|
Post by Esn on Jan 19, 2007 16:34:08 GMT -5
I was searching around on Youtube and came across a wonderfull little film - one of Aleksandr Petrov's earlier films, from 1986. I liked it so much that I decided to translate it into English, so you can watch my translated version over here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyWeGFgFl_QSurprisingly, it's based on a Dr. Seuss story.
|
|
|
Post by Esn on Mar 13, 2007 16:12:53 GMT -5
I've decided to rename this thread and keep you all updated, since this is becoming a bit of a hobby for me. I'm finding some really wonderful films out there and, since it's a shame that they're not known by non-Russian-speakers, I'm translating some of them. As such, I present: Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson ( part 2) 3rd-best overall rating and winner of the Best Dramaturgy Award at the 2006 Open Russian Festival of Animated Film. Hilarious film! What's even more amazing is that most of the voices were done by one person. The Case of the Kidnapped Elephant ( part 2). A classic from the 1980s, directed by the head of what was to be the USSR's first private animation studio. Both are best viewed in small 1:1 resolution, not Youtube's standard one (click on that button below the movie window, to the right of the sound controls).
|
|
|
Post by MizzBlackCherry on Mar 13, 2007 16:20:49 GMT -5
Wow, those really are quite amazing. Good find, man.
|
|
|
Post by Esn on Mar 13, 2007 16:41:41 GMT -5
Thanks. None of them are currently available for sale subtitled in English. The Sherlock Holmes one is available on this Russian DVD with a bunch of other pretty interesting cartoons, including films by Ivan Maximov (which are actually wordless, so subtitles aren't needed). These are pretty interesting in their own right. You can see some of them over here (officially made available to the public): Wind Along the CoastSlow BistroOh, and here's one by Konstantin Bronzit which won something like 70 awards at European festivals: At the Ends of the EarthThere are so many subtle jokes in that one - you won't notice them all the first time.
|
|
|
Post by Ola Schubert on Mar 15, 2007 9:36:50 GMT -5
Oh, and here's one by Konstantin Bronzit which won something like 70 awards at European festivals: At the Ends of the EarthThere are so many subtle jokes in that one - you won't notice them all the first time. This one was just too funny, I have not laughed so much in quite some time! Everyone should see this. Thanks Esn! You are a eternal source of nice animations.
|
|
|
Post by Esn on Mar 16, 2007 3:43:48 GMT -5
Here's one which is somewhat sadder: The Stupid Girl ("Devochka Dura"; Devochka=Girl, Dura=Stupid) It provoked quite a strong reaction among the Russian readers. Here's a translation of a few of the more interesting comments:
|
|
|
Post by Esn on Apr 3, 2007 0:55:53 GMT -5
Here's a new animated film translation: The Tale of the Blue Cloak. This one is from Belarus. It's just an all-around nice film that I felt added up to more than just the sum of its parts. And I love the way it ends. By the way, if you look at the photo here, the director looks quite similar to the king's daughter. EDIT: By the way, this film from Belarusfilm is absolutely amazing. Incredibly natural and poetic, slightly surreal, and even scary in places. Nearly the whole film takes place in a dark forest which is at the same time comforting (the cozy darkness seems to gently envelop you) yet filled with all kinds of invisible shapes and shadows. If you've ever walked in a dark forest, you probably know the feeling. I think Ola would absolutely love it.
|
|
|
Post by Ola Schubert on Apr 3, 2007 7:15:21 GMT -5
this film from Belarusfilm is absolutely amazing. Incredibly natural and poetic, slightly surreal, and even scary in places. Nearly the whole film takes place in a dark forest which is at the same time comforting (the cozy darkness seems to gently envelop you) yet filled with all kinds of invisible shapes and shadows. If you've ever walked in a dark forest, you probably know the feeling. I think Ola would absolutely love it. Thanks for the link. Is there anywhere I can watch this grasshopper film, looks really interesting. Have you seen it?
|
|
|
Post by Esn on Apr 3, 2007 22:44:20 GMT -5
I have definitely seen it. I've finished the subtitles for it, too - though there were a few words I couldn't make out (maybe if Roamer listens to it he might be able to tell me what those are ). I'm attaching the subtitle file to this message ( EDIT: Newer version attached to the message below). As for the film itself, it's available (in Russian, with no subtitles) on this DVD. I have no idea if the DVD can be bought outside of Russia - and even if some Russian online store ships outside of Russia's borders, it probably won't be easy or desirable for most of you to navigate and pay on a cyrillic website. Just send me a PM if you'd like to see the film, and I'll help you out. It's really worth it. Once you have the film, open this program (it's a good, free media program), go to the "file" menu, click "open file". In the top window, enter the location of the video file. Just below, click the "use a subtitles file" box and choose the subtitle file. You can also control the size of the text in the subtitles.
