A new wave of Russian flash animation is evolving the form. When an offshoot becomes a genre is debatable, but the Russian school is stretching the boundaries – most certainly in subject matter if not the animation itself. Serious minded animation for those who want to see Flash used for more than just e-cards and Christmas sing-alongs. Take a look at the latest Russian Revolution.
Chevengur
This animation, at first sight, may seem like a Terminator episode, steampunk style, but is based on the works of Andrey Platonov who died in 1951. Platonov was himself a communist and lived under the rule of both Lenin and Stalin. However his works were banned in his own country because he was not convinced that collectivization (taking the labor and land of individuals under the ‘wing’ of the state) was a great idea. Turns out he was right, but his world vision was equally bleak. Many see his work as an exploration as meaningless and the creator of this animation, Mikhail Maximov, has taken a broad view of his ideas and brought them together in this visually stunning but desolate panorama.
Yellow
This short flash animated film takes the surrealist Daniil Kharms (who died in 1942) as its source of inspiration. You might call him the Russian equivalent of Dr Seuss (possibly a bad idea as he loathed children) but his absurdist children’s stories are still widely read today. Always dressed as an English dandy he was arrested for suspicion of treason in 1941. A year later in Leningrad Prison Number 1, with the siege of the city by the Nazis underway, Kharms died, quite probably of starvation. ‘Yellow’ is based on one of his works and is about as close as you may get to seeing the Russian sense of humor laid bare for us to inspect. (Note: Some mild nudity)
Happy New Year
While we in the West may, on New Year’s Eve, hold hands, sing and look forward to the future one gets the feeling that Kol Belov, the creator of this short short (and we all love short shorts) has other things on his mind. This is not for you if you are generally of a slightly sensitive nature. Skip it – and keep one thing in mind – the past always brings you presents. Although the joke here is in English it is synonymous with Russian humor, much of it being expressed in a variety of plays on words. Sure enough, a gleeful sense of the macabre is never far away. One old Russian joke went, ‘In America you can always find a party but in Russia the party will always find you.’
A Little Girl
A controversial subject for any film, let alone animation, a female addict awakes and gets ready for another day – and yet another fix. Her last moments are spent in a vivid nightmare created by ‘Re-animation’ which is a Russian social animation project. The music is ‘Krematory’ by, well you guessed it, ‘Krematory’. Although my Russian is not up to much, I can safely tell you that the lyrics are not about skipping through the streets picking flowers and catching butterflies.
Nude
Another masterful short by Belov – this time to Radiohead’s ‘Nude’ song – and this certainly does peel back the layers until very little is left. The lyrics to the song have, on first inspection, very little to do with the animation. However, the two are paired up seamlessly and the sometimes difficult to understand lyrics (not to mention lyricism) of the song fits in seamlessly with the animation. Plus, Radiohead were surely bound to make a huge impact on Russian audiences from the outset – soul searching is de rigeur among Russian youth (or at least much more so than there western counterparts). The bleakness of this is reminiscent of a Russian rhyming couplet. ‘A little boy found a machine gun, now his village’s population is none.” Pure, bloody fatalism at its best.
Grey
Snappy one word color titles seem to be in. Grotesque but at the same time familiar and everyday, ‘Grey’ focuses in on the goings on at a bus stop. The usual suspects come forward, the tired old woman, the harassed businessman, the muscle bound thug and the tawdry young woman with a baby plus, of course, a bird. What happens is the sort of thing you might dread but it is done with such dark humor that it is almost impossible not to see it through to the very end. Creator Ivan Rusev, although Bulgarian, very much fits in to the Russian New Wave genre. He uses typically Russian humor (which is quite often bawdy) to tell the story. As befits an animation from Europe, it has an end – of sorts. (Note: Some mild toon nudity)
Animus I
The animus in a woman is representative of her male alter ego – and the qualities that it can bring forth can vary from rationality and courage to brutality and aggression. In this incredibly thoughtful piece, a young concert pianist faces her fears. Many people accuse Flash creators of simply pressing buttons on a keyboard and up pops the finished product. Creator Elena Volk proves here that there is no flash in the pan. A huge amount of thought and effort has gone in to this occasionally impenetrable portrayal of a young gifted woman who – to use an Americanization – has lost her groove. If you feel that this has left you longing to find out what happens next, then try out Animus II. Click on the link below.
February 16th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Thanks. Refreshing to see something different.
February 16th, 2009 at 7:49 am
I enjoyed this!
February 16th, 2009 at 8:03 am
A very good article on an unusual and interesting subject.
Christine
February 16th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Great stuff, I liked this piece.
Thanks,
Clay
February 16th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Entertaining!
February 16th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Wow some of these look amazing. I know what I shall be watching this evening, then.
February 16th, 2009 at 11:46 am
This is fascinating stuff!
February 16th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
interesting stuff!
February 16th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Very fascinating article!
February 16th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Excellent animation article ,as always.
February 16th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Cool article!
February 16th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
thanks for posting such kind of an interesting stuff.
February 17th, 2009 at 12:50 am
it’s such an interesting article, thanks for sharing!
February 17th, 2009 at 2:01 am
Yet another interesting piece R J.
RJ
February 17th, 2009 at 2:41 am
Oh, no. I don’t want to click on these links. All of them look quite disturbing.
February 17th, 2009 at 5:10 am
Interesting as usual.
February 17th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Russians have always had very unique kinds of animation, which just happens to be the kinds I like
February 17th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Seems dark and a little like a Tim Burton world.. which is cool.
February 17th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Bookmarked and visited. I love these
February 18th, 2009 at 4:40 am
Hi! I just wanted to draw your attention, that Yellow i not a Russian animation and it is not a flash animation – the original technology is clipping and stop motion. The author of this short is Ivan Rusev from Bulgaria, and he is my really good friend. The animation was just posted in this Russian site
February 18th, 2009 at 7:20 am
Very interesting article
February 18th, 2009 at 9:53 am
@HUh!
Agreed. This is not flash animation, rather animation that’s been converted to swfs or something. These might as well be youtube videos.
RJ – Sorry bro – These are cool vids, for sure. But maybe you should try downloading a trial of Flash and see what it’s really about.
February 18th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Thanx a lot for this article!
We have reprinted this text here:
http://www.koms.ru/articles.php?article=24
February 18th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Definitely not Flash animation.
The only thing that is Flash is the player that is used. When you get down to it even YouTube videos are Flash….the player, any way.
I am guessing that a lot of these are put together using Adobe After Effects or some other similar program.
February 18th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
I use flash too. It is possible to put these things together in flash. But images are created using other software.
Great article!
February 19th, 2009 at 2:37 am
nice one…
February 19th, 2009 at 3:34 am
R J Evans, you have become a most entertaining writer that have continued to amaze me with your ability to tell a good story. You have presented the information about this animations in an lively way that kept my attention from the beginning to the end.
Here is a suggestion to consider: Write a book and I will buy a copy of it.
God Bless,
Nelson Doyle
February 19th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Very interesting article and some of the animations are really cool!
February 21st, 2009 at 3:45 am
I really enjoy viewing this article.. Keep it up.
February 24th, 2009 at 6:06 am
Enjoyable read. Excellent stuff.