Provided by the press service of” Animakkord »
2 September came the last series of the second season of the animated series “Masha and the Bear”. “Izvestia” wrote that the studio “Animakkord” is to focus on the spin-offah series as a full-fledged new season it may not have enough resources. When citing other media directly tied break from work on the show with a lack of funding. As the correspondent of “Izvestia” producer Dmitry Loveyko, the creators are problems of a different kind of – you need to think about a new scenario moves, learn new trends in terms of technology, to solve the problem of personnel, as well as find a new actress dubbing – girl Alina, who was the voice of Masha seven years in December, must be fulfilled 13. What happens with the characters, and when to wait for the new series, the studio promises to tell after two or three months.
– Let us be clear what will happen with “Masha” on and which ones resources are scarce?
– We honestly speaking, it was very surprising that ordinary event has become such a scale. We ended the second season, the work of two and a half years. For us, this landmark milestone – while working on them, we went to the international market, received recognition at festivals and awards, moved to a new office and began to expand. This is an important point in terms of the business – the rights are bought and sold for the season – and the audience probably should not care what kind of account out series. So we did not expect that our words on the break, that we need to gather strength and to think about the third season, perceive so seriously.
The lack of resources about which I have said, in any case is not linked to financial problems, as it is written by some media. For a matter of hours, we wrote dozens and even hundreds of people offer to help with money, have already announced a fundraiser, opened some accounts.
We would like to ask our viewers to do anything like this, otherwise it may use some crooks. “Masha and the Bear” – a successful project, and we have difficulties quite different kind.
– What?
We are not announcing the third season, because we want to analyze their own. We were able to remove the 52 series of high-level, and in order to continue at least as good, we need to re-evaluate their capabilities. Characters, locations, stories themselves are complicated.
If the first season, we took about 8-9 thousand. man-hours per batch, the latest series – already 13-14 thousand., and a series of “Harvest Festival”, where there was large-scale scene ball, demanded 18 thousand. Soon we will have a series of not doing anything for 3-4 months, and two times longer, or improve the performance of Studio 1.5 times, recruit and train new people.
In addition, the partners offer us to move to 4K, and it will require a new technological line and time on the retraining of our specialists. Perhaps we should try to go to film images – Several series were shown on the big screen under the “Cartoon in a movie”, in this direction there is interest abroad. Technology does not stand still, and we need to meet them. And above all, our increased actress Alina Kukushkin , which is the voice of Masha six years. This December she turns 13, and we have a year looking for someone to replace her, and in no way can be found.
In order to enter the third season, all these problems we need to solve. We have a strong commitment to our partners in Russia and abroad. We need them to ensure that we can finish the season on time, the quality of the series will not be affected.
– Maria leaves and went to Bear City – it is really similar to the final point. You have idea how to move the story on?
– We long ago decided that at the end of the second season Masha will leave the forest, and we will be able to rest and think what to do next. You see, 52 stories about the same character – a lot. All possible situations have been studied far and wide – and schools, and birthday, and I do not know, agriculture, and many other things. Characters from series to series of complicated characters. Mary is not only outrageously, and now she can cry and get to work. Bear, who previously stoically endured all leprosy in the new series, he is capable of tricks – and so on.
The simple plot moves no longer work. The viewer has already seen a lot of good series and not settle for less.
options for further development of the plot a lot, but it’s pretty difficult to implement. We may add a new location, or new characters – such as parents. Or focus on the spin-offah – “Mashkin horror stories” already removed, you can run a single line about the car journey or a separate series about Bear. In any event, to be held in November, our internal conference for licensees from around the world, where we talk about the future of the project. By this time we will know when to wait for the third season, and what will happen to our heroes.
the Press Service of the studio “Animakkord” 
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– The crisis has somehow influenced you?
– rather on our partners. If not for him, we would have already a network of child clubs active development of children through the characters in the series. It’s a great idea, we are promoting it since 2012, we are now stopped, but I think that will cope with everything. What else is important – last year it was announced that 15% of all state support of cinematography will go to the animation, and today means in our field, in spite of the crisis, more than it was five years ago.
Another issue that, in my opinion, the state should first of all help to build infrastructure. The extra money – it is certainly good. Debuts, author animation work masters and national projects such as “Alexander Suvorov” to “Soyuzmultfilm” the state should support the financial and commercial animation need other measures.
We have long been asking us to reduce the VAT (at least at the level of the IT-industry) and income tax to us stretched private investment to stretched staff. Moreover, that tax revenues from all animators – only 400 million rubles a year, the amount of the country’s small-scale, but for us – in principle.
The government could, for example, to issue guarantees for bank loans for individual projects. Organize training courses, as in the Russian animation shortage of mid-level managers. We prepare directors, like preparing writers and technical layer of almost no – it was 1.5 thousand. People, and remains, and only the largest studios – “Windmill”, “Petersburg” and we – do their courses. It takes a lot of resources, but the global situation does not change.
– «Masha and the Bear” is now probably the main Russian animation brand abroad. What is the ratio of income between the Russian and international market?
– is about the structure of income. Now we get about 40% of the actual content, and 60% – c commodity turnover. Most of the merchandise (toys, books, school supplies, etc.) – Russia and the CIS countries, abroad we are just starting to sell licenses. As for content – roughly in half.
