Maľovanie is one of the most unique episodes of the entire Pat & Mat cannon and also the single most unique episode of the ... a je to! series. It always piqued my interest and I've always felt it somehow didn't match up with all the episodes around it. It turns out there's a great story behind this particular episode.
It is no surprise that Maľovanie ended up being the topic of the first post on this blog which wasn't part of an array of introductory posts concerned with producing a detailed filmography of the series. That short post, which only served as an introduction to a much more comprehensive one about Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, is here. I remember writing practically all of the short post and much of the larger one on my mobile phone on a snowy bus ride from Zagreb to Split in late December. That was more than half a year ago and in that time I've learned so much more about these bumbling handymen than I thought I ever would. For instance, I've learned that a key bit of information in that short post was - wrong.
Back to Maľovanie: This episode's main distinction is obvious: much of it is animated by Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, who typically did not work on the series, using a pair of puppets which were never reused in the series. Yet, there are even more differences to be found in the credits: for instance, this is the only post-1979 episode that lists Věra Henzlová as production manager.
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| In hindsight, a most telling inclusion... |
I'm very grateful to have been able to contact some of the people who worked on this great series and, of course, no person more than animator Jan Klos, with whom I've been able to talk about many of the films he worked on, both inside and outside of the Pat & Mat world. One day, Jan remembered an anecdote about his work in animation and sat down to share it with me by "knocking" it into his keyboard. With his usual self-deprecation, he quipped that this was one of those to share "before becoming history". It went like this:
It happened at Pojar's in Čiklova 13A. I finished an ... a je to! episode for Beneš and after a while I was due to start another one. Around that time, I had injured my right hand and had it in plaster (immobilized in large casing). I don't know the name of the episode, but I remember that the hero comes into the picture and carries a chicken that he intends to bake in the oven. He pulls the baking tray out of the cupboard. He finds out that the baking pan is not suitable - it is too small, so he pulls out a larger baking pan that is again not suitable - it is also too small and so on and so on until he is satisfied with the size of the baking pan. I animated these scenes with my left hand.
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| the headline says ... football competitions |
Naturally, every person reading this recognizes what Jan is describing as the beginning of this exact episode. That would not be unusual had Jan's name been present in the titles, but, as you have just seen, it is nowhere to be found - even though his task was quite arduous. To make it clear: the three opening shots in this episode were NOT animated by Karel Chocholín, but by an uncredited Jan Klos. I had never considered this possibility, but I was thinking with my mind instead of with my eyes. Even though he is (for the most obvious reasons - he could only rely on one hand!) a bit subdued, Klos' animation is still recognizably his - especially the way Mat exits the picture in his final frames. Even though his movements don't suffer much, we can see just how difficult it must have been for him to work in such conditions. The opening shots of the episode contain much more shooting errors than is usually the case, presumably because Klos had difficulties with operating the camera. It seems the exposure settings were constantly tinkered with, which meant that the final, continuous film is full of flickering and changes in hue. Notice how different these frames look:
Klos knew it couldn't continue this way. It was astonishing that he had even tried. As Mat excited the kitchen, so did Klos this assignment.
After that shot. I gave up...
... and Beneš took the decorations to the mother studio in Bartolomějská street. I don't know what happened next exactly, but Alfons Mensdorff finished the episode.
This is where things get (even more) interesting. Even though various iterations of P&M series were done in nominally the same studio, the Jiří Trnka Studio, from 1976 to 1990, they were, in fact, filmed in four different places. Originally, the series was done in Jiří Trnka's original studio, also known as Konvikt (due to the location originally housing some kind of an aristocratic boarding school). In 1981, production resumed in Čiklovka, named so after the Čiklova street, itself named after Orthodox clergyman Václav Čikl, a branch of the studio opened in 1959 and chiefly operated by Trnka's pupils Břetislav Pojar and Josef Kluge. The series didn't remain here for long, lasting only five episodes and three additional scenes, the ones above. It then moved to Wenzigovka, a branch operated exclusively by Beneš, also named after its location, Wenzigova 5, itself named after writer Josef Wenzig. Finally, the 1989-90 episodes were filmed in the newly built studio complex in Barrandov.
