Vol 2, No 2, 2010

The article is devoted to the history of making Russian films during the tough war years. Many films shot by famous directors have been released and justly appreciated. But there is also an unknown wartime cinema. These fiction films, feature-length and short, stored in film archives, are of great interest to both cinema scholars and wide audience.

The article reveals the processes in Western cinema during World War II and tells about the creation of educational and propaganda films which were made by famous directors for quite pragmatic purposes but in the end led to the appearance of new forms and new esthetics.

The article deals with the history Leo Tolstoy's epic's screen adaptations in the context of the 20th century cultural tendencies. Special emphasis is laid on the esthetic potential of television in terms of showing all the plot lines and the philosophy of the novel «War and Piece».

The article is devoted to an important topic: the semantics of color in films and its reflection in the costume. It also touches upon the problem of visual perception and forming different color systems. The problem of color is essential for contemporary Russian cinema. Digital technologies open widest opportunities in the field of film production, but the available rich color palette is used very poorly. It is worth reminding that color is one of the film's main expressive means and should be treated with proper attention.

The paper analyses four «auteur» films: «Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom» (P.P. Pasolini), «Anna Karamazoff» (R. Khamdamov), «De Wisselwachter» (J. Stelling), «Breaking the Waves» (L. von Tier) in the context of the postmodern theory of marginality.

The article is devoted to the earliest works of French Avant-guard second wave. The main attention is focused on R. Clair's «Entr'acte», the famous Dada film which is analysed in the context of Dada artistic practice. The key inspiration of the film's whole image systen was «The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even», a famous installation by M. Duchamp

The processes of modernization triggered by the digital revolution in media sphere are affecting social consciousness and sociocultural milieu in general, where a new screen «reality» is now evolving and starting to dominate the perception of the surrounding world. The article analyses how quickly the transforming technological broadcasting platform, digital technologies, telecommunication and mobile communication change not only the society's consuming preferences, but mass behavior and mass mentality as well

The article covers the problems of Russian children's cinema which being "overboard" the existing chain of market relations for a variety of reasons is the most unprofitable and unattractive business.

The digital special effects industry is constantly in development and in search of new expressive means. The more and more popular 3D computer graphics can mold characters and objects similar to puppet animation but more detailed and convincing. Computer software makes it possible to fix human movements and create virtual characters. By means of the motion capture technology reflecting the subtlest shades of human plastique the computer catches the movements of the sensors fixed to the actor's face and body, analyzes the data and applies it the 3D model. As a result, screen characters behave like live people. As far as the audience is concerned, there is practically no difference between the reality recorded on film, video or photo, and that created by the artist's imagination with the help of the computer on the modern screen

«Gogol: Interpretational Paradoxes» was the theme of the session of the debating society "The Paradoxes of Modern Artistic Culture» that took place in November 2009. It was devoted to the great writer's 200th anniversary. The mystery of Gogol's writings, of his life and death, new analysis of his books and fate constituted the subject-matter of the discussion. The participants were presented with two new artistic interpretations: the film «Gogol: a Portrait of the Mysterious Genius» made by D. Dyomin, asst. professor of the Chair of Film Directing, and an account of the Rome exhibition of Professor S.A. Alimov, an academician of the Russian Academy of Arts. What is artistic thought? How the writer's work correlates with his biography, i.e. everyday life? These two problems were the center of the discussion.

The issues of training new creative staff for film industry and audiovisual sphere are of vital importance today. The appearance of digital technologies caused great changes and it could not but have its effect on film education as the «first step of film industry». This problem was the subject-matter of the international conference "Film Education: Tradition and Innovations» held at VGIK on the occasion of the university's 90th anniversary. The report analyses the modern innovative processes affecting the film schools teaching practice at the beginning of the 21st century

Following the decision of the Learned Council and the Plan of Academic Development the Student Academic Society (SAS) was organized whose first action was to create the Student Debating Club which plans to make regular screenings of Russian and foreign films with their subsequent discussion. The Student Debating Club is going to analyze the essential artistic and cultural problems. And because on of the most important directions of the SAS is students' research work, active cooperation with student societies of other universities is intended which presupposes invitations to the screenings and discussions and realization of mutual creative projects. At present the plan for the next year is being worked out

Cinema transforms from the portrait of the Stalinist epoch into its mirror reflecting everything in reverse. Even the most ideologically censored film gives the idea of the historic period none the less vivid than newsreel.

The article is a recollection of a kind, one of the one or two dozen «Letters to the Students» written in the hope that the fragments of the 40-year experience will help a curious student realize the future difficulties and the versatility of the problems which a set designer has to solve almost every day.

Фонд учебной библиотеки постоянно пополняется. Наибольшим спросом пользуются книги, способствующие интенсивному образовательному процессу. В 2009 году университетом были выпущены издания, посвященные как 90-летней истории ВГИК, так и различным аспектам совершенствования профессионального мастерства в различных сферах кинопроизводства.