Back-to-back Film Production: Russian Feature Films and TV Series Based on Them (2003–2020) – МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЙ ЖУРНАЛ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ

Download article

Elena A. Fedotova
National Research University Higher School of Economics
20, Myasnitskaya St., Moscow, Russian Federation, 101000
Visiting scholar at School of Media, Faculty of Communications, Media, and Design
e-mail: fedotova.alyona@gmail.com
ORCID: 0000-0002-8772-3601

Back-to-back Film Production: Russian Feature Films and TV Series Based on Them (2003–2020)

Abstract: The phenomenon of back-to-back production of both a feature film for theatrical release and its serialized extended cut made either for TV broadcast or video on demand distribution is a well-known practice in Russia. The following study presents an extensive list of 44 film projects that came out from 2003 to 2020. Consequently they have been edited into 92 works, either a feature film or its TV version. There are six strategies of distribution depending on the order of premieres and the number of episodes in the extended cut. The amount of episodes is limited by the TV schedule programming, while dates of the TV premieres are linked to the Russian festive calendar. The research also examines some of the common patterns; in particular, the tendency to depict the past (73% of the studied projects). The case study of parallel filmmaking covered the montage influence on the narrative of a film «Mathilde» (directed by Alexei Uchitel, 2017) and the mini-series «Coronation» (directed by Alexei Uchitel, 2019) based on it to consider methods of imagining the past on the screen via various mediums and semiotics.

Key words: re-edited film, miniseries, TV cut, extended cut, heritage film, film production, public history, medium, TV, Mathilde, Soviet montage theory, media studies, orality, festive calendar, Russian film.

References:

