Jiri TrinkaVeronica Corneau

Anna GladkikhFilm 344 Section 10

Background0Born on February 24, 1912 in Pilsen, Czech Republic0His father was a plumber and his mother was a dressmaker0Went to School of Applied Arts in Prague(Academy of

Architecture, Art, and Design)0Worked as a children’s book illustrator0Best known as puppeteer and animator

His Years as an Illustrator

0First illustration - Mr. Boska: The Tiger of Vitezslaw Šmejc in 1937

0Famous illustrations include: The Brothers Grimm, several works of Shakespeare, and folktales from Jirí Horák and Jan Pálenícek

0 Illustrated over 130 stories0 Illustrations for Bajaja by Vladimir Hoan, the story

was later turned into an animation

Early Years as an Animator0 1936 – Created puppet theater

but disbanded due to war0 1945 – Joined up with Jirí

Brdečka and Eduard Hofman, created “Grandfather Planted a Beet”

0 1946 – Formed a new studio now known as the Jiri Trnka Studio0 Animals and Bandits, The

Springer and the SS Men, The Gift0 https://www.youtube.com/watch

?v=lKjKTKX4BXI0 Began using puppets in 1946

Puppet Animation0First puppet animation “The Czech Year”

19470 Short film comprised of six parts0 Illustrated folk customs of the time0 Won award at Venice Film Festival

0Studio began receiving subsidies from the government in 1948

0Made second film “The Emperor’s Nightingale” 19490 Based on story by Hans Christian Anderson

0Continued to make short puppet animations throughout the year

The fifties

0Experimenting with new techniques:0 - 1951 “Golden Fish”0 - “The Merry Circus” uses stop motion and 2-

dimensional paper cutouts;01953 -Old Czech Legends – quarter-length movie, 7

episodes about history of Czech people. Challenges.01959 - “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, his last feature

by Shakespeare. Used plastic puppets.

The sixties

0 Only a few short films, pessimistic notes0 1962 – “The Passion” 0 - “Cyber Grandma” – a satire0 1965 – “The Hand”(Ruka) ( he considered it

his greatest work, a short). It was his last film. Ruka is a protest against the conditions imposed by Czechoslovak communist state to artistic creation.

0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qzvCZojnWQ

0 1969 – he died of a heart condition 57 years old.

Animation Techniques

0 Trinka experimented with different animation techniques: from traditional cartoons in his first shorts to animation with shadow puppets;

0 Preferred method – stop-motion puppet work0 Even he did not invent puppet animation, his style was

different: He did not alter the appearance of dolls to display their emotions, but instead worked with lighting and framing.0 Music played an important role to him. In all his films the

composer of the music – Vaclav Trojan.

Summary

0One of the most famous European cartoon makers, “The Walt Disney of Eastern Europe”

0 Illustrator and puppet maker0Most of the movies for adults0 “Puppets films are truly unlimited in their

possibilities: they can express themselves with the greatest force precisely when realistic expressions of the cinematographic image often faces insurmountable obstacles”.

References0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ji%C5%99%C3%AD_Trnka0 http://www.awn.com/mag/issue5.04/5.04pages/dutkatrnka.php30 http://

www.radio.cz/en/section/czech-history/jiri-trnka-100th-anniversary-of-the-birth-of-a-great-czech-animator

0 http://www.rembrandtfilms.com/jiritrnka.htm0 http://www.spjst.org/jiritrnka.html0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qzvCZojnWQ