– Revenues from content – telepokaz?
– No, we get a little TV. Mainly monetization comes with digital channels – Appstore, YouTube, Google Play. Interestingly, Google Play for the first time, for the sake of the experiment, I uploaded to his shop a short project. And “Mary” is still headed there a list of the most downloaded products – on a par with premieres of feature films. Also, in certain European countries are not yet as developed piracy and works great DVD-distribution.
– You originally planned to enter the international market ?
– No, of course. There was no business plan, there was a desire to try something new. Oleg Kuzovkov, author of the idea and the art director of the project with producer Andrew Dobrunovym (which is now the head of “Soyuzmultfilm”) for a long time looking for tools and almost miraculously found them in 2007. Then, three-dimensional animation was only in movie theaters – “Shrek,” “Toy Story”, but not on television.
Oleg Kuzovkov – perfectionist, worked before in “Pilot” in Los Angeles, and from the beginning he wanted to make a quality product. The amount of required investment of $ 2 million – money unthinkable, given that it was unclear how they beat.
But there was an investor who I was willing to wait as long as necessary. The first two series were made a year – no one is in a hurry, the work went as long as necessary. Recently, at the Cannes TV market, we talked with the French producers, and they could not believe that someone has decided on a project, where the character – 40-50 control points, you need to finish a series of four months, and the whole season – two years ( We have four directorial groups are working simultaneously on four series). There, in France, you need to give the season to 26 episodes a year, or a studio waiting for the losses.
In general, no one expected commercial success. I do think that such things are impossible to calculate. Yes, we have managed to build up a competent marketing, but because of the quality of the animation, and found true idea. Oleg managed to come up with wonderful characters, in a new form to beat the eternal relationship of adult and child – in a way that is understandable and interesting everywhere. “Masha” actively look even in Muslim countries – the UAE, Malaysia and so on.
– The series “Masha and the Bear” quite internationalist in content – shebutnoy child and forgiving father. Although based on a Russian folk tale.
– There are amazing regularity. We are constantly monitoring feedback on the show, and Russia remained stable ratio of 75% high-grade and 25 – critical, while in European countries is almost zero backlash. I think this is due to the fact that our product from Russia – and Russian origin is considered to be an instant – a matter of respect.
None of us have long been waiting for nothing. There grew a generation of people who know nothing about the great Soviet animation. The only bright spot – Cheburashka is very popular in Japan. And so – to “Masha” and “Smeshariki” there was nothing. We, Russian animators, very high position in a professional environment – thanks to prizes at festivals, nominated for “Oscar” Alexander Petrov (which even received a statuette), Konstantin Bronzit and others, but for the mass audience of the Russian animation for a long time did not exist.
– Are you consciously make an animation for a wide audience? I understand that the primary audience – the children, but on the show a lot of references and jokes that the child does not understand. Song AC / DC, for example, or a parody of Maria Sharapova.
– We do the show as much as possible multilayered. Starting with the second season often use stories or articles that make up our national cultural code. For example, in “Cave Bear” played up the plot of the film “Ivan Vasilievich” Gaidai. And let the sending preschooler hardly believe, but just remember – the way we like we move the bridge to our past.
In general, a lot of jokes in the series and other topics. In the episode “Cinema Day” we parodied cult western movie – “Titanic,” “King Kong,” “Mission Impossible” … I recently went with my son, he was 15 years old, in the fifth movie “Mission” and he said, “Dad, that they, the music of” Masha “have?» (laughs).
The most important thing that the series fun to do by the author. We have in the kitchen in the studio hanging Bear family tree. In the series, it flashed just half a second in a series of “Cave Bear” and will no longer appear. And it is absolutely brilliant thing that can be seen for hours. There’s a bear ancestors – Egyptian pharaoh, a medieval knight, a musketeer, and even Red Army commander. Or take the titles of books in the office of the Bear. If you press the “stop” or on DVD, or on YouTube can not see nothing, only on Blu-ray are seen – and there the names of all of our directors and animators, and a lot of jokes for her.
And the music? By New Year’s series Vasily Bogatyrev wrote a beautiful song, and we fell to the letter of gratitude – “Thank you, how long ago it was not!”. In Soviet animation was a lot of music, almost all children’s songs, the people who left were cartoons. “The Bremen Town Musicians”, “Flying Ship”, “Lion and the Tortoise” and so on – it is almost musicals. And in the post-Soviet period this tradition was broken, because it is difficult, because it is expensive, and at the request of the audience, we decided to go back to basics. We now have in each of the third series is a song. Bogatyrev completely dropped the stage – before he wrote songs Rotaru, Kirkorov, and now only works on the cartoon.
I must say that this whole giant resonance caused by rumors of the closing of the show, highlighted a new dimension to our work. We realize that in some sense, the question to continue the series or not depends not only on us.
– How to Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes – just Masha is not released.
– Yes, to some extent. Among the thousands of comments left by the last series, the most common – “The feeling that we are not leaving a cartoon character, and live and the native people.” Suddenly, we took the responsibility in front of many, many people and not try to cheat.
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