(" Prokofiev: Dance Of The Knights from Romeo And Julief)
‘Moscow hasn't found itself short of western visitors since the collapse of communism.
‘But few could have had a more surprising reason for coming than Dave Edwards,
‘a man with an international reputation as a maker of animated films.
‘Although he's English by birth, Edwards is closely associated with Wales,
‘having helped to make that country a key player in the world of animation.
‘For the past 18 months, he has commuted between Cardiff and Moscow,
‘supervising a remarkable example
‘of creative collaboration between east and west.'
(Speaks Russian)
‘Here, at the crumbling but historic studios of Soyuzmult Films,
‘teams of animators from all over the former Soviet Union
have come together under Dave Edwards' leadership
‘to produce six half-hour films
‘based on the best-loved plays of William Shakespeare.'
"This is the story of how the works of England's greatest playwright
‘have been reinterpreted by an unlikely alliance of Welsh and Russian filmmakers.
'It is a tale whose twists and tums might have appealed to Shakespeare himself.
‘Anyone accustomed to swish western film studios
is liable to be taken aback by the appearance of Soyuzmult Films.
‘But the impression of decay the studio projects is, in fact, misleading.
‘Ever since it was established in 1935,
‘the company, known as the Soviet Disney,
‘has adhered to the highest technical and artistic standards.
"lt was this reputation for excellence
‘that led those in charge of the Shakespeare project
‘to conceive the notion of making it here in Russia.
‘Chris Grace, head of animation at the Welsh language TV channel S4C,
is the guiding force behind the series.
‘He had worked with the Russians before on an animated version of the Mabinogion,
‘the Welsh folktale cycle.
‘He had no hesitation in approaching them
‘when the idea of animating Shakespeare was first mooted three years ago.'
I knew that the Russians could make up their half of the budget.
That was an underpinning reason.
The main reason was that to animate Shakespeare in a 30-minute format,
then we had to go to a country that we knew creatively and artistically could deliver.
In my view, there was only one country that could do it in the style that we wanted,
that came at it from a different angle,
a country to whom Shakespeare was as important as it is to us.
(Speaks Russian)
(Interpreter) In the theatre, the cinema and publishing,
a great deal has been devoted to Shakespeare.
All the plays have been staged and filmed many, many times.
1 would say that his work is well known throughout Russian society.
(Interpreter) I've known Shakespeare's work since childhood.
I studied it at school and later on at university.
My interest in him has remained strong right up until the present day.
(Speaks Russian)
(Interpreter) The Tempest is the play I like best.
It has the light touch of a craftsman who's reached the stage of being free.
He feels his own strength and he's fully in control of his material.
In fact, the play is created as if on wings.
Awake, dear heart, awake. Thou hast slept well.
- (Moans) - Come on.
‘Before they could begin putting images to Shakespeare's words,
‘the Russian directors needed a sound recording of each play
‘to use as a basis for their work.'
What, ho! Slave? Caliban!
‘Recorded in the sound studios of BBC Wales in the summer of 1991,
‘these soundtracks are impressive in their own right.
‘Well-known classical actors were brought in
‘to make sure that the characters in the completed films
‘would speak in the authentic cadences of the English Shakespearian tradition.'
..Sycorax, my mother.
"The scripts were the end product of months of effort by screenwriter Leon Garfield.
‘He wrote Shakespeare's Stories,
‘a book that's given thousands of school children their first taste of the Bard's work.
‘He was very familiar with all the plays he and the producers chose to adapt.
‘He still had difficulty in deciding what to leave out.
(Garfield) ‘Lines that are selected have to carry the weight of narrative,
‘and that's not always easy.
"lt frequently meant using half a line and perhaps skipping 20 lines,
‘and then finding something that would sustain the rhythm,
‘and at the same time cary on the story.'
The most difficult by far were the comedies -
Twelfth Night and Midsummer Night's Dream.
In the tragedies, you have a fairly strong story going straight through,
sustained by the protagonists.
In the comedies, the structure is much more complex.
For instance, in Midsummer Night's Dream,
it's quite impossible to remove one scene or one set of characters,
because then the story itself won't make sense.
Our revels now are ended.
We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.
‘Before they were committed to tape,
‘the scripts were carefully checked by academic advisers.
"The Russian directors also suggested changes,
‘an involvement that Leon Garfield actively encouraged.'
The collaboration has been absolutely essential.
The first scripts I did, I hadn't seen any of their animation at all,
and could only imagine what animation could do.
Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.
But after I'd spoken to the directors, who liked my scripts sufficiently
and then suggested their own ideas,
then I found it very much easier.
"All the directors chosen for the series are experienced filmmakers
‘with strong characters and a well-thought-out approach to work.
‘With their designers and animators,
‘they've given a distinctive look and feel to each film.'
