PROJECT "Traditions in Russian cinematography "

traditions in Russian cinematography

Was done by Alex Grachev,
A pupil of school #67
Was checked by Olga Valerievna,
An English teacher,
And by Natalia Nicolaivna,
An IT teacher

Vladivostok 2019

A table of contents

At first
The history of Russian cinematography
The first period
The second period
The third period
Similarity (traditions)
The end

At first

Now I am going tell you about the cinematic traditions in Russia and how they influence modern films. But firstly I think it’s important to tell you about the history of Russian cinematography.




An interesting fact: the first Lumiere brothers` film was very disappointing for them despite the fact that the spectators were shocked by the glory of this film.

The history of Russian cinematography

The cinematography was first brought to the Russian Empire by the Lumiere brothers themselves in the very same year it was invented. The first Russian feature film was Stenka Razin (1908) by Vladimir Romashkov. So he could be called the «father» of the Russian cinematography. The first example how film should look like.




In 1922 from the October Revolution the Soviet Union emerged. The Communist Party saw film production as the most important propaganda tool. The film business was subordinated entirely to the party and communist ideology.

The flag of the Soviet Union

The first poster

A scene from the movie

So, the first period of the history of the Russian cinematography began in 1908 (the first movie).
In 1920 Mosfilm, the most significant film company in Russian history, originated from combining two nationalised private companies. The filmmakers were supposed to realize goals of communism and were strictly supervised by the party censorship.



One of the most prominent directors and theorists of the Soviet film school was Sergei M. Eisenstein. Like other directors, he also was a student of Lev Kuleshov, the film director and theorist considered as a father of Soviet cinematography. In the 1930’s, Eisenstein created the revolutionary trilogy Stachka (Strike) (1925), Battleship Potemkin (1925),  October (1928), Alexander Nevsky (1938) and Ivan the Terrible (1944).

Posters
and Battleship Potemkin

Since 1930 socrealism started its domination also in culture including all areas of the art. There was no more space for experiments. A film was supposed to be in the state’s service and strictly realize assumptions of party ideology.





The group of directors who realized critical – philosophical and reflective trend showed in the 1970’s. One of the leading directors of that time was Andrei Tarkovsky, who gained international renown in the 1980’s and later had to emigrate because of the problems with the censorship. By the way, he was excommunicated from the country and worshipped abroad.

Some posters of that time

After the censorship was softened in the 1980’s the Soviet cinema got into the crisis.
The youngest generation of directors looks at modern Russia pretty critically. They try to show traumas and historical ballast as well as the social stratification of savage capitalism sweeping across Russia nowadays. They lean over a man and bore the existential subjects.





There are also significant blockbusters like Pavel Lungin’s Tycoon (2002), or Admiral (2008) by Andrey Kravchuk produced and very popular action films in type of Night Watch: Nochnoi Dozor (2004) and Day Watch: Dnevnoy Dozor, both by Timur Bekmambetov, who now makes his movies with big stars and for big money in Hollywood.

Similarity (traditions)

As you can see cinematography in Russia has a lot of traditions about making films. I think these traditions would be essential for all the time.
I want to turn your mind to the most important common things in Russian cinematography:
The majority of films created by independent directors was been censored just because of their different ideas;
The majority of films have their own political and ideological concept. Directors always tries to impose their own worldview;
The ideas of classical literature in combination with cinematic technologies;
And of course, historical topics in films. I think historical films are the most popular kind of film in Russia;

The end

The ground of this cultural heritage is invaluable treasure that was created at the beginning of the history of Russian cinematography. So, I think now you know about Russian films more, that you had known before.