SUMMARY | PRESENTATION OF AUTHORS

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Brief presentation of authors and contents of articles of the current issue

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FILM THEORY AND FILM HISTORY | AUDIOVISUAL ARTS

The Environment of the Cinematic Spectacle: The Architecture of the Early Russian Movie Theaters

UDC 72.03

Summary: With the advent of cinema as a new medium, the problem of forming a  new  comfort-able space for film shows arose. The article surveys the characteristic features of the first buildings de-signed  for  film  viewing  and  the  architectural  dif-ference between film theatres in St. Petersburg and Moscow where elements of theatre architecture, eclecticism of restaurant design mixed with the vanishing Art Nouveau were used.

Key words: architecture, electrotheater, early movie theaters, façade, interior, auditorium, Neo-classicism, Art Nouveau, reconstruction.

Author: Alexander V. Anisimov, Doctor in Ar-chitecture, Professor of the National Research University “Moscow State University of Civil Engineering”, Associate member, Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences.

Russian Documentary at the Turn  of the 21st Century

UDC 778.5.03.0+778.5.03.071:1+778.5.03р(09)

Summary: The article tackles the esthetic aspects of Russian documentary cinema at the turn of the century within the new system of production and promotion. The author analyses the change of the relationship between the filmmaker and the char-acter as well as the evolution of the expressive tech-niques of the current screen document.

Key words: documentary, expressive language, documentary film, ethical and aesthetic perspec-tives, the concept of the documentary hero.

Author: Galina S. Prozhiko, Doctor of Arts, Professor, VGIK.

FILM LANGUAGE AND TIME | IMAGE GENESIS

"Turksib" As an Ecological Message

UDC 778.5

Summary: Turksib, V. Turins documentary is analyses in terms of the interaction of nature and civilization. Comparing the film to the works of avantguard filmmakers, the author investigates the specificities of the its language and the approach to shooting ethnographic scenes, habitable and virgin landscapes. The article also justifies the policy of the region’s reformers leading to the shifting of priorities of the time, including the “taming of the stubborn nature,” reveals the message of the film as environmental issue.

Key words: nature photography, poetics of intertitles, environmental issues.

Author: Nadezhda N. Berkova, Associate Professor of Kazakh National Academy of Arts named after T.Zhurgenov, Almaty.

VR Cinema. Virtual Spectacle As a Dream

UDC 778.534

Summary: The article explores the meaning of the term ‘immersion’ in the context of modern cinema, the physiological feelings of a person perceiv-ing an entertaining VR content and the effect of the 360-Degree video on the viewer. This issue is raised because  a  person  in  the  state  of immersion does not perceive the screen as the translator of artificial reality, but ‘merges’ with the plot. This state is most accurately rendered by the term ‘Dreamt Me’ defining both the artistic concept of the audiovisual product and the degree of the individual’s immersion into the VR content.

Key words: virtual reality, immersive cinema, visuality, immersive technology, dreaming.

Author: Vasily N. Novikov, Post-Graduate Student, VGIK.

PERFORMANCE | THE ART OF PRESENTATION

The Image of Prince Myshkin in Russian Cinema

UDC 778.5.04.072.094

Summary: The article is devoted to the adaptations of Dostoyevsky’s novel Idiot created by Russian filmmakers in different cultural and historical periods. The films released from 1910 to 2003 are analyzed in the chronological order to trace the representation of the typological traits of Prince Myshkin (Prince Christ) as one of the key images of Russian culture in the national consciousness.

Key words: Dostoevsky, The Idiot, screen adaptation, Prince Christ, Prince Myshkin, Russian national consciousness, biblical image.

Author: Anastasia V. Ryabokon', Post-Graduate Student, Department of Film Studies, VGIK.

The Sound World of the Alienated Film Character

UDC 791.43/45

Summary: Alienation is one of the topical prob-lems in modern society increasingly affecting people. It is no coincidence that this issue has become the subject of artistic insight in various art forms including cinema. The article explores the visual and sound techniques and the semantics of words and music in the context of representing the alienated character, his inner and outer world.

Key words: theme of alienation in cinema, sound image in film, alienated film character, music in films about alienation, the tragedy of the everyday in cinema.

Author: Elena A. Rusinova, PhD (Arts), Vice Rector For International Relations and Scientific Work, Chair of Sound Design Department, VGIK.

