Starevich, Vladislav Aleksandrovich

Starevich, Vladislav Aleksandrovich

 

(also Wła-dysław Starewicz). Born July 27 (Aug. 8), 1882, in Moscow; died 1965 in Paris. Russian artist, cameraman, and film director. First Russian cinematographer to work in animated cartoons.

Beginning in 1911, Starevich experimented with stop-motion photography and developed various animated-cartoon techniques, first using modeled objects and later working with graphic images. His animated cartoons using modeled objects include The Beautiful Leukanida (1912), The Cameraman’sRevenge (1912), and Four Devils (1913). Most significant is the film The Dragonfly and the Ant (1913), based on the fable by I. A. Krylov. Starevich also combined graphic animation with film using live actors, for example, in the film The Night BeforeChristmas (1913), based on the story by N. V. Gogol. He achieved considerable artistic success and developed techniques such as panning, special-effects photography, composite optical printing, and dissolves. From 1919 he worked in Paris. Among his later animated cartoons using three-dimensional objects, the best known is Reynard the Fox (1939).