However, none of the episodes were themselves set to be filmed on multiple locations. Klos' injury necessitated a return to Bartolomějská after three years and an only outing for Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly. Mensdorff, being an extremely fast animator (by Klos' account, at least 2,5 times quicker than him) found time to take over this episode in the series' original filming location. This is why Věra Henzlová is listed as its production manager. The editor, interestingly, remained Čiklovka's Věra Benešová.
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| A. M-P takes over |
He would have arrived here. This is the entrance to the original studio as seen in 2010. Today, part of it is still associated with film - it is home to NFA's Ponrepo cinema.
I've already written about Mensdorff's work in this episode, but I have to mention some more details. A mistake not dissimilar to ones I mentioned earlier appears not far into his scenes. One of the shots suddenly noticeably becomes quite darker and with much more contrast. There are many reasons for these kinds of mistakes, which, unfortunately, the studio's workers back then could not fix or redo. That would have meant disposing of used film. Wages were calculated by the amount of film used (yes, completely ridiculous), so redoing was usually prohibited. It all could have been caused by something as innocuous as a light bulb change. Also in the same shot, an unidentified white object appears in the lower right corner for just a frame.
A random small object also appears (just for a frame!) on the left in the scene where Pat is making a paper hat:
Similar mistakes can be found in probably every old episode. So, that's that, A je...
Wait a minute. Where is our forgotten man?! We still haven't talked about Karel Chocholín! Jan's revelation made me wonder whether Chocholín did any work on this episode at all. Well, he is credited, so he must have! I contemplated it a bit...
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| still thinking... |
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| GOT IT! |
Some of the scenes in this episode always seemed a bit "off" to me, but I never paid enough attention to them, just because I believed Chocholín did the opening scenes and I settled for that. I have zero doubt (or do I really? Check the comments!) that Mensdorff animated everything from Mat's entry into the living room to the air pump going off, painting the room white. However, the scenes that follow were, I'm pretty certain, not his work, but Chocholín's.
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| Chocholín takes over |
This is quite unusual as the puppets remain the same. I presume Mensdorff was busy with another project, likely Jiří Barta's The Vanished World of Gloves (Zaniklý svět rukavic). Just as I am writing this, Mensdorff is most probably working on Barta's Golem, so for them hardly anything has changed! In any case, the animation in the final scenes lacks the fluidity and finesse of Mensdorff's work too much to be his. Look at, for instance, how Mat zips across the room as if he was shot out of a gun - just a couple of frames with zero character movement. Mensdorff's Mat would have first taken a half-step back and exited the picture in double the amount of frames. This is Chocholín's work. The handshake is also quite different from AMP's 1990s variations.
The only scene I'm not really sure about is the one at the end. Even though it is most likely also Chocholín's, I'm not ruling out Mensdorff did it, just to be on the safe side. What I can tell you is that we have yet another appearance of a non-prop here: a screwdriver or something similar pops up in the lower left corner for a frame or two. For me, it's not unusual that undesired objects end up on the screen - it's the fact that the animators seem to realize their mistakes after just a frame - it's almost as if they shot these frames with intruding objects by mistake!
There's one thing that remains a bit of a mystery: where exactly did Chocholín animate his scenes? Maybe we will never find out, but to me it makes the most sense that they were also done at Bartolomějská, although Čiklovka is a possibility, especially in a story with as many twists as this one! All in all, the story behind Maľovanie's production only makes the episode more fascinating to me. We can now say, with a fair amount of confidence, that it was the only episode animated by three people in two different locations before 2018 came along. With all of that, it's still really, really good - in my opinion, one of the best of ...a je to! episodes.
By the time Jan Klos' hand healed up, he and the series had been shifted to Wenzigovka, where they would remain for some time. The move to Wenzigovka was not beneficial to the series' production - episodes had to be shipped out even faster from less desirable working conditions. The aforementioned Zaniklý svět rukavic was one of the two final films made at Bartolomějská - the second being Švankmajer's Možnosti dialogu. They were shot simultaneously and the studio was shut down after they were completed. As such, Maľovanie (or Malování in Czech) was, both for the series and for the studio, an end of an era.
Wow! That's indeed a great story. It's really amazing that you managed to contact Jan Klos and that he's willing to share these anecdotes. I never knew the a je to episodes were shot at different locations and I liked your reconstruction of the route Lubomir Benes must have taken very much.
ReplyDeleteAs for Vera Benesova, that is the name of his wife, but I can't say for sure if they're one and the same person. It's possible that AMP's work was only shot at Bartolomejska, but edited at elsewhere. After all, the move wasn't planned and they might not have had the time to do the editing as well. But then again, the credits aren't always correct.
