''Polygon'' or ''Proving ground'' () is a 1977

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

Plot summary

The plot is based on an

anti-war An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conf ...

military science fiction Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction and military fiction that depicts the use of science fiction technology, including spaceships and science fiction weapons, weapons, for military purposes and usually principal characters ...

story by Sever Gansovsky. In the not-too-distant future a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

from a

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

great power A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power ...

wants revenge for his son (who was a

paratrooper A paratrooper or military parachutist is a soldier trained to conduct military operations by parachuting directly into an area of operations, usually as part of a large airborne forces unit. Traditionally paratroopers fight only as light infa ...

KIA during a war) and thus invents a weapon capable of ending the conflict – an automated mind-reading

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

that detects and reacts to human feelings of

hostility Hostility is seen as a form of emotionally charged aggressive behavior. In everyday speech, it is more commonly used as a synonym for anger and aggression. It appears in several psychological theories. For instance it is a Facet (psychology), f ...

and

fear Fear is an unpleasant emotion that arises in response to perception, perceived dangers or threats. Fear causes physiological and psychological changes. It may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the ...

. After his revenge successfully takes place (as the tank destroys a number of

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

s responsible for the loss of his son) he himself falls victim to his own creation. The film has an open ending.

Voice cast

* Vsevolod Yakut * Oleg Mokshantsev * Alexander Beliavsky * Anatoly Kuznetsov * S. Martynov

Production Information

''Polygon'' was directed by Anatoly Petrov (born 1937) and it was based on a screenplay by Sever Gansovsky (edited by Arcady Snessarev). The short film was produced by Lubov' Butyrina and released by Soyuzmultfilm studio. It featured the artwork of artists Elena Karavaeva, Olga Bogolubova, I. Kulakova, Elena Bogolubova and N. Ivancheva. The art director was Galina Barinova. The animator was Vladimir Zarubin under the supervision of Anatoly Petrov. It was filmed by cameraman Michael Druyan and the sound effects and music were created by Vladimir Kutuzov.

Animation Technique

The film was drawn in an unusual

technique called ''photographica'' that consists of two celluloid layers for each character with special color schemes and with one of the layers out of focus to imitate the three-dimensional space rendering. The animation then actively moves the virtual camera to change perspective dynamically for each scene and give a sense of realism, without the use of any CGI methods (which were not available at the time). The characters in this animated film were designed with faces very similar to those of several famous movie actors and celebrities of the time, including

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

, Jean Gabin,

Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and activist. He was the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Paul Newman, numerous awards ...

Yul Brynner Yuliy Borisovich Briner (; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner (), was a Russian-born actor. He was known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical ''The King and I'' (19 ...

and

Mel Ferrer Melchor Gastón FerrerAncestry Library Edition (August 25, 1917 – June 2, 2008) was an American actor, director, and producer, active in film, theatre, and television. He achieved prominence on Broadway before scoring notable film hits with ...

(The professor) among others.

Music

The French orchestra leader Paul Mauriat provided the theme music for the film which is an

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

version of the " El Bimbo" originally made by the French

euro disco Eurodisco (also spelled as Euro disco) is a genre of electronic dance music that evolved from disco in the middle 1970s, incorporating elements of pop and rock into a disco-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many Eurodisco compositions featur ...

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

Bimbo Jet led by Claude Morgan and Laurent Rossi.

Awards

The film won the following awards: * First Prize at the Yerevan Film Festival (USSR, 1978). * Official Selection at the Oberhausen Film Festival (Germany, 1979).

External links

* * (English subtitles)
''Polygon''
at Animator.ru * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Polygon (Film) 1977 films Anti-war films Soviet animated short films Russian animated short films Russian and Soviet animated science fiction films Soyuzmultfilm Films based on Russian novels 1970s political films 1970s war films 1977 animated short films