- Romeo, we must have you dance. - Not I, believe me.
You have dancing shoes with nimble soles. I have a soul of lead.
‘Romeo And Juliet is perhaps the most conventional of the six.
‘Made by the cell animation method favoured by Walt Disney,
‘the film is a colourful and moving version of the world's greatest love story.'
Oh, she doth teach the torches to burn bright.
‘For its director, Efim Gamburg, the film was a major departure.'
(Speaks Russian)
(Interpreter) It's very different from my previous films,
in that I have a leaning towards humorous films, parodies or satire,
and that's how I made my name.
This, of course, is a film about love.
Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed
If that thy bent of love be honourable
Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow
By one that I'll procure to come to thee
Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite
And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay.
The play deals with a timeless subject.
It is about pure feelings, fundamental feelings, if you like.
Woe tried to express that as clearly as possible in this film.
What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?
Gentle mortal, sing again!
‘Like Romeo And Juliet,
'A Midsummer Night's Dream was made in the conventional way, using drawings.
‘And yet there's nothing anonymous about it.
‘Anyone familiar with the work of its director, Robert Saakiants,
‘would instantly identify it as one of his films.
‘Unlike other directors in his field,
'Saakiants, a fiercely independent Armenian,
‘does most of the drawings that go into his films himself.
‘He's reluctant to let anyone else interfere with his interpretation of the film.'
is determined by someone up there.
I just have a vision of what it should look like,
and once I've seen it, I can't change a thing.
Neither my head nor my hands would let me put the film together in any other way.
My Oberon!
What visions have I seen!
Methought I was enamoured of an ass!
There lies your love.
(Screams)
Come, my queen, take hands with me.
‘Nikolai Serebrayakov, the bear-like director of Macbeth,
is just as keen to put a personal stamp on his films as Robert Saakiants.
‘But working with a much darker play,
‘he and his team have moved further away
‘from most people's idea of what an animated film should be like.'
The castle of Macduff I will surprise; seize upon Fife
Give to the edge o' the sword his wife, his babes
And all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line.
(Nikolai) "When I was given the chance of filming one of Shakespeare's plays,
'l didn't choose Macbeth at random.
'l had two good reasons.'
First, it's got spirits, witches, soothsaying, ghosts.
All that makes it easier to adapt
and means that it's peculiarly well suited to animation.
‘Secondly, it's one of the shortest plays.
‘That's important, since we only have 26 minutes to tell the story.'
(Thinks) 'Is this a dagger which I see before me?
'l have thee not.
'A dagger of the mind? A false creation?'
(Nikolai) "The main task we set ourselves was to make the characters come alive
‘by giving them believable gestures and facial expressions.
‘We tried to be actors as well as animators.
"Hopefully this will be what makes the film stand out.'
‘The challenge of creating rounded characters
‘has also been a preoccupation for Maria Muat, director of Twelfth Night.
‘Instead of using drawings, she opted to work with highly sophisticated puppets.'
(Interpreter) The puppets are built around a flexible metal skeleton,
which we can manipulate in any way we like.
We move the puppets frame by frame.
‘During filming, we take a shot of the puppet,
‘move it, take another shot, and so on.
‘When you play this back at 24 frames per second, you get realistic movement.'
How now, Malvoliol
(Laughs)
Sweet lady, ho, ho!
It did come to his hands and commands shall be executed.
What is the matter with thee?
Wilt thou go to bed, Malvolio?
To bed! Ay, sweet-heart, and I'll come to thee.
There's a whole host of tricks you can do to make the characters more believable.
Take our favourite character, Malvolio. He's got several interchangeable heads.
Here his expression is serious and arrogant.
But there are scenes where he has to smile.
To achieve this, we take off the serious head
and replace it with one that's smiling slightly.
The puppets move their eyes because there are little balls
that we can move around using a pin.
This makes it easier for us to convey a sense of character.
‘In order to get particularly tricky movements exactly right,
‘the team referred to video recordings of colleagues acting out the required scene.
‘This explains how the characters manage to give
‘such a convincing, if exaggerated impression of real human behaviour.
‘The puppetry brought to bear on Twelfth Night
‘has also been used to striking effect in The Tempest,
‘Shakespeare's last and arguably greatest play.
'For director Stanislav Sokolov,
‘having the chance to work on a play he has always loved
‘has been intensely rewarding.'
(Interpreter) "You can express anything you think or feel
‘when you work with literature of this standard.'
You can make a film that reflects your own temperament and feelings
by exploring the psychological discoveries Shakespeare made many years ago.
This rough magic I here abjure
And when I have required some heavenly music, which even now I do
I'll break my staff, I'll drown my book.
(Sokolov) "This film is full of deep-seated human emotions -
"love, hatred, passion, envy.
