A je to: minutiae #3 (Čiklovka: Gramofón, Grill - Jan Klos steps onto the scene)

Gramofón

In 1981, the series moved from the "mother" studio in Bartolomějská to the studio's Čiklovka branch, most likely to save space. Only two people followed the series there: director Luboš Beneš and animator Karel Chocholín. The rest of the crew consisted of Čiklovka members, all new to the series. One of the most important members of the new team was cameraman Vladímir Malík. In Croatian as well as in Czech, there's saying that if you know something thoroughly, you have it in your pinkie finger. Malík could definitely claim that, not only because his surname translates to pinkie, but because he was the best cameraman of the three on the original series. Camera errors (such as shots out of focus) were at a minimum when he was behind the scenes, while his work is also full of intricate details like lush shadows. Since the early 1970s, Ivan Vít, who later returned to the characters in 1989, was his assistant.  Malík had bags of experience at Čiklovka - he was there when directors Břetislav Pojar and Josef Kluge opened the branch in 1959. However, his work on ... a je to! was among his last at Čiklovka, as he was shifted to the main branch in 1982. Here is a wonderful short documentary about his life made in 2011. Malík was born in 1931 and is currently 89 years old, hopefully still going strong. His predecessor in the role, Jiří Šafář, died in 2018 aged 97, so maybe being cameraman on the series is a good omen for a long life.

CHRONICLE OF CINEMATOGRAPHER VLADIMÍR MALÍK from Jaro Waldeck on Vimeo.

And here he is working in the studio (year unknown):

Gramofón is the episode where Malík's imprint is most felt. Remember, ... a je to! was made on a shoestring budget, often with time constraints, so not many innovations and time-consuming methods could be utilized. Still, the crew managed to make this episode look very atmospheric.

In accordance with the new surroundings, the titles got a makeover.

 Pat looks at his shiny gramophone. Unlike some episodes, this one features technology which is a relic of the past. Still, I don't think children would have much problem understanding what a record player does after watching it. The wallpapers and a lot of the props would later be reused in Křížovka, an episode which looks entirely different. Take a look at the detailed windows - to me, the setting looks as if Pat's flat is on a high skyscraper and has a view to lower ones.

A je to: minutiae #2

Hojdacie kreslo

Mat is watching some dog. Unfortunately, it is not Dášeňka.

Edgar Degas' The Dance Class is hanging on the wall. Pat had it in the previous episode.

A je to: minutiae #1

In this series of posts, I will discuss minutiae from the ... a je to! series. One definition of the word minutiae reads as precise details; small or trifling matters and that is what this is all about. Small or not so small details you probably never even noticed or you didn't think about them. The TDK masters made me rewatch the entire series a couple of times, this time in a new light, and these are some interesting bits and pieces a person who has watched these episodes so many times thought it would be nice to share. The screenshots are all raw, as they are on the DVDs, without any editing.

Tapety

No, the title card for Tapety is not green, but grey! The titles on the TDK masters look unusual for the 1979, almost as if they were sourced from different materials than the rest of the films, especially on the next episode.

a bit of a scratch, as if somebody sprayed the frame with gulaš

Mat has so much junk in his kitchen. I wish some other episodes also showed their homes full of items which don't belong there. It doesn't sit well with me when their living spaces are tidy. Previously, I didn't notice how the iconic gulaš can (that is, two cans, but you'll have to wait for another edition of minutiae to see an explanation) has a dark blue, not black outline around the words.

I already mentioned how Mat's living room looks very drab at the beginning, as if the crew did not yet have a sense of how to light up the set and started with too much white light. They gradually dialed it back a bit and introduced warmer colors, even in the same episode.

on the contrary, this shot needs some more light!

gulaš and bread, classic. or is it a croissant?

Pat & Mat: the TDK collection

NOTE: In case you haven't read them yet, I started my discussion of these DVDs in two previous posts. Here's a post about the different masters of the same episode over the years which showcases just how much better TDK's masters are. In my most recent post (link), we saw how the Japanese audience experienced Pat & Mat in cinemas from 1999 to 2001, which must have been a big incentive to produce a DVD collection of the episodes.

This is an overview of five Pat & Mat DVDs released in 2001 by TDK Deep Impression. First of all, I have to yet again thank Jürg Schaeppi, without whom I would never get to know about these DVDs.

So, after a couple of years of theatrical shows, the time came for the series to receive a DVD release. This was one of the earliest, if not the earliest (I don't have data on South Korean DVDs) release of episodes produced prior to the 1990s on DVD. As this lovely promo found on eiga-chirashi.jp shows, the DVDs (and VHS tapes, as the collection was also issued in that format) were released on November 29, 2001, a week after a similarly high-profile release of another classic series from the same studio, Pojďte pane, budeme si hrát, which you should definitely check out.

The contents

Pat and Mat in Japanese cinemas

Japan has often been mentioned as one of those countries where Pat and Mat have achieved unexpected, even enormous success. However, little of that success seems to be found on online platforms. When you type in パットとマット (the Japanese name for the series, which translates just as Pat and Mat), not many results show up. Google can muster only a couple pages of images and very few YouTube videos uploaded from Japan. This was always strange to me - were Pat and Mat not as popular in Japan as is often claimed? The truth is that I don't know and it's hard to tell. Maybe they were more popular with older generations which don't have as much of a presence on social media. Maybe Google's algorithms just aren't that powerful when it comes to Japanese sites? That argument doesn't hold up for South Korea, where a ton of material related to the series is easily accessible online. In any case, Czech animation (particularly people deemed to be auteurs like Jan Švankmajer) seems to be very successful in Japan, so the success of Pat and Mat can be seen as an extension tof that. I would love it if someone from the country (or someone who is more knowledgeable) could provide us with some more info - when were our beloved handymen shown on TV in Japan, how popular and known the series has been etc. Going by the available data, it seems unusual that undoubtedly the best DVD collection (unless some are hiding in places like Zimbabwe!) of the series was released in Japan.

