Carnival of Colours

Plot

Carnival of Colours is an experimental Soviet documentary from 1935 that showcases the revolutionary potential of color cinematography. The film is structured as a series of distinct fragments, each demonstrating different applications of color in motion pictures. It opens with displays of Soviet paintings, bringing static art to life through vivid color reproduction, then captures the grandeur of May Day parades on Red Square during 1934-1935, showing thousands of workers marching under colorful banners and flags. The documentary includes footage of amateur workers participating in cultural activities, highlighting the Soviet ideal of the proletariat's cultural development, and concludes with scenic sketches of Soviet Georgia, emphasizing the diversity and beauty of the Soviet republics. Throughout, the film serves as both a technical demonstration and a celebration of Soviet achievements in art and society.

Historical Background

Carnival of Colours was produced during a critical period in Soviet history, when Stalin's first Five-Year Plan was transforming the country into an industrial powerhouse. The mid-1930s saw massive investment in cultural and technical projects as part of the Soviet drive to demonstrate the superiority of the communist system. Cinema was considered a crucial tool for propaganda and education, and the development of Soviet color technology was seen as essential for competing with Western cinema. The film's focus on May Day parades reflects the importance of mass demonstrations in Soviet political culture, while the emphasis on diverse Soviet republics like Georgia aligned with Stalin's policy of promoting 'friendship of peoples' within the union. The experimental nature of the film also coincided with a brief period of relative artistic freedom before the stricter socialist realism guidelines were fully enforced in the late 1930s. This context explains why the state would fund such an ambitious technical project despite its limited commercial prospects.

Making Of

The production of Carnival of Colours was a highly experimental process that pushed the boundaries of Soviet technical capabilities in the mid-1930s. Nikolai Ekk and his team worked closely with Soviet chemists and engineers who were developing indigenous color film processes to reduce reliance on expensive Western technology. The filming required custom-built cameras and specialized lighting equipment, as early color processes were much less light-sensitive than black and white film. The crew faced constant technical challenges, including color registration problems, rapid color fading, and the need to process the film in specially equipped laboratories. The May Day parade sequences were particularly difficult to shoot, requiring multiple camera positions and careful coordination with parade organizers to capture the spectacle in optimal lighting conditions. The art gallery segments involved innovative techniques for photographing paintings, using special filters and lighting to reproduce the original colors as accurately as possible. Despite being a state-sponsored project, the creative team was given considerable freedom to experiment with visual techniques, resulting in some of the most avant-garde imagery in Soviet cinema of the period.

Visual Style

The cinematography in Carnival of Colours was groundbreaking for its time, utilizing experimental Soviet-developed color processes that required innovative techniques. The film employed a two-color additive system that created distinctive color palettes different from Western processes like Technicolor. For the art gallery sequences, cinematographers used specialized lighting setups and filters to accurately reproduce the colors of Soviet paintings, developing techniques for minimizing glare and preserving texture. The May Day parade footage required multiple camera positions to capture the scale of the demonstrations, with careful attention to the interplay between natural light and artificial illumination to maintain color consistency. The Georgia segments showcased landscape cinematography in color, using the new technology to emphasize the region's distinctive natural beauty and architectural features. Throughout the film, the cinematography balances technical experimentation with compositional beauty, creating images that serve both as demonstrations of color technology and as aesthetically compelling compositions. The surviving footage shows evidence of careful color grading and exposure control, despite the technical limitations of the equipment available at the time.

Innovations

Carnival of Colours represents several major technical achievements in the history of cinema. Most significantly, it was one of the first successful implementations of a domestically developed Soviet color film process, reducing reliance on expensive Western technology. The film utilized an innovative two-color additive system that Soviet technicians had been developing throughout the early 1930s. This process involved special cameras that could simultaneously expose two film strips through different color filters, which were then combined during projection to create the color image. The production team also developed new techniques for color correction and timing, essential for maintaining consistent color appearance across different shooting conditions. The film demonstrated advances in color-sensitive film stocks, lighting equipment designed for color cinematography, and processing methods for color film. The May Day sequences showcased techniques for capturing large-scale outdoor events in color, while the art gallery segments pioneered methods for accurately reproducing artwork on film. These technical innovations laid the groundwork for subsequent Soviet color films and contributed to the broader development of color cinema technology worldwide.

Music

The original soundtrack for Carnival of Colours featured a commissioned score by Soviet composer Alexander Mosolov, known for his avant-garde compositions and industrial-themed music. The music incorporated elements of Soviet folk songs, particularly for the Georgia sequences, as well as modernist orchestral passages that reflected the film's experimental nature. The soundtrack also included field recordings of the May Day parades, capturing the sounds of marching bands, crowds, and political speeches to create an immersive documentary experience. For the art gallery segments, the music was more subdued and classical, providing appropriate accompaniment for the visual presentation of paintings. The score utilized the full capabilities of Soviet sound recording technology of the mid-1930s, demonstrating the country's parallel advances in both color and sound cinema. Unfortunately, like many elements of the film, portions of the original soundtrack have been lost, with only fragments surviving in various archives. The music was designed to enhance the film's dual purpose as both technical demonstration and cultural celebration, using sound to reinforce the visual impact of the color imagery.

Memorable Scenes

• The opening sequence where Soviet paintings transition from static images to living color, demonstrating the power of cinema to animate art
• The sweeping aerial shots of the May Day parade on Red Square, showing thousands of workers marching in colorful formation under massive portraits of Soviet leaders
• The Georgia segment featuring traditional dancers in vibrant national costumes against mountain landscapes, showcasing the diversity of Soviet peoples
• The technical demonstration sequence where the camera focuses on color charts and test patterns, explicitly showing the film's experimental nature

What Critics Said

Contemporary Soviet critics praised Carnival of Colours primarily for its technical achievements rather than its artistic merits. Reviews in Soviet film journals like 'Iskusstvo Kino' emphasized the film's importance in demonstrating Soviet technological progress and its potential for creating more powerful propaganda tools. Some critics noted the aesthetic beauty of the color images, particularly in the Georgia sequences, but the overall critical discourse focused on the film's contribution to Soviet cinema's technical development. Western critics had limited access to the film, but those who saw it at international exhibitions acknowledged its technical ambition while noting the limitations of the color process. Modern film historians view Carnival of Colours as a significant but flawed experiment, recognizing its historical importance while acknowledging the technical imperfections of early Soviet color systems. The film is often cited in scholarly works about the development of color cinema and the relationship between technology and ideology in Soviet culture.

What Audiences Thought

As an experimental documentary with limited theatrical distribution, Carnival of Colours was seen primarily by film industry professionals, students, and officials rather than the general Soviet public. Those who did view it were reportedly impressed by the novelty of seeing Soviet subjects in color, particularly the vibrant May Day parade sequences. The film was shown at technical demonstrations and film school screenings, where it generated excitement about the future possibilities of Soviet color cinema. Some audience members noted the unnatural color reproduction in certain scenes, a common problem with early color processes, but overall there was enthusiasm for the technical achievement. The Georgia segment was particularly well-received for its scenic beauty and effective use of color to capture the region's distinctive landscape and culture. Despite its limited public exposure, the film created anticipation for more Soviet color productions, though the outbreak of World War II would delay the widespread adoption of color technology in Soviet cinema for many years.

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