History of the Soviet filmstrips

Each of us cherishes in her heart the memories of childhood. Happy or sad, light or full of bitterness, they serve as a bridge that connects us today, adults and respectable, with the small children, we were once. Sometimes, feeling nostalgia for the departed childhood, we get these memories from my memory depths to return even for a second time in the carefree, free from our present problems and concerns. For many of us such vivid memories can become filmstrips, we looked in his childhood.

The quiet hum of the projector-filmoskop and bright beam that turns a white sheet on the wall in the Etch A Sketch, which alternate color pictures ... All this will forever remain in the memory of the child. Remember your mood at that moment? Joy and impatience, while the older custom objects and charge film filmstrip in the projector, your delight in the moment when the first image appears on the wall, and the tale begins ...

Our present life is hard to imagine without the TVs, DVD-players, computers, and other wonders of technology, but they can not drive out of your heart that pure childhood joy of color stories, drawn a ray of light on the white sheet.

Filmstrip - a series of positive images (slides), united by a common theme in the short film, usually consisting of 20-50 frames. Filmstrip associated with comics, cartoons, book illustration, but differs from them. The name itself comes from the Greek dia, which in this context means "the transition from the beginning to the end"; and Eng. film - roll picture (movie) film.

Transparancy film is based on the change of still frames (as opposed to film). Its frame is closer to the easel painting or graphics, so some artists and include the filmstrip to the visual arts. In the frame of the filmstrip is present movement, expression, like any work of art. At the same time an urgent need to move from frame to frame, and the combination of their grip, as well as the problem of matching the text image.

The word "filmstrip" and the subject of which it represents, is well known to all adults who grew up in Soviet children. The number of people who do not know what a "filmstrip", is increasing every day. Explain what filmstrip, is not so simple. Because filmstrip - it's not just a story told by means of text and image, divided into frames. It is also a kind of machinery presenting the history of the viewer, in which each frame is considered individually.

Filmstrip - it is also a pastime, organized by manual movement of frames, reading aloud the signatures, and the collective by viewing images projected on the screen in the dark. Filmstrips - an integral part of the Soviet way of life and culture.

In the second half of the twentieth century, film strips are widely used in the USSR, they were common in everyday life, in particular, were created numerous film strips - illustrated tales, historical and literary works. Technical filmstrips designed for the educational process.

View of slides by using filmoskop or overhead projector, projecting the image on the screen, in the simplest case, it was a white wall or sheet.

Overhead projector PD-2

In Western Europe and America simultaneously with filmstrips there were some kinds of home screen entertainment for children and adults, but only in our country the practice of viewing art filmstrips was spread everywhere. Popularize the art of slides contributed to the very love of the audience and the support of the state. But the Soviet filmstrip began as a cartoon, strength enthusiasts. Filmstrips were new technical step, allowing you to view images using low-cost equipment, such as a "magic lantern" (a device for image projection).

The Magic Lantern

It is interesting to note that the film strip appeared much earlier cinema and even photos. The earliest devices, magic lanterns, design principles which were not significantly different from the slide projectors of the XX century, belong to the first half of the XVI century.

By the end of the XIX century the filmstrip has already taken a firm place in people's lives. Slides produced both on film and on the glass. Mass demonstrations were held, primarily in education, at least, for entertainment purposes. In pre-revolutionary Russia were filmstrips on natural history, geography, most of the "misty pictures" was devoted to the history of the Russian state ( "25 years of the reign of Emperor Alexander II of", "St. Cyril and Methodius"), were also dramatizations of literary works ( "The Ice House" "Masquerade"). Display of paintings accompanied by reading aloud the brochure attached to each picture.

One of the first Soviet overhead projectors unit was called "IZBACH" constructed an employee Glavpolitprosvet P. Mershin. Built-in dynamo and a rheostat allowed to use it where there was no electricity. Manufacturing process filmstrips as illustrative material replaces the prior art use of individual glass slides. Slides were not very comfortable, because they had a lot of weight (manufactured on glass photographic plates), and for storing them had a lot of space.

In 1930, the studio "Filmstrip" was founded in Moscow, releases first black-and-white and then colored filmstrips. Filmstrips considered as a means of agitation, they were used for training and school, lecture and outreach, they did not require sophisticated equipment, and on the effectiveness of the impact was close to the movies.

In 1934 he was made the first film strips for the children: "Baggage" and "Fire" (by S. Marshak), "Girl-revushka" (by A. Barto) and several others. Later, there were filmstrips of films ( "New Gulliver" in 1940, "Battleship" Potemkin "," The Cranes Are Flying ", and so on.).

The Judge "filmstrip" worked as a consultant and author many famous writers: Tolstoy, L. Kassil, Chukovsky, S. Marshak, S. Mikhalkov, V. Bianchi and others. In the creation of slides was attended by the artists: E. Evgan, Kukryniksy V. Suteev, K. Rotov, W.Radloff, A. Bray and others.

Since the late 50s. production of art has become a mass of slides: Studio "Filmstrip" began to produce 300-400 names of slides per year. Issue voiced filmstrips was started, the sound for them were recorded on gramophone records; to educational films produced accompanying text in the form of booklets. An important step was the transition from flammable of film based on nitrocellulose - safe "acetate" basis.

From 60th - 70th. The twentieth century, with the advent of more sophisticated projectors, overhead projector, film projector and kinosomochnyh for narrow film (16 mm and 8 mm) allow you to view both old filmstrips, and professional and amateur color slides and films, the decline of "the era of slides."

There are now digitized slide shows that can be stored on a flash drive or hard drive, and play with a conventional projector. Some filmstrips can even look online on niche sites (links we share at the end of the publication).

But perhaps, even new technologies are not able to replace the end of the cozy miracle "magic lantern". Otherwise it can not be, because filmstrip world - this extraordinary world. Pay off the room light, direct beam of the projector on a white wall and meet their favorite characters - which means to forget about multi-channel acoustics, plasma screens and home theater; it would be like to come in an expensive car to his old apartment and suddenly find there is a teddy bear that was once the childhood best friend ...