‘Because of the atmosphere on this island, full of spirits and ghosts,
'it seems these feelings overflow in all the characters.
‘They're almost visible on their faces.'
Behold, sir king, the wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero.
‘Making inanimate objects talk and act exactly like living creatures
‘calls for a huge amount of patience and skill.
‘But painstaking as this work is,
'it doesn't inspire quite as much awe as the technique used for the series' final film.
There's rosemary, that's for remembrance
I would give you some violets
But they wither'd all when my father died.
‘The casual viewer might assume that Hamlet had been made conventionally,
‘with drawings traced and painted onto celluloid.
‘But the haunting quality of these images
‘could never have been achieved by normal methods.'
‘The film is the product of an unusual and difficult form of animation
"in which each frame is meticulously hand-painted
‘onto a sheet of glass suspended beneath the camera.
‘Once each composition has been photographed,
it has to be altered slightly and then re-shot to build up an illusion of movement.
‘Here, the animator is scratching in a new outline for the kneeling figure.
"When he's finished, the original artist will take over again,
‘repainting the figure according to this new guide,
‘and restoring that part of the background which has been disturbed.
‘I's demanding, often back-breaking work,
‘and even those in charge were initially doubtful
‘as to whether an entire film could possibly be made in this way.'
(Interpreter) The director, Natalia Orlova,
had made a film about Chekov using this method.
That film was only ten minutes long. Now she's risked doing 26 minutes of it.
'l haven't seen all the material, but that which I have seen is excellent.'
Nobody else is doing this kind of work.
I suppose it's because it's so mind-bogglingly difficult.
‘Thousands of glass sections have to be scraped cleane
‘so they can be used again.
‘No one else would undertake it. Not even the Chinese. Only us.'
Da.
A film made this way requires a highly qualified team
of very capable artists and animators.
‘With every movement, the artist has to draw extremely carefully,
‘so that the form and proportion of the figure doesn't change from one frame to the next.
"This technique requires great professionalism,
‘which all my team members possess.'
Woe have a superstition that with such a long film,
to get to the end you mustn't cut your hair.
So I've taken a pledge not to have a haircut until it's all over,
which is why we're all looking a bit shaggy!
‘The common element that unites all the films
is the careful stewardship of Dave Edwards.
‘His job as series producer has been to act as a bridge between east and west,
‘giving the directors creative freedom while making them face up
‘to unfamiliar commercial realities.
‘This hasn't always proved the easiest of tasks.'
They haven't taken anything for granted. Anything I've said has had to be proved.
Either I've had to prove it fo them in conversation and argument
or they've had to find out for themselves that something doesn't work.
that every third film they made was what was called their "soul film".
They could make this just for themselves, and it didn't matter about the market.
The fact that the market didn't exist in Russia in that sense
meant they could do what they wanted.
That's wonderful if i's a subsidised system, but in a market system you can't afford that.
- What's the background behind that one? - (Woman translates)
‘Some of the directors found it hard to accept Dave Edwards' guidance initially,
‘but all of them now admit that the controlled way of working
‘that's prevalent in the west
‘does have certain advantages.'
In the past, I've played many different roles.
I've been the main artist on a film, and sometimes the writer and the director.
On those occasions, I've been a completely free agent.
'On this film, of course, I wouldn't want to overstep the mark.
‘But the rules have helped me by steering me in a definite direction.
'l sometimes flailed about on my other films because I didn't have a screenplay,
‘whereas here, there's a well-defined plan.'
Maybe, at long last, our directors will learn that you can't break deadlines.
In the past, directors thought, "If I make a good film, people will forgive me.”
Now they understand that they won't necessarily be forgiven,
even if they make a great film.
It has to be a great film and be on time.
There is a scratch here.
Normally we could polish that out, but it's already...
‘With Dave Edwards' help, the Russian filmmakers have overcome many problems
‘which could easily have jeopardised the series.
‘For instance, the damage caused to some of the films
‘by careless handling in the laboratory
‘was eventually rectified through a mixture of Russian ingenuity
‘and western technology.
‘But other problems were of a kind that no outsider could hope to do anything about.
‘The abortive coup of August 1991
‘came just as production was getting into its stride.
‘Those responsible for the project back in Britain
‘were thrown into an instant state of panic.'
We were very surprised when the coup began on August 19th,
because all day long there were international calls.
Chris rang. Dave rang. Everyone wanted to know if we were still alive
and what was happening over here.
I said, "Things are bad for us but the Shakespeare project is OK.
‘We've been filming and we'll go on filming.'
(Muat) 'It all happened nearby.
"We were working, but we heard how it all boiled over.'
Some people went down to the barricades, then I went down to have a look around.
Woe were very upset and frightened by the whole situation.
We were very relieved when it all tumed out so well.
