"If you're afraid of artists, it's weird to make a movie"
Children on the set cannot be forced to work according to adult rules, and the acting profession itself is not suitable for every child, says director and cinematographer Yuri Korobeynikov. On September 1, the premiere of the third season of the popular detective series "Curious Barbara" will take place at the Wink online cinema. In the first two Korobeynikov was the director of photography, now he has taken the place of the creative producer of the project. Yuri Korobeynikov spoke in an exclusive interview with Izvestia before the premiere about how child actors combine work with study, which shocks the cinematographer, who gets to shoot for the first time after college, and about Zhora Kryzhovnikov's free lessons.
"It's difficult for young children to keep their concentration"
— What will be fundamentally new in the third season of Curious Barbarians? And how does the plot affect the fact that the young actress Polina Aynutdinova is growing up, which means that her character is growing along with her?
— Our characters are getting older, and their experiences are changing with them, so the third season promises to be noticeably more emotional. Varvara gets her first liking, and her behavior changes a lot. At the camp, she meets a boy who perfectly matches her inner "settings": the level of intelligence, interests, erudition. But we don't cheat on ourselves.: as in previous seasons, there will be a lot of humor and warm, kind moments in the new season, for which both children and adults love the project.
A shot from the TV series "Curious Varvara 3"
Filming takes about two months, so the changes are almost imperceptible during the actual process. But a year passes between the seasons, and during this time the children change a lot. Their characters grow up with them. We don't mask this growing up, but organically emphasize it.
— What are the features and tasks of a children's detective story compared to a classic one?
— Usually in family detective stories you need to explain how children find themselves in a space without adults. We initially went the other way. Adults are always present at the crime scenes that the guys investigate. But the clues that Varvara finds seem insignificant to them. And our smart and tenacious girl unravels the case — and it turns out that everyone was wrong except her. At the same time, investigations are still subject to the laws of logic.
A shot from the TV series "Curious Varvara 3"
— How do child actors combine their work process with their studies and how are they disciplined?
— Many of them are home-schooled with tutors. We were incredibly lucky to find such cool little artists. Their childish fervor energizes the whole group. But it's important to keep in mind that we don't have some boring talking movie at the table. "Curious Varvara" is a project with a special atmosphere. We have interesting locations, and what happens in the frame is also fascinating. We shoot adventures, so for child actors, filming itself becomes an adventure, too.
— How are they doing with discipline?
— The main secret is to treat the children on the playground the same as your own. And always keep in mind that children are children. Their unrestrained energy is not always able to fit into the framework dictated by filmmaking. Therefore, between takes, you need to give this energy an outlet: run around, run wild. Double—stop, and they start discussing something or coming up with entertainment appropriate to their age.
Now they have grown up, and the same work is going on with them as with adult artists: we rehearse the scene, do a double, the director gives comments, we shoot further. But in the first seasons, the usual algorithm didn't work. It is difficult for young children to keep their concentration throughout the entire take. We quickly abandoned this scheme and decided to divide the stage into parts and work in stages. That is, we didn't go through it in its entirety: the scene began, the children said a few phrases, and if we realized that this was not enough, we gave a comment, they talked lines. Only then did we film further. The takes could be very long. Now the children have become more mature, wiser, more experienced, so this is no longer required.
"It is necessary to take into account the talent and desires of the child"
— When a child offers something of his own — intonation, gesture, remark — how do you react? Has it ever happened that children's improvisation changed the scene?
— The guys are active, they star in different projects, they have their own content. Often their organics complement and enliven the scene even more than was originally planned. Therefore, if they suddenly offer something of their own, we are only happy to see it. If it fits, we adopt it.
You just need to observe the child: his features, intonations, facial nuances. Sometimes you look, you look — and suddenly it turns out so cool that you immediately want to transfer it to the character. The fact that Polina is so energetic, jumps, runs, we added Varvara back in the first season, which is why our detective is so active.
— How can an acting career at such a young age affect a child?
— We can discuss this in five or seven years. Now I see that Polina is happy and so is Serega. They do things that bring them joy and that they are good at. At the moment, it's all very cool. I hope their adult acting career will be no less successful than their children's.
— You have three children yourself. Would you like them to try acting?
— It is necessary to take into account the talent and desires of the child. There are children who are more organic and less organic, but if acting is not what they want to do, such an initiative will only lead to injury. Polina and Seryozha's career is the result of one hundred percent meeting their desires. The acting profession is really difficult, but if the child's interest does not fade, everything will be fine. Our kids give odds to big adult uncles and aunts.
"Working with Gooseberries is a free school"
— You are known not only as a director, but also as a cinematographer. What was your first shooting experience that shocked you?
— I graduated from the VGIK Faculty of Cinematography. As soon as you graduate from the institute and get on the first shift as a director of photography, a shock happens - it turns out that everything you were taught is catastrophically insufficient to keep the site. You have to be not just a creator, but also the manager of a fairly large team, to keep track of time, changes, and personnel — this was the biggest shock. With experience, all these shocks become smaller and smaller. And you, on the contrary, start waiting for interesting non-standard tasks.
— Have you ever had a nervous breakdown before your first shift with a big artist?
— Thank God, this has never happened. Again, thanks to my teachers — Zhora Kryzhovnikov, Karen Oganesyan. These are great directors who know how to work with artists. And in general, it's strange to be afraid of your instrument. The painter's tool is a brush. The driver has a car. And the director's working tool is real people. Therefore, if you are afraid of artists, it is strange to do this business — to make a movie.
Directed and produced by Zhora Gooseberry
— How did you work with Zhora Gooseberry? He is described as a rather demanding director.
— Zhora Kryzhovnikov is a great director and a great author. Therefore, working with him is a great pleasure. It's a free film school (laughs). I've learned a lot from working with him. And this is the kind of knowledge that you won't get in any industrial school.
A shot from the TV series "Words of a kid"
Personally, we had no discrepancies. Yes, we started working together on the set of "Words of a Kid" and very quickly joined the same stream. Thanks to this, we are not shooting the first project together.
— Do you have an undeveloped genre or theme that you would like to explore in the future?
— I have a fairly large filmography. I've shot different genres, different eras, and fiction. My wishes are satisfied in this sense. And I don't want to shoot a genre, but a good movie that the audience will like, which they will want to review and which will carry a kind bright thought.
— Which trends do you consider the most promising? What do you think will define the industry in the coming years?
— Watching how fast technology is changing and artificial intelligence is developing, it is very difficult to make up your mind. What will always be in the trend are good human stories.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
