TVBEurope gets an insight from Alexey Senkovsky, director of the camera equipment department at Mosfilm Studios, about its work in 2020 and moving to a CODEX workflowBy Contributor
Published: August 27, 2020
TVBEurope gets an insight from Alexey Senkovsky, director of the camera equipment department at Mosfilm Studios, about its work in 2020 and moving to a CODEX workflow
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Mosfilm is a film studio which is among the largest and oldest in the Russian Federation and in the whole of Europe.
Its output includes most of the widely acclaimed Soviet-era films, ranging from works by Andrei Tarkovsky and Sergei Eisenstein, who is commonly considered the greatest Soviet director. Mosfilm is the studio that produced Red Westerns and the Akira Kurosawa co-production Dersu Uzala, as well as the epic War and Peace.
The Moscow film production unit with studio facilities was established in November 1923 by the motion picture mogul Aleksandr Khanzhonkov and I. Ermolev. The first movie filmed by Mosfilm was On the Wings Skyward directed by Boris Mikhin. In 1927, the construction of a new film studio complex began on Mosfilmovskaya Street in Sparrow Hills of Moscow. In 1934 the film studio was renamed to Moskinokombinat, and in 1936 finally to Mosfilm, which it has been named ever since.
The famous Mosfilm logo, representing the monument Worker and Kolkhoz Woman by Vera Mukhina and Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin, was introduced in 1947 in the musical comedy, Spring directed by Grigori Aleksandrov and starring Lyubov Orlova and Nikolai Cherkasov.
Since its formation, Mosfilm had produced well over 3,000 films. Many of the film classics shot at Mosfilm throughout its history were granted international awards at various film festivals. By 2005, the company had expanded to over ten independent studios, spanning 13 sound stages and occupying an area of 13,000 sq. meters. Tours of this Russian Hollywood have become increasingly popular due to a well-kept inventory of Mosfilm's enormous depot featuring 170 tanks and 50 vintage period cars. The biggest sound stage is leased annually to hold the Golden Eagle Awards. In 2011, Mosfilm released a selection of its classic films online for free streaming keeping the content library relevant.
X2X had the fortunate opportunity to speak with Alexey Senkovsky, Director of the Camera Equipment Department at Mosfilm Studios about what Mosfilm's has been up to in 2020. Alexey has been working directly with X2X partner, Sfera Video Ltd. in Moscow on upgrading their onset workflow support. Sfera Video, led by Vassily Lunev, recently provided a complete CODEX workflow solution, including a Media Vault shared storage system, to support the on-set data back-up and augment the dailies workflows.
Tell us about Mosfilm and the type of services you provide and who your clients are?
Mosfilm is the leading Russian film company producing almost all the film, television and video content in the country. The studio's production capacity is more than a hundred films per year. Mosfilm also produces, distributes, and sells the film, television and video products. It also provides services relating to all phases of filmmaking from writing a screenplay to making source materials for a film production. Our clients are any companies or individuals engaged in the production of feature films, TV series, advertising, music videos, etc. Most films are made at studios that are located at Mosfilm.
In recent years Mosfilm has been actively involved in the modernization of its production and technical capabilities. A great deal of work has been done on the reconstruction of stages and studios and on equipping them with updated studio and lighting equipment and latest cameras that meet the highest modern-day standards. The most advanced digital equipment is installed in Mosfilm Sound Studio, in the TV-cinema department, and of course the Camera Equipment department that I manage.
Mosfilm provides all kinds of work on productions from the editing of films and video, to creation of the telecopying and computer graphics. All of this work is carried out using the most advanced equipment. The Studio has created a unique museum of historical costumes, props, and vintage cars. The tour is quite popular for the community. Mosfilm is the only studio that has preserved its film archive and carries out a great amount of work on the restoration of films from its golden collection at its own expenses. Mosfilm is actively involved in Russian film festivals in many countries and runs retrospective shows and screenings in Russia, as well as in other countries. We have even now made these classic films available for streaming.
Mosfilm is an industry-forming company for the Russian cinema system. Having overcome the financial crisis of the 90s, the studio has not only preserved its traditions and professions in the sphere of cinematography but has become a highly profitable enterprise. In the past nine years, it has increased its profitability by more than 10 times.
Nowadays Mosfilm consists of the new technologies, active filmmaking, highly skilled creative workers, plus the rare content collection of classic films and props. All this allows the studio to be considered the leading enterprise of the Russian film industry and to contribute highly to the revival of Russian cinema.
What kind of content does Mosfilm create? Is it for TV, Cinema, etc.?
Mosfilm provides a wide variety of services affecting all stages of the production of feature films, TV series, comm
