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“There is nothing better in the world than wandering around the world with friends! ". One of my favorite cartoons of the Soviet period! And the songs from the cartoon were favorites even in childhood, and the further they went, the more they were appreciated! Let's learn more about the history of its creation...

The authors of the cartoon did not know how to make a cartoon musical for children, but they really wanted the viewer to “sing the cartoon.” It turned out to be the right decision - we still remember and love the songs from there. And we are happy to show “The Bremen Men” to our own children. As often happens in such cases, we had to create a lot from scratch and solve emerging problems with the help of ingenuity and dexterity.

Inessa Kovalevskaya, director of many cartoons of our childhood, recalls the history of the creation of the cartoon “The Bremen Town Musicians”. It’s unlikely that anyone better than a director will be able to reveal all the subtleties of the work and show the audience the process “from the inside.”

The story that the director told the website 2danimator.ru, with materials from her personal archive.

Start

Young, unknown composer Gennady Gladkov, poet Yuri Entin and director Inessa Kovalevskaya decided to make an animated musical for children. What a musical was was roughly known, but the authors did not know what an animated film, and even a children’s film, was.

Gradually the outline began to emerge. It was best to take a simple and well-known fairy tale as the basis for a musical animated film, so that the plot could be understood from the actions of the characters. And instead of storytelling, all efforts should be directed towards creating musical images of heroes.

All that remained was to find a fairy tale, but try to find one that no one has yet filmed?

No one will remember who exactly had the idea to make an animated musical based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “The Town Musicians of Bremen.” She was not the best from the collection of famous storytellers. The owners drove the Dog, Cat, Donkey and Rooster out of the yard as unnecessary. The poor fellows were forced to wander the roads and gradually became wandering musicians. The episode with the robbers slightly embellishes the fairy tale, making its action more diverse. But the dramaturgy of the film had to be reinvented so that it would become interesting, dynamic and fit within the framework of a musical. At this stage, V. Livanov joined the work on the script as a second screenwriter.

So, "Bremen Town Musicians"! There are Dog, Cat, Donkey and Rooster - wandering musicians. The “Musical Director” was the Young Man, who later became the Troubadour. But, if the hero is Troubadour, then there must certainly be a Princess in the fairy tale! And the Princess, naturally, has a father, the King, with his royal palace and a crowd of courtiers. For the Brothers Grimm, the whole drama comes down mainly to the episode with the robbers - which means being the royal guard for protection.

Now all the heroes of the future film have been named. The film was born from such unsightly sketches:

I would like to note the peculiarity of Yu. Entin’s poems written for this film. They are very expressive, full of humor and accurately describe the singing characters. The poems contain a lot of funny puns: “Oh, the guards get up early!” “Any roads are dear to us!” “I lost my peace in the royal chambers!” and “I’m under lock and key in the castle!” All these literary jokes decorate the songs, making them entertaining and memorable.

About music

While the fairy tale was taking shape, composer Gennady Gladkov was writing music for it. Not only the group working on the film immediately liked the verses, but other studio members also sang them.
4 Gennady Gladkov, Inessa Kovalevskaya, ...., Max Zherebchevsky

The Soyuzmultfilm studio did not have the necessary capabilities to record the music as the composer intended it. We negotiated with the Melodiya recording studio for a long time. They invited the Accord quartet, which was very popular at that time, consisting of two female voices and two male voices.

The recording was scheduled for the night - there was no other free time at the Melodiya studio. The music was recorded by a small orchestra consisting mainly of young musicians. The orchestra was conducted by the composer himself, Gennady Gladkov.