Nonetheless, a clear backstory for the collection can be constructed thanks to Wayback Machine's archives, which saved many of TDK's web pages from the early 2000s. From my rummaging through these auto-translated sites, I gathered that TDK Deep Impression (or Deep Impression TDK) owned or were close associates of RandomでEvolvingなNetwork, or REN Corporation for short. REN, in turn, founded Open Cinema Network to release both domestic and foreign films in Japanese cinemas. After a successful festival of Czech animation in 1997, another one followed in 1999. By 1999, Pat and Mat's stock was quite high as they were awarded a couple of prizes at the World Animation Celebration in the USA in 1997. They were the 1999 festival's main attraction. This is the poster for the Czech Festival of Cartoons and Puppet Films '99 and its reverse side (source: page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/):

I know what you're thinking - Karty in Japan?! Well, by all official records, no. It doesn't seem Karty was actually shown on the festival even though a promotional shot from the episode was omnipresent. My guess is that maybe Karty was originally supposed to be featured, but copyright disputes didn't allow for it to happen. The promo photo was even featured on the festival's website and, ironically, was the only one on the index page saved by Wayback Machine:

The festival's website contained specific information about which films were going to be shown in three "programmes", A, B and C, which were to be presented around Japan from August 1999 to February 2001. Each programme featured five Pat & Mat films together with classics from authors such as Švankmajer, Trnka, Barta and Jiránek. The programmes premiered at the Nakano Musashino Hall in Tokyo, with A being shown August 14-August 27, B August 28-September 10 and C shown September 14-September 24. The featured films (it's sounds wrong to call them episodes in this sense) were, by programme:

A: Klíč, Dveře, Střecha, Nábytek, Generální úklid

B: Sušenky, Cyklisti, Dlaždice, Parkety, Kabriolet

C: Nehoda, Kulečník, Trezor, Modeláři, Windsurfing

As you can see, most 1989-90 and aiF episodes, the most recently produced at that time, were shown. I am quite jealous of the people who got to experience these on a cinema screen. It must have been a special feeling and, of course, copies made to show the episodes must have been of highest possible quality - you would never screen a cheap TV master tape in a cinema, especially for such a long period of time. The festival traveled all around Japan. The screenings continued next year: this is the schedule for 2000 taken from the site (apologies for errors in names due to auto-translation):

Saturday, April 29-Tuesday, May 16 Kichijoji Baus Theate

May 30 (Tue)-June 4 (Sun) Shiga Kaikan Cinema Hall

July 8th (Sat)-July 14th (Fri) Matsuyama Cinema Lunatic

Saturday, July 29-Monday, July 31 Oita Prefectural Cultural Center

Another festival was set for 2000. (source for the poster: page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/):

Next to the promo image for Kabriolet, you can (barely) see a photo of Beneš and Jiránek. Although the 2000 festival featured six programmes, only the first two contained Pat & Mat episodes and, this time, it was the rest of the episodes from the aiF and Krátký film packages:

A: Kuťáci, Sekačka, Vrata

B: Okap, Živý plot, Blatník

The inclusion of aiF episodes is interesting. Although they were already in distribution limbo by 2001 (probably by 2000), maybe the disputes around aiF's legacy weren't valid in Japan or weren't important for theatrical rights. In any case, ... a je to! episodes were not yet shown at any date. That finally changed in 2001:

In 2001, the festival's headline was Hey Mister, Let's Play, or Pojďte pane, budeme si hrát, after the eponymous 1960s series which was the star of that year's festival. However, there was time for 12 Pat & Mat, or should I say, ... a je to! episodes. They were, in order of programme:

A:Veľké pranie, Telocvičňa, Vinári, Výlet

B: Gramofón, Korčule, Hrnčiari, Raňajky v tráve

C: Krížovka, Dážď, Jablko, Porucha

Again, the programmes premiered at Nakano Musashino Hall, from Saturday, July 7 to Friday, August 17. The 2001 festival was, it seems, the last (not counting a festival of new Czech animation in 2002). Even though there were future screenings of classic Czech animation, they weren't billed as "festivals". It seems that Pat and Mat weren't part of future screenings, but it's not impossible that I missed something on various iterations of REN's website. In any case, future screenings are not important for our story. By 2001, Pat and Mat had amassed a large enough audience in Japan and it was time for a DVD/VHS collection of their films! Read about them in my next post...

Záhradka: episode masters over the years

Here's a blast from the past: a VHS tape! Some of you have surely already forgotten this relic of the past. I still used VHSs about ten years ago, mostly to record cartoons. Nowadays, my VCR is, although still completely usable, retired. I have had this tape for many, many years, since around 2003. It was part of a 7-casette collection which included the first 35 episodes of the series. Let's see its covers:

I am sure you recognized the promotional photo as being from Střecha. Indeed, that's the final episode on this VHS. It is preceded by, in order, Obraz, Záhradka, Dážď and Hrnčiari. However, this is not a post about this VHS or my VHS collection, for that matter. The topic of this post concerns the second episode featured on the VHS, Záhradka (or Zahrádka in Czech - or The Garden in English). In fact, what I will be talking about today is how this episode has been presented on home video and other official releases throughout the decades.

More from Steamworks Studio

Just a small post today. As I've said, more behind-the-scenes photos are bound to come from Steamworks Studio, who animated many of the 2018-20 episodes in China, which I talked about in my previous post. These photos come from an article on the Chinese website new.qq.com. I didn't want to just copy every single photo here, so here's a link to the place where I found these and all the rest of them: https://new.qq.com/omn/20200731/20200731A0BSF100.html