Russian fairytales

Inspired by classical and contemporary art, cinematography and Russian folklore we developed a teaser for the exhibition in Tretyakov Gallery called “Russian fairy tale. From Vasnetsov to the present day”. The main goal of this exhibition is to attract children’s and teens’ attention to Russian tales and epic folk legends which, being a part of culture code, influence the construction of identity.

Characters

When we were creating the characters, the main challenge was to convey the original character tempers from Russia tales as a counter to tailored and polished characters of modern culture. To develop these characters we had a chat with Nikita Petrov – an academic adviser and co-curator of the exhibition. Together with Nikita we were trying to give the characters ancestral Slavic traits.

Tsarevna

Tsarevna (Tsar’s daughter)

The gold standard of beauty and radiant intelligence. Sometimes Tsarevna represents an evil and cunning character. Also, skilled for sorcery – she collects food and drink leftovers from the table into her dresses sleeve and turns it into forests, waters and various birds by a single sweep of her hand. In our story, Tsarevna uses her powers to entertain herself while she’s waiting for the exhibition to be ready for visitors.

Mermaid

An unmarried girl, who died and came back to life as a beautiful woman with long hair. Mermaid has the ability to tickle a person to death or drown him in waters. The main trait of this character is her loose hair, sometimes enhanced by a mermaid tail. Our Mermaid is not a cute young lady, but an aggressive creature.

Leshiy

Russian Folklore Wood Spirit

The keeper of the forest and it’s most famous resident. He punishes those who don’t behave and favors those who he fancies. He can shapeshift into animals and plants, alongside predicting the future. In our story, Leshiy is driven by the desire to resurrect a dead plant.

Animation

The biggest challenge in animating was to create enchanted waves that are emerging out of Tsarevna Frog’s sleeve and to change the space of the exhibition. We spent a lot if time on animatics, animating and compositing of this scene.

Backgrounds

The exhibition creates an immersive experience for its visitors not only with help of the works by famous artists but also through the architecture of exhibition space – every room is theme-designed as natural habitats of the tale’s characters: dungeons, forests and waters. When we were creating a visual scenario of the teaser, we wanted to highlight how space around characters changes for being very geometrical in reality to the ornate, smooth and dreamy in the exhibition.