It was the singers' turn. The part of the Troubadour was offered to Oleg Anofriev, a theater actor with a pleasant voice, to sing. At the very last moment it turns out that the Accord quartet did not show up for the recording! Is it really possible to abandon the Melodiya studio, obtained with such difficulty? Catastrophe! In the middle of the night we managed to get through to singer Elmira Zherzdeva and singer Anatoly Gorokhov... We've arrived!
5 Anatoly Gorokhov

The recording began with little effort... It’s just happiness that a wonderful sound engineer and later composer Viktor Babushkin took part in the creation of the film. We recorded Troubadour's serenade, his duet with the Princess. It was the turn of the ensembles. And then it turned out that Oleg Anofriev is a good imitator. The sound engineer recorded the singer on separate tracks, then connected everything together, adding the rich bass of Anatoly Gorokhov. Big secret! - Gennady Gladkov sang for the King in a weak tenor. We got to the verses of the real robbers and again there was a dead end... The head of the gang should be a woman - the Atamansha. Elmira Zherzdeva's lyric soprano was in no way suitable for this. And then Oleg Anofriev offered to sing for Atamansha too! Everyone was dumbfounded. But he insisted, then asked which actress should be “seen” in the role of Atamansha? - Most likely, Faina Ranevskaya? - Great! I’ll try “under Ranevskaya”! - Anofriev said and went to the microphone.

6 Oleg Anofriev and Elmira Zherzdeva

The recording ended successfully. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. As they say, in the Russian folk proverb - every cloud has a silver lining! They left the Melodiya recording studio in the morning. Moscow, which had not yet woken up, with clean streets and rare cars, seemed beautiful, life seemed amazing and completely happy...

7 Max Zherebchevsky and Inessa Kovalevskaya

About the heroes

Why is it needed and what does the director do? A screenwriter writes a script, a poet writes poetry, a composer composes music, an artist draws characters, actors voice roles, animators bring characters to life. What is left to the director? Each of the participants in the creation sees the future film in their own way.

The director's task is to put together a mosaic of creative perceptions so that they look whole and not scattered. At the same time, keep in mind that every creative person is very vulnerable and has difficulty accepting criticism.

The preparatory period for the film was ending, and disputes with the artist were in full swing. “Then I decided to take a rather risky step,” recalls Inessa Kovalevskaya, “to present to the artistic council of the film studio, along with the director’s script, storyboard and music, precisely these characters, in my opinion, completely incompatible with either the music or the genre of the film.”
14

There was hope that instead of taking offense, the artist would listen to the opinions of the members of the artistic council. The members of the artistic council were surprisingly unanimous in their opinion that these characters did not correspond to the script, and especially the music. We must pay tribute to Max Zherebchevsky - he agreed.

After searches and new disputes, the Troubadour type was found in some foreign magazine with portraits of avant-garde musicians.

The princess with funny tails sticking out in different directions was suggested by assistant production designer Svetlana Skrebneva. The director found the dress for the Princess while leafing through fashionable foreign magazines in the closed library of Goskino.

The rest of the musicians also appeared in a new form. Even the carriage became a suitcase on wheels. The king, guards and courtiers did not pose any difficulties, but the robbers... Cartoon robbers, characters are quite common, but we need special ones, unlike anyone else! The film went into production, but there were no “own” robbers. A secret competition was announced at the studio. But it was not all that!

One fine day, and it was certainly the most beautiful, studio editor Natalya Abramova brought a colorful calendar, which depicted a trio of the most famous comedians of that time: Yuri Nikulin - Dunce, Georgy Vitsin - Coward and Evgeny Morgunov - Experienced.
23Here they are - our heroes! Robbers!

24 The chieftain had to be made to match everyone else.

A literary script is very different from a director's script. The script is accompanied by a storyboard; it resembles modern comics and consists of frame drawings. The film is shot out of order, all the scenes are scattered, and in order for everything to come together as a whole, the director's script and storyboard are the main guide for everyone working on the film. Unfortunately, only the director's sketches have survived:

The preparatory period ends with a meeting of the artistic council of the film studio, which accepts all the work done. The creative and production group is being approved. It includes: film director I. Kovalevskaya, production designer M. Zherebchevsky, cameraman E. Petrova, sound engineer V. Babushkin, assistant director, assistant artist S. Skrebneva, editor E. Tertychnaya, editor A. Snesarev, a group of animators and director of the film.

What do wizards do?

When everything is invented, you need to show all these fantasies to the viewer. But such painted artists do not exist in life, and they should not look like real people. Who will make the fantasy move? At one time, the Soyuzmultfilm film studio itself trained its personnel in special courses. They came here very young, studied here and then worked almost all their lives. In the studio, everyone had a permanent place with an indispensable mirror. The cartoonist will look in the mirror, imagine himself as a wolf or a kitten and transfer everything to paper.

