Russia 9 may

Alex Author: Alex Soloviev
Author webpage: https://vimeo.com/alexsoloviev
Licence: ATTRIBUTION LICENSE 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/)
Downloaded at Mazwai.com

 

 

Andrei Tarkovsky

Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (Russian: Андре́й Арсе́ньевич Тарко́вский; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director.

Tarkovsky's films include Ivan's Childhood (1962), Andrei Rublev (1966), Solaris (1972), Mirror (1975), and Stalker (1979). He directed the first five of his seven feature films in the Soviet Union; his last two films, Nostalghia (1983) and The Sacrifice (1986), were produced in Italy and Sweden, respectively. His work is characterized by long takes, unconventional dramatic structure, distinctly authored use of cinematography, and spiritual and metaphysical themes. His contribution to cinema was so influential that works done in a similar way are described as Tarkovskian.

Novoya Zemlya

A new Dutch film
Nova Zembla is a 2011 Dutch historical drama film directed by Reinout Oerlemans. It is the first Dutch feature film in 3D.

The film describes the last journey of Willem Barentsz and Jacob van Heemskerk through 1596-1597 when they and their crew tried to discover the Northeast Passage to the Indies. However, due to the sea ice, they are stranded on the island of Novaya Zemlya and have to spend the winter there in Het Behouden Huys (The Safe Home). The story is told through the eyes of Gerrit de Veer, and is loosely based on a diary he published in 1598 after his safe return. Gerrit is portrayed as having a relationship with Catharina Plancius, the daughter of the astronomer, cartographer and reverend Petrus Plancius, who pioneered the concept of the North East passage to reach the Indies. The Novaya Zemlya effect, first described by De Veer, is shown in the film, albeit in a non-historical fashion.

Battleship Potemkin

One of the most celebrated scenes in the film is the massacre of civilians on the Odessa Steps .

This scene has been described as one of the most influential in the history of cinema, because it introduced concepts of film editing and montage to cinema. In this scene, the Tsar's soldiers in their white summer tunics march down a seemingly endless flight of steps in a rhythmic, machine-like fashion, firing volleys into a crowd. A separate detachment of mounted Cossacks charges the crowd at the bottom of the stairs. The victims include an older woman wearing pince-nez, a young boy with his mother, a student in uniform and a teenage schoolgirl. A mother pushing an infant in a baby carriage falls to the ground dying and the carriage rolls down the steps amidst the fleeing crowd.

The massacre on the steps, which never took place, was presumably inserted by Eisenstein for dramatic effect and to demonise the Imperial regime. It is ironic that [Eisenstein] did it so well that today, the bloodshed on the Odessa steps is often referred to as if it really happened.

 

Winter in St Petersburg

a slide show

Siberia

Siberia ( is an extensive geographical region, consisting of almost all of North Asia. Siberia has been part of Russia since the seventeenth century.

The territory of Siberia extends eastwards from the Ural Mountains to the watershed between the Pacific and Arctic drainage basins. Siberia stretches southwards from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan and to the national borders of Mongolia and China. Siberia is 77% of Russia (13.1 million square kilometres), but has just 27% (40 million people) of Russia's population.

 

Sketches of StPetersburg

A sketch is a rapidly executed freehand drawing that is not usually intended as a finished work. A sketch may serve a number of purposes: it might record something that the artist sees, it might record or develop an idea for later use or it might be used as a quick way of graphically demonstrating an image, idea or principle.

Metro of St Peterburg

Animation is the process of creating a continuous motion and shape change illusion by means of the rapid display of a sequence of static images that minimally differ from each other. The illusion—as in motion pictures in general—is thought to rely on the phi phenomenon.
Animations can be stored or recorded on either analogue media, such as Flip book, motion picture film, video tape, on digital media, including formats such as animated GIF, Flash animation or digital video. To display it, a digital camera, a computer, or a projector are used.
Animation creation methods include the traditional animation creation method and those involving stop motion animation of two and three-dimensional objects, such as paper cutouts, puppets and clay figures. Images are displayed in a rapid succession, usually 24, 25, or 30 frames per sec.

 

Churches in St Petersburg

In filmmaking, video production, animation, and related fields, a film frame or video frame is one of the many still images which compose the complete moving picture. The term is derived from the fact that, from the beginning of modern filmmaking toward the end of the 20th century, and in many places still up to the present, the single images have been recorded on a strip of photographic film that quickly increased in length, historically; each image on such a strip looks rather like a framed picture when examined individually.

The term may also be used more generally as a noun or verb to refer to the edges of the image as seen in a camera viewfinder or projected on a screen. Thus, the camera operator can be said to keep a car in frame by panning with it as it speeds past.

A grand man: Tolstoy

Filminfo:

The Cinema of the Russian Empire roughly spans the period 1907 - 1920, during which time a strong infrastructure was created. From the over 2,700 art films created in Russia before 1920, around 300 remain to this day.

In April 1896, just four months after the first films were shown in Paris, the first cinematic apparatus appeared in Russia. The first films seen in the Russian Empire were via the Lumière brothers, in Moscow and St. Petersburg in May 1896. In the same month, the first film was shot in Russia, by Lumière cameraman Camille Cerf, a record of the coronation of Nicholas II at the Kremlin in Moscow. The first permanent cinema was opened in St Petersburg in 1896 at Nevsky Prospect, No. 46.