I arrived there a week later and found the barricades,
found the very emotional scenes and places where people had died -
not many, but there were wreaths alongside the road, there were flowers.
‘And the people had changed. They'd been oppressed for a very long time.
‘Suddenly they were proud of themselves, of what they'd done.'
They wanted to talk about the freedom of expression that was now possible.
I'd worked with them for five years without that.
There had always been this barrier,
who would inform on who, what was fair, now that had all gone.
‘But even as the political climate improved,
‘the economy grew more and more unstable.
‘Huge price rises and shortages of basic goods
"led to the streets of Moscow becoming one enormous black market.
‘Against this background, everyday life for those involved with the project
‘became increasingly hard.'
(Dave Edwards) ‘I was trying to relate to my children what life was like there.'
The example I used was that I'd seen some salami sausage in one of the shops
and for an average man here, relatively, to buy it would have cost them £800.
"The parlous state of the Russian economy
‘has affected Soyuzmult Films in many different ways, all of them bad.
‘The company, which employs several hundred people in a variety of roles,
‘has found itself confronted with a vastly inflated wage bill.
"This can only be met by charging clients more,
‘which could make the studios uncompetitive.'
Since we have such ridiculous inflation,
we have to increase wages s0 people can survive.
That affects the cost of the films.
Just as our costs are going up, our revenue is going down,
because audiences aren't going to the cinema any more.
They're too busy trying to get something to eat.
So I'm worried. I'm really not sure what will happen to the studio.
‘However bleak the future might seem,
‘the people who work at the studio refuse to become downhearted.
‘Take Igor Makarov, the chief designer of Romeo And Juliet.
'He has suffered a lot, like most Russians,
‘but he hasn't let the daily battles of ordinary existence weigh him down.
‘Every evening after work,
‘Makarov retums to the tiny one-bedroom flat in the Moscow suburb of Khimki,
‘which he shares with his wife Tatiana and their 16-year-old daughter Natasha.
‘The Makarovs have lived here for more than 25 years.
‘Although Igor is at the top of his profession,
‘he's never been granted even a fraction of the rewards
‘that would have come his way in the west.
"Yet he's never considered emigrating, and he swears he never will,
‘however bad things may become.'
(Igor) "I've survived so many social upheavals I've gone grey,
‘and I know that things will probably get worse.
‘But for the time being, I can cope with all of it."
I feel good inside because I know that even if things are bad for me,
if I've got nothing to eat or drink,
my pen and my brush will always be there for me.
I'll always be able to take refuge in my work.
I know it's the same for the others who work at the studio.
‘The ultimate reward for those who've worked to make the series a success
‘would be if critics acclaimed it a major contribution to popularising Shakespeare.
‘Having viewed the finished films,
‘those in charge are confident that it will indeed be seen in this way.'
I'm sure it's going to be regarded as a classic for a long time to come,
and will alter people's perception of animation as an art form.
It takes Shakespeare away from actors being Shakespearian,
which is the thing we didn't want, and suddenly they're intriguing characters.
They're sometimes stereotypes - they have to be -
but our audience will be captivated by them.
‘Although the series will undoubtedly entrance many viewers,
‘there are sure to be those who will argue that by drastically abridging the plays
‘and translating them into a medium associated with children's entertainment,
‘the filmmakers have robbed them of their power to enthral and uplift an audience.
‘Such views cut little ice, however, with Professor Stanley Wells,
‘director of the Shakespeare Institute at Stratford-Upon-Avon.
‘Called in by the producers to give his verdict on the project at an early stage,
‘he has never had any doubts about its value.
‘And what's more, he's sure that Shakespeare would feel the same way.
1 think he would have loved it, just as he'd have loved other works based on his plays
when they've been done with genuine re-creative imagination.
Not necessarily with total fidelity, because he constantly adapted other people's work,
making something new out of it.
That's happened here and I think he would have approved.
‘A number of the episodes have seemed particularly striking.
‘For example, as Hamlet begins to speak "To be or not to be”
‘we see him gradually shrinking onto the ground,
‘and a cloak rises above him rather like a winding sheet,
‘and eventually he's lost in the cloak.
‘That seems to encompass the notion of Hamlet's obsession with death,
‘which is such an important feature of the play.'
It's also necessary to say that the lines that are there are all Shakespeare's.
Of course they're heavily filleted and a great deal is lost,
and sometimes a person who knows the play
is longing for Brian Cox's Macbeth to give us the rest of the soliloquy which is not there.
But these are not primarily intended for people who already know the plays,
rather for people who either don't know them
or who, knowing them, are interested in what can be done with and through them
in a different medium.
Animation comes at everything with a new angle.
It's seen with a different vision.
"It's got everything - drama, comedy, fantasy.
‘In the hands of great artists, you can do something very special with that.