No one was surprised if someone suddenly meowed or hopped around like a bunny in the studio corridor - it was just the artist getting into character!

28 Paint laboratory at a film studio

Sometimes the profession of an animator is compared to that of an actor. An ordinary actor gets used to the role, adapting his body and creating an image out of it. The animator not only gets used to the role, he creates an image that does not exist in nature. Gives him gait, habits, character, connects him with his voice. Even when his hero is “dead”.

Try to imagine how the chair moves, how the table dreams, how the pillows get angry or how the spoons dance! You can not? So you are not an animator!

Of course, every animator has his own preferences: one likes dynamic characters, another likes lyrical ones, a third prefers musical material. Some people like psychological scenes, while others like fights and chases. But, in principle, everyone should be able to do everything. In an animated film, each individual scene is done by a single animator. He plays and draws for everyone. Of course, the director tries to choose a task for the animator so that the same characters appear in the scenes, but this is rarely possible. To make a film on time, several animators, three or five, are simultaneously involved in working on the film. Each animator brings the peculiarities of his creative style. At the same time, while preserving all the good things that the performer came up with, it is necessary to preserve the integrity of the film. The more animators work on a film, the more difficult it is for the director and production designer.

“As for the film “The Musicians of Bremen,” 16 animators worked on it simultaneously. Only very little directorial experience could force me to undertake such an experiment. I never allowed myself to do this again! - says Inessa Kovalevskaya, - Since I met most of the animators for the first time on the film “Bremen Town Musicians”, the scene assignments were initially handed out at random, without taking into account the abilities and characteristics of the given performer. Only after some time, after watching the first samples of the cartoon, I began to better understand who and what kind of work to offer.”

Despite the difficulties and creative disputes, fate bound many to long happy years of working together. Animator Ella Maslova recalls:

“I worked on many films directed by I. Kovalevskaya. Every time after the end of the film there was a feeling of celebration. I think that the audience, after watching these musical cartoons, feels the same way. I would also like to tell you about the amazing profession of an animator. This is an artist-actor who must be a comprehensively gifted person. He must have the skills of other professions: musician, dancer, athlete, constantly observing everything that happens around him. The animator spies on the habits of animals and birds; he can be compared to a wizard who can bring drawn people, animals, and birds to life, giving each one its own character. For example, in the film “The Musicians of Bremen,” when developing the scene with the cat fakir, I had to remember how a fakir works in a circus. How his hands move, how he manipulates his cloak, from which strange objects appear.”

I would also like to talk about Alexander Davydov. He was recommended as an interesting cartoonist, and so it turned out. Then, as a director, he will direct the films “About the Parrot Kesha” and “One Pea, Two Peas.”

He entered the film “The Bremen Town Musicians” easily and freely from the episode where a traveling troupe, like a stuffed pyramid, performs in front of the royal palace. Then he breaks up and continues his eccentric dance.

It is almost impossible to explain only in words what kind of dance it should be; for this you need to be a choreographer. The director showed it to the animator as best she could, who listened to the music many times and noted notes on the exposure sheets. Then he copied the recording onto his tape recorder and left, singing...

“The scene turned out exactly as I imagined it and even better!” - recalls Inessa Kovalevskaya.

Inspired by luck, the director suggested that Davydov take the famous song of the false robbers, in which the heroes dressed as musicians: “bang - bang - and you are dead!” Almost all the characters in the film were involved here.

“I wouldn’t even call him a good draftsman. But his ability to listen and hear music, which is not the same thing at all, his ability to accurately place accents in the movements of characters, his heightened sense of screen time are simply remarkable!” - says Inessa Alekseevna.

Digressing from the topic, you can tell a funny incident related to the robbery episode. After the end of the film, the creative group of directors went to Kazan with new films: “Musicians of Bremen”, “Spy Passions”, “Cheburashka”, etc. The reception was wonderful.

The group was accompanied by a very serious and taciturn official from the rental office. After a short performance, the audience watched the program, and the group behind the scenes sat down at the table, listening out of the corner of their ears to the reaction of the audience. And every time, as soon as it came to the number with the robbers, our “serious official” embarrassedly apologized, got out from behind the table and went to the auditorium to watch his favorite bandit number.

