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FILM THEORY AND FILM HISTORY | AUDIOVISUAL ARTS

Film Art Against Avant-Garde? On the Onthology of Artistic Means

UDC 791.43.01

Summary: The early 1900s saw two revolutions in art: the emergence of the avant-garde and the birth of cinema. The Avant-Garde in painting, architecture and literature concludes the process of ‘ontologization’ of artistic production and puts the final accent in this macro-historical development. Having different ideological challenges, the newborn film art seems to replace the functions annulled in the Avant-Garde art through ‘human change’ and offers the audience entertainment, advice, emotional relaxation. The article investigates the processes of spontaneous ontologization, the socio-instrumental representation of the ontological narrative that was unfolding in the new Avant-Garde art of the 1910s. The author also analyses the artistic expressive means and methods of the early cinema largely exceeding those of the Avant-Garde in other art forms.

Key words: onthological turn, Avant-Garde, early film art, ideology, visual language.

Author: Alexander K. Yakimovich, Doctor of Arts; Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts; Chief editor, “Sobraniye. Iskusstvo & kultura’’.

The Product of Film Industry — a Cultural Good in Commodity Form

UDC 778.5.01.067.2

Summary: The article explores the essential characteristics of a film as a film industry’s product focusing on the discrepancy between the cultural use value of the film industry’s produce and the commodity form of its production and consumption, touches upon the problems of self-expression, reproducing national cultural identity through cinema and defending cultural diversity.

Key words: film industry, theatrical film, commodity, use value, society, culture, collective dreams, identity, cultural diversity, social action.

Author: Mikhail I. Zhabsky, Doctor in Sociology, Head of the Sociology Sector, Institute of Film Art. 

FILM LANGUAGE AND TIME | IMAGE GENESIS

Screen Metamorphoses of Ivan Pyryev

UDC 791.43

Summary: The article is devoted to the work of Ivan Pyryev, a controversial but talented personality. A film director, screenwriter, manager, he left a rich artistic legacy. His musical comedies of the 1930-1940s are masterpieces of the social realism “popular film”, and screen adaptations of Dostoyevsky’s novels are not only an interesting experiment of Soviet cinema but a school of mastery.

Key words: cinema metamorphoses, screen culture, socialist realism, popular film, screen interpretation, dialogism, polyphonism.

Author: Natalia B. Kirillova, Doctor of Cultural Studies, Professor, Chair of Cultural Studies and Socio-Cultural Activity, Ural Federal University.

PERFORMANCE | THE ART OF PRESENTATION

Aesthetics of Interactivity: Between Game and Film. To Watch or to Play?

UDC 778.534

Summary: The second part of the article (conclusion for beginning see Issue 1 (35), 2018) searches into the influence of video game industry on modern film language in terms of its esthetic form, analyses the psychological aspects of films relaying on human game thinking as well as visual techniques reproducing game associations while viewing. In conclusion, the author examines the innovative format of an interactive feature film where the viewer controls the plot’s development and relationship between the characters within the set rules.

Key words: virtual reality, interactivity, game, technologies, screen, visuality.

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

SCREEN CULTURE | CULTUROLOGY. PHILOSOPHY

Mind-Body Dialectics in the Latest Science Fiction TV-Series

UDC 130.2

Summary: The article analyses recent sci-fi TV shows in the context of the philosophical problem of the connection between the body and mind using the synthesis of theory and phenomenological, psychoanalytical, neurophysiologic and cybernetic practice. The prospect of developing artificial intellect including the attempts to “awaken” the self-awareness of robots are now essential not only for science fiction but for real life as well which explains the popularity of modern “cyberpunk” productions.

Key words: science fiction, body, consciousness, phenomenology, cyberpunk.

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

WORLD CINEMA | ANALYSIS

The Influence of Traditions of Culture on the Techniques of Sound Directing in Japanese Cinema. Speech and Pause

UDC 791.43.01

Summary: The article (conclusion, for beginning see Issue 1 (35), 2018) surveys the sound peculiarities of Japanese films produced in the late 1900s and early 2000s. The authors follow the impact of national drama speech traditions on sound design. The authors present the stylistic, phonetic and semantic features of speech in Japanese period (Jidaigeki), sci-fi and animated films.

Key words: Japanese cinema, traditions of the Japanese theater, sound design of the film, onomatopoeia, actor's speech in the cinema, sound directing in cinema.

Authors: Elena A. Rusinova, PhD (Arts), Associate Professor, Vice Rector for Science, VGIK; Elizaveta M. Khabchuk, sound designer, VGIK.

Screen Self-Reflection: Classification of Species

UDC 778.5.04.07

Summary: The article deals with the phenomenon of filmic self-reflection and its types as exemplified by I. Bergman’s films “Wild Strawberries”, “Hour of the Wolf ” and “The Seventh Seal”. The author draws the line between the auteur’s self-reflection and that of the character and lists the main types of characters’ selfreflection.

Key words: self-reflection, screenwriting tool, Bergman, self-comprehension, artistic creativity.

Author: Maria V. Solovyova, Post-Graduate student, VGIK.

Psychological Insight in Asgar Farhadi’s Early Films

UDC 791.43-24

Summary: The article looks into the first films of Asgar Farhadi, one of the leading contemporary Iranian film directors. The analysis of the films confirms that the director has succeeded in developing the aesthetical gains of the Iranian ‘New Wave” of the 1990s and making psychological drama one of the main genres of modern Iranian cinema.

Key words: Iranian cinema, psychological drama, Asgar Farhadi, marriage, marital relations, family conflicts, Iranian woman.

Author: Natalya G. Grigorieva, PhD (Arts), Associate Professor, VGIK.

FILM INDUSTRY | STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF MANAGEMENT

Financing Cinema Production as a High-Risk Activity

UDC 336.6

Summary: The article investigates the financing of film industry, one of the leading branches of national culture. The author examines the methods and tools of supporting film production prevalent in Russian and international practice, reveals the sources of financial backing, gives recommendations concerning their usage in business operations, substantiates the ways of activating work in film business, increasing the profitability and de-risking of venture project, pays attention to the development of marketing strategies and promotion budgets as essential elements for stepping up innovations and investment activities in film industry.

Key words: film production, investment, risk, profitability, financial backing, price, innovation, development strategy, cinema marketing.

Author: Natalya P. Molchanova, Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor; Professor of the Department of Public Finance, the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.

Prospects for Professional Training of Producers in the Context of the Development of Film Business in Russia

UDC 336.6

Summary: The article looks into the history of introducing one of the most popular professional standards, that of training film and TV producers in Russia. The author reveals the multi-aspect and interdisciplinary character of this education comparing the approaches and teaching methods in Russia and abroad, explains the necessity of introducing new majors connected with film producing in view of production enhancement and the development of digital economy in Russia.

Key words: film production, production, educational standard, development, distribution.

Author: Vitaly I. Sidorenko, PhD (Economic), Professor, Head of the Department of Producers' Excellence, Honorary Cinematographer, VGIK.

TELEVISION | DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT

“New Drama” in the Context of the Historical Film

UDC 778.5

Summary: The article focuses on the place and significance of historical theme in the work of ‘new drama’ directors as part of forming national identity. The author analyses ‘The Killer’s Diary’ (2002) directed by Kirill Serebrennikov. This philosophical TV series is one of the best films about Russian revolution far beyond the conventional TV productions.

Key words: TV-series, «new drama», post-Vampilov drama, contemporary Russian cinema, Russian revolution.

Author: Lydia V. Kuzmina, Senior Researcher, Department of Modern Screen Arts, Institute of Film Art, VGIK.

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

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