|
|
|
Post by Esn on Apr 4, 2007 6:08:14 GMT -5
Just look at this wonderfull rabbit. ;D I can't figure out what technique she used, though. It has something in common with paint-on-glass, but I'm not sure that's it... I have a sneaking suspicion that it's actually sand, but it seems too amazing to be the case... What I find absolutely mind-boggling (and a darn shame) is that, as far as I can tell, the film was never screened in any animation festival and won no awards. I suppose maybe submissions from Belarus were automatically barred from predominant Western festivals and the Open Russian Festival of Animated Film only decided to start accepting films from Belarus in 1999... Anyway, here's the slightly modified subtitle file:
|
|
|
Post by Esn on Apr 5, 2007 19:20:10 GMT -5
I've realized something - the film is sand animation. I can't imagine how much work that must've taken... and it's similar to the paint-on-glass animation which Aleksandr Petrov uses in that each previous frame must be destroyed to make the next one. I await the day when someone has the courage to make a feature film using either of those two techniques... now that would be something to see! Here's a beautiful Russian animation from 1946 (right after WW2!) that is based on Tchaikovsky's music: youtube.com/watch?v=EHDEfoZOUR0I think that the late 1930s to early 1950s were one of the golden ages of Soviet animation (the other was probably the 1980s)... everything is so smooth and there's such amazing skill displayed by the animators. After that, the limited animation techniques pioneered in the US by television studios made their way to Soyuzmultfilm as well... the studio's output increased fourfold but the attention dedicated to each film also took a drop.
|
|
|
Post by Esn on May 9, 2007 3:04:30 GMT -5
I'm currently working on another translation project (the biggest one yet), and I really need some help from you guys. This is a tough one... EDIT: Done; see post belowIn this film, there's a very clever scene where a rainbow of different colours are shown to blur into white when spinned. Then, it is shown that the various landscapes of the earth (yellow deserts, green forests, blue glaciers) are also all of different colours. When they are all "spinned", they also make the colour white.
Now, here's the thing; in Russian, the expression "all the wide world" uses the same words (in the same order) as "all the white light". So when the film says that the differently-coloured landscapes make up "all the white light" when they're mixed together, it means "all the wide world" as well. Drawing your attention to the fact that in Russian, there is no difference between these two concepts.
I've been trying to figure out how to translate it to English while keeping both meanings intact - "the white light" and also "the whole world". Does anyone have any suggestions?
Here are some that I ruled out:
"The whole white world" (sounds gimmicky, doesn't really get across the "all the white light" meaning, and on top of that is being used online to mean "the world of white people")
"Everything under the sun/white sun" (doesn't get EITHER meaning across very well)
|
|
|
Post by Esn on May 14, 2007 20:02:45 GMT -5
It's finished! My biggest translation project yet.It is called "The Cat Who Walked by Herself", a very poetic and very overlooked Russian animated feature film, made in 1988. Based on a story by Rudyard Kipling, and much truer to the spirit of his work than anything I've ever seen in the English language. It starts out a bit slow, but do keep watching past the 2-minute mark. Also, I recommend watching it in the "original" size (click on the little triangular button on the window and choose the size). For their help with the translation, I'd like to thank Roamer (who helped me with a few words that I was becoming very frustrated about) and Tyler Legrand, who gave me a great idea on the Brackenwood forum to solve that translation problem I mentioned above (I finally settled on "the whole luminous world").
|
|
|
Post by Esn on May 15, 2007 3:37:12 GMT -5
And here's Forest Tales on Google Video (which I talked about a little way above, but didn't give a link).
|
|
|
Post by Esn on Jun 4, 2007 3:04:22 GMT -5
And now for a little poem. Based on a folk tale that you may have heard before... about a piece of cheese, a wily fox and a crow who was a little too proud. There is a simple folk tale or maybe not a folk tale or maybe not so simple that we'd like you to hear we know it from our childhood or maybe from adulthood or maybe we don't know it but hope it will appear. One time there was a crow or possibly a dog or possibly a cow who struck a lucky score she found a piece of cheese about 200 grams or possibly 300 or maybe even more. She flew right up a pine or maybe didn't fly or maybe up a palm tree she ran right up from thence and there for some nice breakfasting or maybe for some dinner or maybe even suppertime she quickly made her plans. But here a fox was running or maybe wasn't running or maybe a mad ostrich or kind, we might presume Or possibly a sweeper who traipsed along the countryside to find the nearest hazel tree and carve himself a broom Oh listen my dear crow unless you are a dog or possibly a cow the finest cow of all your feathers are exquisite your horns are really something your hooves are nice and slim and what a kindly soul! If ever you should sing or maybe if you woof or moo, one might suppose (since cows moo a lot) then you'll get a big saddle a carpet and a TV; nice presents will be gotten or maybe will be got And so, the stupid crow, or possibly the dog, or possibly the cow, began to sing and crow... And from such awful singing, which may not have been singing, our population fainted as if from a great blow. The crow lost the cheese, or possibly the dog, perhaps it was the cow; on this we are agreed, and right atop the fox or possibly the ostrich or possibly the sweeper it fell with some great speed. The moral of this tale, which may not be a tale, not just a grown adult; a dwarf should understand don't ever stand, don't jump around, don't sing or even try to dance in off-limits construction zones where heavy things might land! youtube.com/watch?v=FkD1VdwRB8AThat's my translation from Russian. As you can see in the video, it's quite close to the original text.
|
|