With a wide smile he returned to the table. It’s hard to say how many times he watched and listened to this number.
34

“Oh, the security gets up early!” The viewer saw, heard and remembered! This is a great merit of the artist-animator Vitaly Bobrov. His accents, discoveries in his gait and facial expressions captured a vivid episode that the viewer loved. An excellent draftsman who was good at both people and animals, dynamics and lyrics, a dreamer and inventor, sincerely passionate about his work.

The rough sample tape is glued into a ring and run many times in a row. Immediately the director and artist make their amendments. Discussion and controversy arise. Viewing rough samples, both your own and others', is an excellent school for cartoonists, where you can learn a lot, hear a detailed assessment of your work and see your own mistakes. Gradually, as the animation is ready, the film studio’s workshops get involved: drawing, phasing, contouring, filling. More and more studio people are working on our film. This is no longer a dozen, but a good hundred pairs of skillful and hardworking hands. Phasing - rough, finishing or on celluloid - connects the layouts that the animator makes into a single whole, which creates movement on the screen. And finally, shading, when the characters change from outline, transparent ones to full-fledged, colored heroes of the film.

37 Fill

All these stages of work go through endless checks, finishing touches, and clarifications so that there is no shaky outline or error in the coloring of the characters on the screen.

It was a particularly busy time towards the end of the film, so we stayed in the evenings and worked on weekends. Other groups rushed to help, because they knew that they would be helped in the same way. I would like to note that the filming equipment was antediluvian and home-made, but, as it has now turned out, very good films were shot on it. The 1969 Arts Council was crowded: in addition to studio members, it included famous writers, poets, artists, composers, whose opinions were quite professional. The studios received the film more than critically.

One of the oldest and respected Masters certainly demanded voiceover. Another, no less respected, fiercely criticized, arguing that it was impossible to film like that. By the end of the discussion, the fate of the film had no prospects. Only “non-professionals” saved the situation. The famous artist Boris Efimov (a master of political caricature) said that, without pretending to professionally analyze the quality of the picture, he received great pleasure from watching it, became ten years younger and will certainly show the film to his children and grandchildren, and everyone he knows.

The film was accepted by Goskino and even in the first category. The screening also took place in the Great Hall of the Cinema House. The audience reacted noisily to the ultra-modern outfits of the heroes, fell silent in amazement, recognizing their favorite movie characters in the robbers, and applauded unanimously and for a long time after watching. Some immediately sang tunes: “Oh, the guards get up early.” It was a complete success! But the intrigue had not yet begun.

The next stage can be called a discussion of the film in the Union of Cinematographers with the involvement of film critics who are successfully plowing in the field of animation. The same thing happened here as at the studio Arts Council.
What was new and interesting in the film was not discussed at all. The film irritated film critics. N. Asenin tried especially hard, speaking furiously and with conviction about the spoiled fairy tale.

However, somewhere higher up, obviously at Goskino, they decided to send the film to the festival in Berlin. Original posters were prepared... And suddenly, one day everything was cancelled! Many years later, the intrigue was revealed. As people at Sovexportfilm said, one of the authoritative directors of Soyuzmultfilm and the Union of Cinematographers very actively intervened in this matter. Most likely it was his film that went to the festival.

“When they tell me about cruel censorship in Soviet cinema, and especially in animation, I just smile sadly. Long experience of working first at Goskino, and then at the studio, showed me (and not only through my example) that 90% of all “troubles” are provoked by your own work colleagues. The reasons can be very different; an ordinary official wouldn’t even think of this.” Inessa Kovalevskaya.

But the film still met with the audience. In Moscow, in the area of ​​Vosstaniya Square, a cinema of an animated film with the strange name “Barricade” opened. The premiere of “The Town Musicians of Bremen” took place here, and since then the film has not left the cinema’s repertoire for a long time. Crowds of parents with children of all ages flocked here from all over Moscow. Tickets sold out instantly and were difficult to obtain.