Framing As a Method of Creating a Film's Metaphorical Context

UDC7.08

Summary: It is the case study of Anna: from 6 to 18, N. Mikhalkov’s art film (1980–1993). The article in-vestigates the notion of ‘visual angle’ as the leading technique of representing the metaphorical process of the character’s self-identity. The author elicits the multi-aspect character of the filmmaker’s conception reflecting the modern Russian sociocultural situation by means of framing and spatial, linear and temporal expressive techniques.

Key words: framing, form, content, metaphor, imagery, existentialism, self-identification.

Author: Roman V. Korobko, Post-Graduate Student, Konstantin Ushinsky Yaroslavl State Pedagogical University.

Actual Problems of the Composition of the Artistic Image

UDC 7.012

Summary: The article considers graphic composition as a specific text with a semantic meaning within the dialogue between the artist and the audience. Such a text  comprises  a  sophisticated  interrelation  of  indi-vidual  components  which  create  a  specific  percep-tional  continuity.  In  the  construction  of  an  integral  composition  there  appears  an  artistic  meaning  that  transcends the simple sum of the depicted elements. The challenge of a teacher is to help the student build a whole compositional image fundamentally different from a usual arrangement of the picture on paper.

Key words: compositional organization, graphic text, composite.

Author: Alexander V. Sveshnikov, Doctor of Arts, Professor, Full Professor at the Department of Fine Arts, Sergei Gerasimov State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK).

SCREEN CULTURE | CULTUROLOGY. PHILOSOPHY

Modern Art History As a Human Science in a Situation of Cultural Turn

UDC7.01

Summary: The article (Part 2, for the beginning see Issue 1(39), 2019) discusses a vital problem of modern art studies connected with the re-lationship  between  art  history  and  theory.  The  study  subject  of  art  theory  as  a  subdiscipline  of  cultural  studies,  unlike  that  of  art  history,  has  not  been  determined  yet.  Tracing  the  processes  taking place at the time of linguistic and cultural turns in the humanities, the article dwells on the subject of art theory and justifies the idea of this subdiscipline’s significance in transitional eras.

Key words: art theory, humanities, Aristotle’s tra-dition, text culture, methodological shift, linguistic approach, culturological approach, cultural time.

Author: Nicolai A. Khrenov, Doctor of Sciences (Philosophy), Professor, Section of Media Artis-tic Problems, State institute of Cultural Studies.

The ‘Hero Archetype’ in the Neo-Mythological Context of Contemporary Screen Culture

UDC 008

Summary: The article investigates the hero of the neomythological field of mass screen culture. The emphasis is laid on the main features of the hero archetypeand the culturological meanings that constitute this notion. The author explores the images of neo-mythological characters in commercial and art cinema.

Key words: neo-myth, archetype, hero, screen culture, deconstruction, bricolage, simulacrum, art-house, mass cinema.

Author: Olesya V. Stroeva, PhD in Philosophy, Associate Professor, Full Professor at the Department of Theory and History of Culture, Institute of Cinema and Television (GITR).

WORLD CINEMA | ANALYSIS

Existential Problematics in the Films of Pedro Costa

UDC 778.5.01(014)

Summary: The article searches into the existential problems and spiritual images of the Portuguese director Pedro Costa. The author analyses four films set in Fontainhas, a slum district of Lisbon. They reflect the sophistication of the director’s artistic method, the growing abstractness of spatiotemporal structures in audiovisual works. The author also substantiates the conflict between the individual and social ego that expands to a mythological scale and leads the hero to failure which becomes the subject of the director’s attention.

Key words: Pedro Costa, European cinema, existential problematics, spiritual images, mythological constructions.

Author: Vladlena O. Sandu, Post-Graduate Student, VGIK.

TELEVISION | DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT

Artistic Features of Russian TV Serials About the Great Patriotic War

UDC 791.43.01

Summary: The article surveys the artistic conceptions of four TV shows about the Great Patriotic War broadcast in 2004 which predetermined the further development of similar works. The TV shows in question are on the one hand, the response the audience’s expectations, on the other, a dialogue with previously made films about the war tragedy.

Key words: Great Patriotic War (World War II), TV series, artistic methods, the image of the hero, reminiscences, audience expectations.

Authors: Ksenia A. Shergova, PhD (Arts), Associate Professor, Academy of Media Industry; Aleksey B. Muradov, Associate Professor, producer, director, screenwriter.

* For further discussions please contact the authors on: editor@vestnik-vgik.com  

© Translated by The Laboratory of the Foreign Cinema, VGIK.