pleasantly surprised:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/J8OYvHPpGDY&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/J8OYvHPpGDY&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

There is also a 1955 remake but I like the 1939 version a lot more; it is warmer, more genuine, and less needlessly blunt. And better-directed, I think; for example, the scene of the last man is more memorable. It also shows a better vision of "peace" than the 1955 film does; it shows the comfort of a family house and the neighbourhood outside, whereas the 1955 film shows pupils and their instructor in a church.

[crumb]

thanks Esn, you fill my days will quality videos 

edit: i wanna make a peace on earth lol