The film gradually gained popularity. One day in the summer of 1972, during a break in a match at the stadium, the attention of fans was focused on a young man dressed in red jeans and a pullover. He also looked like Troubadour - just as slender, fair-haired and white-toothed! The young man stood in the passage at the very top, proud and contented, allowing himself to be viewed from all sides.

another side of the moon

The popularity was also promoted by the record released by the Melodiya company almost simultaneously with the release of the film, which received a huge circulation. This was undoubtedly pleasing, if not for one small circumstance. For the record it was only necessary to add text from the author, which is what V. Livanov did. The result is a musical fairy tale. The only strange thing is that the work on the record was done in secret. On the beautiful sleeve of the record there was a modest blurb, which said that an animated film had been made based on this fairy tale. Many film experts are sure that first Livanov made the record, and then the film appeared.

In his book “White Crow,” V. Livanov tells how three friends (Gladkov, Entin and Livanov) for no apparent reason, while having fun, came up with a musical script:

“So, with the script in our briefcase, we went to our favorite film studio Soyuzmultfilm. A large artistic council gathered there: strict editors, experienced directors, venerable writers and talented artists and composers. We discussed, listened to the songs and decided: “There will be a Bremen Town Musicians!” And we started making the film."

This is where V. Livanov’s memories of the film end. At the same time that the film’s creative team was vying with each other for invitations to meet with audiences, there was a different attitude at the studio and among film experts. The then director of the studio, M. Valkov, announced in a soft, apologetic tone that the director Kovalevskaya was not to the liking of the team, and it was better for her to apply.

“This was probably a greeting from my past, when I worked as an editor at Goskino and supervised the Soyuzmultfilm film studio. However, I firmly know that I never allowed myself to offend or offend anyone, because I love animation and respect people working in this field.”

Over time, the studio “storm in a teacup” subsided. Livanov, Entin and Gladkov suggested that Kovalevskaya make a sequel. But the script did not inspire enthusiasm. It's like continuing your favorite fairy tale about Cinderella! The good plot development itself did not have a bright ending. Again the escape from the palace, which the viewer has already seen, as well as the robbers. We need to look for a new move! Kovalevskaya offered a replacement in the form of a sharp-parody detective and agreed to work on the script while she was busy in another film.

A little later, Inessa Alekseevna was surprised to learn that the film was in production. What to do? This is cinema with its own specifics. “You just need to step over everything and continue working,” Inessa Alekseevna reasoned. Subsequently, developing the musical genre in animation, Kovalevskaya made two films: “At the Port,” based on modern material (composer M. Minkov) and “The Tale of the Priest and His Worker Balda,” based on the fairy tale by A.S. Pushkin (composer A Bykanov).

After many years, it becomes clear that the film musical “The Town Musicians of Bremen” was not only a new original phenomenon in Soviet animation, but aroused interest among other directors in a new promising genre. These are “The Blue Puppy” and “Dog in Boots” by E. Hamburg. Even more interesting in this regard is the work of G. Bardin “The Flying Ship”. The director's accurately and inventively developed song-episodes, especially “Vodyanoy” and “Grandmothers - Yozhki,” brought the film well-deserved fame.

Let me remind you that I introduced myself to them or for example . And here The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -

If you don’t understand why the fairy tale is called “The Town Musicians of Bremen,” then read our article and find useful information.

Why is the fairy tale called "The Town Musicians of Bremen"

Why is the fairy tale called “The Town Musicians of Bremen”? The main characters were heading to the city of Bremen, which was the city of dreams that everyone was so eager to get to.

This is a tale about four musicians who embodied the general image of the German people. "Bremen Town Musicians" - music that never made it to the much-desired city and did not become famous city performers.

Bremen is the cultural center of the region, where all dreams of a better life came true, so the animal musicians sought to reach the city. The image of animals is symbolic, which depicts the dream and desire of the people for a better bright life.

There is a legend that the basis of the fairy tale was European musicians, who were called “klezmer”. Kreizmers are European folk street musicians; performed at weddings, celebrations, and fairs. The leading instruments were violin, cymbals, double bass, trumpet, clarinet, drum, etc.

The main characters of the fairy tale “The Town Musicians of Bremen”: a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster, there were four of them, and the classical Klezmer Chapel consisted of 4 musicians playing the violin, clarinet, fifiole and drum with cymbals.