About the animators: I always assumed the kitchen scene was AMP's work, mainly because Jan Klos was not mentioned in the credits. I do believe, though, that Karel Chocholin did more work than the scenes after the room turned white. AMP and Chocholin switch back and forth at the strangest moments (same scene, same set, same puppets). I made a start describing which scenes were done by whom, but I figured it would be much clearer in a video: https://mega.nz/file/esAmzSxJ#SSEUofLkXsSW3bw-a817NxjpSM6CRJ8M6X_h0LgClGo. Of course I can't guarantee that it's all correct, so consider it a starting point for discussion.
While editing the video, I noticed that the lower part of most shots turns either lighter or darker one or two frames before the shot changes. I don't know if this happens in more episodes, nor if this happened during filming or editing. Considering the timing, I guess the "unidentified white object" contains the paint that falls down onto Mat's nose. These kinds of mistakes happen more often, but are difficult to spot if it's only one frame. I hadn't noticed the ones you pointed out here, but once you see them, you'll keep seeing them.
Once again, it was a great story that beautifully shed some light on the production process. Thanks for sharing it!
I've already written about this to you, so this post is just for the others: Věra Benešová was the name of the director's wife, it turns out, but now I'm pretty sure she wasn't the editor Věra Benešová. That book by Robert Lagendijk (our source for this info) also mentions that Lubomír married his Věra in 1960. The editor Věra Benešová only married around 1977 - before that time, she was credited in Čiklovka productions as Věra Smetanová. I sometimes thought she could have been Luboš's second wife, but it seems such a person didn't exist. I'm sure another member of the family working on the series would have been mentioned several times if that was the case, given how the three generations of Benešes is discussed quite often.
DeleteAs for the animators: Hmm, hmm. Writing about "having zero doubt" really came back to bite me. I will surely never use that phrase on this blog again. While producing screenshots, I was mostly concerned with the scenes immediately preceding Chocholin's final passages and didn't have as close a look as needed on the other ones. I have to say that, repeating this episode a few more times, I can only agree with your assessments. The scenes you mention really do look more like KC than AMP. In my defense, most of those scenes don't feature as much action as AMP's (most of them seem to be close-ups) and, of course, the unusual puppets are another distraction in recognizing KC. I won't comment on the shots which don't feature the characters prominently because that's just impossible to tell. So, let's take another look at KC's scenes (I'm using your video for the timestamps). While rewinding, I noticed some details that support your claims:
Delete2:36 - The paper hats on the table aren't placed the same way as in 2:34, when AMP leaves them - the one in the middle is missing. Comparison screenshots: https://imgur.com/HpsRfA2 - https://imgur.com/v5hzQLL
2:50 and on: There is a real conundrum with the hats here. There's at least two oversized hats which Mat wears or, and this seems more likely, it's the same hat "worn" differently! In any case, KC starts out with one hat at 2:44, but switches to to another in the next shot (2:50). However, at 2:56, AMP continues with the original hat! This makes me think whether the scene at 2:50 was added on later - it definitely isn't necessary for the plot.
KC, hat 1: https://imgur.com/E15ryEM
KC, hat 2: https://imgur.com/7f5oez4
AMP, hat 1: https://imgur.com/1KU5IOC
5:18: Pat goes up the ladder and when he gets up (of course, this is on a different background), he again wears his hat differently. When he falls down, the hat also returns to its original layout. It seems KC did not set up the hat the same way. Comparisons:
AMP: https://imgur.com/2bKhTBl
KC: https://imgur.com/ywxUi6g
5:38 - I really should have noticed this one, as the way Pat pops his head to the right in surprise is definitely KC's style. The hat again look different than in AMP's shot just before. In fact, Pat's hat is placed the same way as in 5:18 or 7:15, also by KC.
AMP: https://imgur.com/2bKhTBl
KC: https://imgur.com/gosqFa4
6:37 - the way the hats look suggests this was also an AMP scene. The pump going wild also looks like his to me.