Staying in St Petersburg

A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase, an elaborate subculture that engage in repeated viewings, quoting dialogue, and audience participation. Inclusive definitions allow for major studio productions, especially box office bombs, while exclusive definitions focus more on obscure, transgressive films shunned by the mainstream. The difficulty in defining the term and subjectivity of what qualifies as a cult film mirror classificatory disputes about art. The term cult film itself was first used in the 1970s to describe the culture that surrounded underground films and midnight movies, though cult was in common use in film analysis for decades prior to that.

Alexander Nevsky cementary

 Alexander Nevsky (Prokofiev)

The film was the first of Eisenstein's dramatic films to use sound. (The earlier Bezhin Meadow, had also used sound, but production was shut down and most of the finished scenes were destroyed.) The film's score was composed by Sergei Prokofiev, who later reworked the score into a concert cantata. The creation of Alexander Nevsky was a collaboration in the fullest sense of the word: some of the film was shot to Prokofiev's music and some of Prokofiev's music was composed to Eisenstein's footage. Prokofiev viewed the film's rough cut as the first step in composing its inimitable score. The strong and technically innovative collaboration between Eisenstein and Prokofiev in the editing process resulted in a match of music and imagery that remains a standard for filmmakers. Valery Gergiev, the principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, has stated his opinion that Prokofiev's music for this film is "the best ever composed for the cinema".

Music in the park

Ever since the first sound movie, The Jazz Singer was made in 1929 on Stage 5 of the Warner Bros. lot in Hollywood the movie going public has been spoiled. They have come to expect that when they see a movie they will not only see life up on the screen but they will also hear it too. There is a certain level of technical quality they expect when they see movie. However, when it comes to hearing a movie, things are quite different: their standards for sound quality are much higher than their standards for visual quality. The eyes have a higher threshold for pain than the ears do, and the brain of a typical human being cannot handle uncomfortable noises for very long.

Mini Saint Petersburg

The first films seen in the Russian Empire were brought in by the Lumière brothers, who exhibited films in Moscow and St. Petersburg in May 1896. That same month, Lumière cameraman Camille Cerf made the first film in Russia, recording the coronation of Nicholas II at the Kremlin.
During World War I, imports dropped drastically, and Russian filmmakers turned out anti-German, nationalistic films. In 1916, 499 films were made in Russia, more than three times the number of just three years earlier.
The Russian Revolution brought more change, with a number of films with anti- Tsarist themes. The last significant film of the era, made in 1917, Father Sergius would become the first new film release of the Soviet era.

 

Church of the spilled blood

Russian Revolution of 1917
In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, the church was ransacked and looted, badly damaging its interior. The Soviet government closed the church in 1932. During the Second World War when many people were starving due to the Siege of Leningrad by Nazi German military forces, the church was used as a temporary morgue for those who died in combat and from starvation and illness. The church suffered significant damage. After the war, it was used as a warehouse for vegetables, leading to the sardonic name of Saviour on Potatoes.

 

Modern usage

In July 1970, management of the Church passed to Saint Isaac's Cathedral and it was used as a museum. The proceeds from the Cathedral funded the restoration of the Church. It was reopened in August 1997, after 27 years of restoration, but has not been reconsecrated and does not function as a full-time place of worship. The Church of the Saviour on Blood is a Museum of Mosaics. In the pre-Revolution period it was not used as a public place of worship. The church was dedicated to the memory of the assassinated tsar and only panikhidas (memorial services) took place. The Church is now one of the main tourist attractions in St. Petersburg.

 

 

Peterhof

In the time of Peter the Great, the sea floor just north of the Peterhof site and to the east toward St. Petersburg was too shallow for either commercial ships or warships. However, to the west of Peterhof, the sea floor dropped off to be deep enough for sea vessels. Accordingly, when Peter the Great decided to build St. Petersburg at the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland, he first captured the Kotlin Island clearly visible from the Peterhof site just to the northeast in the middle of the Gulf. At Kotlin Island he would build the commercial harbour for St. Petersburg as well as the Kronstadt fortifications across the 20 kilometres of shallow sea to provision and defend the Navy that he would build.

Hermitage slides

A slide show may be a presentation of images purely for their own visual interest or artistic value, sometimes unaccompanied by description or text, or it may be used to clarify or reinforce information, ideas, comments, solutions or suggestions which are presented verbally. Slide shows are sometimes still conducted by a presenter using an apparatus such as a carousel slide projector or an overhead projector, but now the use of an electronic video display device and a computer running presentation software is typical.

Venice of the North: St Petersburg

;St. Petersburg is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Founded in 1703 by Emperor Peter the Great as his "window to the West", St. Petersburg has one of the most beautiful architecture in Europe. It is often referred to as the Venice of the North or the Paris of the East. St. Petersburg is a fascinating holiday destination and one of the most intriguing and historically significant cities in Europe.

 

Hydrofoil

Camera BasicsHolding: Single HandOne basic technique is holding your camera with one hand and supporting that elbow with your free hand. Keep your elbow near your body, as this will give you the most leverage and allow you to hold the camera for long periods.Two HandsHolding: Two HandsSometimes it is more comfortable to hold a camera with both hands. Again, keep your elbows near your body for improved leverage and stability. The difference between one and two hands is largely a matter of personal preference.

Peter and Paul fortress St Petersburg

The fortress was established by Peter the Great on May 16 1703 on small Hare Island by the north bank of the Neva River, the last upstream island of the Neva delta. Built at the height of the Northern War in order to protect the projected capital from a feared Swedish counterattack, the fort never fulfilled its martial purpose. The citadel was completed with six bastions in earth and timber within a year, and it was rebuilt in stone from 1706-1740.

From around 1720, the fort served as a base for the city garrison and also as a prison for high-ranking or political prisoners.