Melnitsa Animation Studio
 | |
| Industry |
Animation Motion pictures |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Products | Animated films |
Number of employees | 325 (2014) |
| Website |
www |
Melnitsa Animation Studio (Russian: Студия анимационного кино «Мельница», "melnitsa" meaning "windmill") is one of the largest animation studios in Russia. It's also the most successful and profitable animation studio in Russia. Alongside its animation projects, Melnitsa has an effort devoted to creating digital special effects for both animation projects and live-action films.
The studio traces its roots to several animated projects in the late 1990s, including television commercials, the short film Die Hard by Konstantin Bronzit (Grand Prix of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, 1998), and the animated series "Global Bears Rescue" and "Technology", created for Poseidon Film Distributors Ltd.
In 1999, Melnitsa was formally established and received funding from "Midi-Cinema" (Миди-Синема) and the film company STV (СТВ). The newly formed studio's first project was Adventures in Oz (Приключения в Изумрудном Городе) for NTV-film (НТВ-кино), a four-part animation released in 2000.
In 2001, Melnitsa released its first 3D-animated project - the short film Good Morning (С добрым утром) by Denis Chernov. In 2002 Melnitsa released two short films by the famous animator and director Konstantin Bronzit: There Was an Old Lady for Scholastic Entertainment and the 3D-animated film The God (winner of a number of international festival awards).
In 2000, Melnitsa began work on the feature-length animated film Little Longnose (Карлик Нос) directed by Ilya Maksimov, based on the fairy tale of Wilhelm Hauff. The film premiered on March 20, 2003. Although advertised as "the first Russian animated feature film released to theatres in 40 years", this claim has not been substantiated.
On December 23, 2004, the feature film Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin Zmey (Алёша Попович и Тугарин Змей) was released, directed by Konstantin Bronzit. The film was completed on the modest budget of $300,000 in a little over a year. The film took in about $1.7 million at the box office. This marked the beginning of Melnitsa's "3 Bogatyrs" trilogy, and two more films were planned over the next several years.
On January 2005, at the 10th Open Russian Festival of Animated Film in Suzdal, the new short film by Konstantin Bronzit premiered, called Cat and Fox (Кот и Лиса). Work on it had been finished in November 2004. Bronzit's film, based on a national Russian tale, was part of the huge government-sponsored project by Moscow-based Pilot studio called "Gora Samotsvetov" (Гора самоцветов). The project, when complete, will consist of 52 13-minute films based on fairy tales from all of Russia's nationalities.
On March 15, 2006, the second film in the "3 Bogatyrs" trilogy was released, called Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych (Добрыня Никитич и Змей Горыныч), directed by Ilya Maksimov. It came on the heels of the animated blockbuster Prince Vladimir, which was released on February 22, 2006.
The third film in the trilogy, Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber (Илья Муромец и Соловей Разбойник), was released on July 7, 2007.
Filmography
Full length
| Year | Title cartoon | Director | Author(s) script | Production Designer | Budget | Fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | «Little Longnose (Карлик Нос)» | Ilya Maksimov | Aleksander Boyarsky | Aleksandra Averianova | $2,5 million | $569 837 |
| 2004 | «Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin Zmey» | Konstantin Bronzit | Aleksander Boyarsky Maksim Sveshnikov Ilya Maksimov Konstantin Bronzit | Ol'ga Ovinnikova | $4 million | $1 730 000 |
| 2006 | «Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych» | Ilya Maksimov | Aleksander Boyarsky Maksim Sveshnikov Ilya Maksimov | Ol'ga Ovinnikova | $4,5 million | $3 620 000 |
| 2007 | «Ilya Muromets and Solovey-Razboinik» | Vladimir Toropchin | Aleksander Boyarsky Maksim Sveshnikov | Ol'ga Ovinnikova Oleg Markelov | $2 million | $9 739 679 |
| 2008 | «The Tale of Soldier Fedot, The Daring Fellow» | Lyudmila Steblyanko | Lyudmila Steblyanko Roman Smorodin | Anastasia Vasil'eva | — | $2 586 097 |
| 2010 | «Three heroes and Shamahanskaya queen» | Sergey Glezin | Alexander Boyarsky Ol'ga Nikiforova | Ol'ga Ovinnikova Elena Lavrent'eva Oleg Markelov | $2,5 million | $19 010 585 |
| 2011 | «Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf» | Vladimir Toropchin | Alexander Boyarsky | Marina Kudryavtseva | $3 million | $24 830 497 |
| 2012 | «Three heroes on distant shores» | Konstantin Feoktistov | Alexander Boyarsky | Lidiya Savina | $3,5 million | $31 505 876 |
| 2013 | «Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf 2» | Vladimir Toropchin | Vladimir Toropchin Alexander Boyarsky Svetlana Sachenko | Svetlana Degtyarёva | — | $20 962 988 |
| 2015 | «Three heroes. Horse Course» | Konstantin Feoktistov | Alexander Boyarsky Svetlana Sachenko | Svetlana Degtuarёva | $3,5 million | $19 390 136 |
| «Krepost(Fortress)» | Konstantin Feoktistov | Alexander Boyarsky | Oleg Markelov | — | $1 165 764 | |
| 2016 | «Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf 3» | Vladimir Toropchin | — | — | — | $9 630 637 |
In production
Full length
| Year | Title cartoon | Director | Author(s) script | Production Designer | Start of production |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | «Oorfene Juce» | Vladimir Toropchin | Aleksander Boyarsky Darina Shmidt | Anatolii Sokolov | 2014 |
| 2017 | «Three Knights and the King of the Sea» | --- | --- | --- | 2015 |
Serial cartoons
| Title cartoon | Start of production | Information |
|---|---|---|
| «Luntik» ru:Приключения Лунтика и его друзей | Since August 2014 | In production 8 season |
Serial cartoons
| Year | Title cartoon | Directed by of the animated series | The main authors of the script (as at 2014) | Production Designer | Number of seasons | Number of series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005—present | «Luntik» ru:Приключения Лунтика и его друзей | Darina Shmidt | Darina Shmidt Fёdor Dmitriev Elena Galdobina Mariya Domogatskaya Anna Sosnora Alexandr Mal'gin Svetlana Sachenko Tatiana Gorbushina | Marina Komarkevich (1-2 seasons) Tatiana Klein (2-6 seasons) Irina Fёdorova (5-6 seasons) Vita Tkachёva (7 seasons: series 2012) Ekaterina Maksimenko (since 7 seasons) | 7, in production 8 season | 440+ |
| 2011—2012; 2014 | «Unbeatables» | Elena Galdobina | Elena Galdobina Fёdor Dmitriev Anna Sosnora Tatiana Gorbushina Alexandra Shoha | Ludmila Steblyanko (1-100 series) Alesya Barsukova (90-129 series) Marina Makarova (since 130 series) | 2 | 142 |
See also
External links
- Official website
- Melnitsa Animation Studio at the Internet Movie Database
- Official website of the "3 Bogatyrs" trilogy (Russian)
- Interview with Konstantin Bronzit (Russian)
- La monto da gemoj - some Gora samotsvetov (Gem Mountain) series with subtitles in Esperanto.
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