Opening Credits to the Films of the All-Ukrainian Photo and Cinema Administration: Artistic Language, Historical and Cultural Context

The purpose of the article is to analyse the special features of the artistic language of the opening credits in the films of the All-Ukrainian Photo and Cinema Administration. To achieve this goal, the relevant research methods were applied, in particular, historical (study of the archives of the All-Ukrainian Photo and Cinema Administration), cultural (the Administration’s influence on the development of such a field of culture as cinema) and art studies (analysis of the artistic language of the opening credits to the films of the All-Ukrainian Photo and Cinema Administration). Scientific novelty. The features of the artistic language of the opening credits to the films of the Ukrainian film production in the 1920s and 1930s have been analysed for the first time. Conclusions. The All-Ukrainian Photo and Cinema Administration made a significant contribution to the development of cinema, which resulted in the increased popularity of the industry. The study shows that 80% of the company’s films have been lost, but thanks to the preserved films, we are familiar with the opening titles that were created on the territory of Ukraine at that time. The article reveals that the opening credits contained information only about the film’s title and less often they went into more details about the film, in contrast to the modern opening credits, which not only present the title and list people who worked on the film, but also have a special design. The article demonstrates that the artistic language of the opening credits to the films of the All-Ukrainian Photo and Cinema Administration differs only in the font part. In particular, some opening credits have the same fonts as propaganda posters of that time, while others have a significant influence of Western culture. All opening credits are made on a black background in white font. Until 1927, most of the opening credits occupied the entire screen area, while later they had a smaller font size. Attention is drawn to the language of the opening credits (for example, the Yalta Film Factory used the Ukrainian language, while other film factories – the Russian one). The influence of the historical and cultural context on the creation of the opening credits in the films of the Photo and Cinema Administration and features of their artistic language have been analysed