Marill, A.H. (1987). Movies Made for Television: The Telefeature and the Mini-series, 1964-1986. New York Zoetrope.
Jess-Cooke, C. (2009). Film Sequels: Theory and Practice from Hollywood to Bollywood. Edinburgh University Press.
Cloarec, N. (2013). From the Banned Telefilm to the Feature Film: the Two Versions of Alan Clarke’s Scum (1977-1979). Revue LISA/LISA e-journal. Littératures, Histoire des Idées, Images, Sociétés du Monde Anglophone–Literature, History of Ideas, Images and Societies of the English-speaking World, 11(3). URL : http://journals.openedition.org/lisa/5549
Kerbel, M. (1977). Television: Edited for Television II: Unkindest Cuts. Film Comment, 13(4), 38-40.
McElroy, R., Nielsen, J.I., & Noonan, C. (2018). Small is beautiful? The salience of scale and power to three European cultures of TV production. Critical Studies in Television, 13(2), 169-187.
Taylor, R., & Christie, I. (Eds.). (1994). The Film Factory: Russian and Soviet Cinema in Documents. Psychology Press.
Kuleshov, L. V., Khokhlova, A. S. (1975). 50 let v kino [Making movies for 50 years]. “Iskusstvo”.
McLuhan, E. (2000). The Fordham Experiment. In Proceedings of the Media Ecology Association(vol. 1, p. 23).
Edinaya federalnaya avtomatizirovanaya informatsionnaya sistema svedeniy o pokazakh filmov v kinozalakh [United Federal Automated Informational System for Data on Film Screenings Organised in Cinemas]. Fond Kino. https://ekinobilet.fond-kino.ru/
Byulletien’ kinoprokatchika: kinoprokat v Rossii online [The bulletin of a cinema distributor: online film distribution in Russia]. Byulletien’ kinoprokatchika. http://www.kinometro.ru/
Kinopoisk. Grafik prem’ier v Rossii [Kinopoisk. Schedule of premieres in Russia]. Kinopoisk. https://www.kinopoisk.ru/premiere/
Kino-Teatr.RU. Grafik prem’ier. [Kino-Teatr.RU. Schedule of premiers]. Kino-Teatr.RU. https://www.kino-teatr.ru/afisha/
Ivanova, Y. G. (2018). Osobenossti sovremennogo rossiiskogo kinematografa v kontekste formirovaniya istoricheskoi politiki [Features of modern Russian cinema in the context of historical politics formation]. Molodezh tret‘ego tysyacheletia(pp. 140-144).
Fomina, O. Lyubimuyu stsenu Marata Basharova vykinuli iz «72 metrov» [Marat Basharov’s favourite scene was cut out of «72 meters»]. Komsomol’skaya pravda.https://www.kp.ru/daily/23374/32646/
Alperina, S. «Soyuz spaseniya» mozhet stat’ serialom [«Union of Salvation» may become a TV series]. Rossiyskaya gazeta. https://rg.ru/2020/07/30/soiuz-spaseniia-mozhet-stat-serialom.html
Alexander, J. C. (2004). Toward a theory of cultural trauma. In Cultural trauma and collective identity, 76(4), 620-639.
Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verso.
Novikova, A. A., Tchumakova, V. P. (2014). Sovetskiye filmy v novoi mediasrede: idealizatsiya ili discreditatsiya predstavleniy o proshlom? [Soviet films in the new media environment: idealization or discreditation of ideas about the past?]. Observatoriya kul‘tury, (2), 61-67.
Zvereva, V. V. (2004). Istoriya na TV: construirovanie proshlogo [History on TV: the construction of the past]. Otechestvennye zapiski, (5), 160-168.
Bourdieu, P. (1988). Distinction: Towards a social critique of the judgement of taste(R. Nice Trans.). Routledge & Kegan Paul (Original work published 1986)
Breytman, A. S. (2019). «Ekran» kak dominanta sovremennoi kul’tury: kino, televideniye, video, compyuternaya animatsiya. [«Screen» as a major idea of modern culture: cinema, television, video, computer animation]. Vestnik Kazanskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta kul’tury i iskusstv, (3), 97-102.
Filonenko, G. Na Pervom — televersiya nashumevshego fil’ma o Vysotskom [Watch the TV adaptation of a controversial movie about Vysotsky on Channel One]. Pervyi kanal.https://www.1tv.ru/news/2013-10-30/61197-na_pervom_televersiya_nashumevshego_filma_o_vysotskom
Pervyi kanal. Teleprogramma na sredu, 9 marta 2016 goda [Channel One. TV schedule for Wednesday, 9th of March 2016]. Pervyi kanal.https://www.1tv.ru/schedule/2016-03-09
Pervyi kanal. Teleprogramma na ponedel’nik, 19 oktyabr’ya 2009 goda [Channel One. TV schedule for Monday, 19th of October 2009]. Pervyi kanal.https://www.1tv.ru/schedule/2009-10-19
Levieva, K. Zritelei Pervogo kanala uzhe v ponedel’nik zhdyot bol’shaya prem’iera — istoricheskaya drama «Tobol» [This Monday a big premiere awaits for all viewers of Channel One, a historical drama «Tobol»]. Pervyi kanal.https://www.1tv.ru/news/2020-10-22/395517-zriteley_pervogo_kanala_uzhe_v_ponedelnik_zhdet_bolshaya_premiera_istoricheskaya_drama_tobol
Khoroshilova, T. Serial «Text. Realnost» vyidet ran’she sroka [The series «Text. Reality» will be released ahead of schedule]. Rossiyskaya gazeta. Soyuz Belarus’ Rossiya. https://rg.ru/2020/07/02/serial-tekst-realnost-vyjdet-ranshe-sroka.html
Solovyov, S. A. «“Anna Karenina” ne trebuet adaptatsii dlya sovremennogo zritelya», — Sergey Solovyov o filme. Rezhisyorskaya annotatsiya [«“Anna Karenina” doesn’t require adjustment for the modern audience», – Sergei Soloviev about the film. Director’s annotation]. Pervyi kanal.https://www.1tv.ru/series/vse-serialy/serii/s-solovev-anna-karenina-ne-trebuet-adaptatsii-dlya-sovremennogo-zritelya
TV-3. Kinoserial Gogol’ ТВ-3 [Film series Gogol]. Telekanal TV-3. https://tv3.ru/project/kinoserial-gogol
Anderson, S. (2000). Loafing in the Garden of Knowledge: History TV and Popular Memory. Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies, 30(1), 14-23.
McLuhan, M., et al. (2011). The Gutenberg galaxy: The making of typographic man. University of Toronto Press.
Alperina, S. Nakhodka dlya «Shpiona» [A lucky hit for «The Spy»]. Rossiyskaya gazeta. https://rg.ru/2012/04/05/shpion-poln.html
Vartanyan, A. Futbol v gody voiny. Chast’ chetvyortaya. Mif o «Matche smerti» [Wartime football. Part four. «The Death Match» myth]. Sport Express: https://www.sport-express.ru/newspaper/2007-02-02/16_1/
Aseeva, S. A. (2019) Smysly romana L. N. Tolstogo «Anna Karenina» i ikh interpretatsiya v teleseriale K. G. Shakhnazarova «Anna Karenina. Istoriya Vronskogo» (Rossiya, 2017) [Ideas behind the novel «Anna Karenina» by Leo Tolstoy and their interpretation in the TV series «Anna Karenina. Vronsky’s story» by Karen Shakhnazarov (Russia, 2017)]. Materialy Tolstovskilh chteniy 2018 goda v gosudarstvennom muzee L.N. Tolstogo(pp. 130-138).
Fyodorov, A. V. (2016). Obraz Belogo dvizheniya v rossiyskom igrovom kinematographe na sovremennom etap’e (1992-2015) [The White movement representation in modern Russian fiction film (1992-2015)].
Borisov, S. I. (2010) Geroicheskiy obraz v zhanrakh «boievik» i «fil’m-comics» v nachale XXI veka v kinematografiakh SShA i Rossii [Depiction of the hero in «action» and «comic book movie» genres in cinematography of the USA and Russia in the beginning of the XXI century]. Ph.D. Dissertation. Мoscow.
Belikov, E. S. «V Rossii ne byvayet spokoinykh periodov»: Interview s Alexeem Uchitelem [«There are no peaceful periods in Russia»: An interview with Alexey Uchitel]. Amediateka. https://blog.amediateka.ru/koronacija-intervju-s-alekseem-uchitelem/
Peirce, C. S. (1955). Philosophical writings of Peirce(Vol. 217). Courier Corporation.

For Citation:

Fedotova, E. (2021). Back-to-back Film Production: Russian Feature Films and TV Series Based on Them (2003–2020). International Journal of Cultural Research, 1 (42), 40–63. DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2021_1_40

DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2021_1_40