So, those are my - new - observations. Phew. This is by far the most bizarre scene allocation I've studied for the series. I thought 1992's Vrata (where AMP works with two sets of puppets - hopefully, I will cover that with an animator breakdown video like yours one day) was weird, but this one makes even less sense. And... it's another twist in this beautiful tale! Why and when did KC come to do those scenes? Now, the scenes on or close to the ceiling and the closing third of the episode I can easily understand - these were done on different sets and they were maybe left for a later date. But what about the scenes on the ground? It seems there's a chance they were thought of later. Although the dynamic would have been a bit off, I can see the episode working without the 2:50 and 5:38 scenes. Maybe Beneš saw the frames in action and thought there's more shots needed in order not to confuse the audience. I have to get back to Věra Benešová because now we see what a stellar job she did in editing all of this completely seamlessly.
In any case, thanks for taking the time to do the video and making me discover all this!
First of all, I never meant to prove you wrong or anything. I apologise if I made you feel that way. I made the video as an elaboration on the part you wrote about Karel Chocholin. It doesn't change anything about the story behind this episode.
DeleteIndeed, the puppets themselves don't give anything away as to who animated which scenes, and I can't be 100% sure simply because I wasn't there when it happened. Close-ups are also tricky, especially without the "heroes", as Jan Klos rightly calls them. It's only based on having watched this and other episodes many times and comparing movements, it's not an exact science. I didn't even notice the difference in hats, but I think you're right when you say it's the same hat worn backwards. When Mat first puts it on (animated by KC), you can briefly see both sides of it. On one side, the lower part has text on it, the other side hasn't. The same goes for Pat's hat.
On a sidenote, I'm not a fan of Karel Chocholin's work. It lacks subtlety. It's one movement after another and only necessary parts move while the rest of the body doesn't at all. While other animators "accelerate" at the start and "decelerate" at the end of movements, Chocholin only knows one speed. I'm struggling to find the right words, but "linear" is what comes to mind here. I don't want to sound too negative, it's just to illustrate how I think I can tell Chocholin's work apart from others'.
With the work of these two animators being even more intertwined than I thought, it would make sense that it was shot on the same location. But there's no way to say for sure what was done in what place and when. It certainly raised more questions than it provided answers, but one thing's for sure: Vera Benesova did an excellent job!
As I've said, I'm very glad you wrote your comment! There's really no need for apologising. I care about learning some more and being right in what I say - if I write something incorrect, please do challenge me! That goes for anyone reading this. I don't have a problem looking foolish here or there if it leads to more knowledge, quite the opposite.
DeleteOf course, it goes without saying that all of this is guesswork. It is not science and nobody should take anybody's word for it - if they weren't part of the process themselves.
As for KC, I don't have much more to add. He worked with Beneš on Beneš' first puppet film, Račte prominout. I recently got to see it - it was animated by Vlasta Pospíšilová and Karel Chocholín. Afterwards, KC just stuck with Beneš, animating his next three films solo. Even though KC stayed with him into the 1980s, I think Beneš thought Jan Klos was a better animator (as well) as he tasked Klos with animating all of his theatrical films from 1982-87, not KC. In any case, KC disappears from animation credits completely after Jaja & Paja and I wish I knew what happened to him.
FYI, the screengrabs of the episode come from TDK's DVD released in Japan. I upped the brightness on all of them, though, as that master is a bit dark. Not nearly as dark as the quite battered copy by Bonton, though.
ReplyDeleteAMP, Vlasta and Karel worked in Garik Seko's Faustuv Dum (1977).
ReplyDeleteAMP and Vlasta were very common duo in Czech animation, they did a lot films together.
DeleteNothing strange as they worked in the same studio(s) for about twenty years. If I recall correctly, she was even the person who invited him to join in the first place, though I would need to check that.
DeletePrzepraszam, wiem że to nie w temacie. Chciałem się tylko zapytać czy pojawi się jakiś post o Jaji i Paji.
DeleteTranslation of the comment above: "Sorry [for asking], I know it's not related to the topic [of this site]. I just wanted to ask if there will be a post about Jaja a Paja."
DeleteHello, readers! Unfortunately, new posts of any kind should not be expected for some time. I am just too busy with other parts of life to devote time to this blog at the moment. Thanks for reminding me of the previous comment, I completely missed to reply to it...
Deletewe also note that alfons mensdorff pouilly and karel chocholin also worked in the three letters in 1975 and stupid wolf with jan klos and assen munning in 1979
ReplyDeleteWe don't forget Viktor Mayer sinve Hloupy vlk we're done in Ciklovka with Bulgarian producer Janaki Kitcov
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