On February 18 in Los Angeles, two "technical Oscars" were awarded to Ukrainian creators of camera equipment — Anatoliy Kokush, Yuriy Popovskyi, and Oleksiy Zolotaryov. The engineering and technical awards of the American Film Academy were given to the Ukrainians for the development of the camera crane "autorobot" (American name Russian Arm), as well as for the idea of the camera crane Traveling Cascade.
Actually, the fact that the company "Filmotechnik" has been creating camera equipment that is in demand all over the world for many years is far from news. But at a press conference in Kyiv dedicated to this event, many journalists sat with their "mouths open." However, it is not surprising: we still maintain a Jesuit tradition: a Ukrainian in his own country can become famous only when he goes to Moscow, Paris, or New York and becomes famous there to the whole world.
The achievements of the company "Filmotechnik" and the Oscar-honored creators of the equipment — company director Anatoliy Kokush, engineers Yuriy Popovskyi and Oleksiy Zolotaryov — found no place in their native country.
The company emerged in 1990, just when the domestic film industry began to fall apart. Its founder Anatoliy Kokush, a graduate of the Leningrad Institute of Film Engineers, worked for a long time at the Dovzhenko Studio and headed an experimental laboratory there. The first prototype of the camera crane appeared back in 1986. The first film in which it was used was the screen adaptation of the Strugatsky brothers' novel "Hard to Be a God."
What is the technical focus?
Then came gyroscopic stabilized camera heads — essentially a revolutionary invention that is now an indispensable attribute of any complex filming operation. Such a system is a kind of cradle for the camera that allows it to maintain "imperturbable calm," and therefore to obtain quality images without jolts, even if the camera is mounted on a jeep racing over rough terrain at speeds approaching 100 km per hour. "We were the first to bring stabilized heads to the American market," Anatoliy Kokush said at the press conference. So when in a Hollywood action film you see face-to-face bandits sitting behind the wheel of a car fleeing a chase — it is almost certainly shot using equipment from the Kyiv firm "Filmotechnik." No less in demand are the "Kaskad" camera cranes with a boom length of up to 25 meters, which allows simulating filming from a rising helicopter or creating all sorts of unimaginable angles: for example, looking into various rooms of neighboring buildings.
At first, the technical innovations of the Kyivites began to be actively used by television broadcasters, mostly Russian, for spectacular filming at large concert venues. Word of the unique devices quickly spread among colleagues, and filmmakers became interested. Among the films in which it was used are "Titanic," "Ocean's Twelve," "Batman," "The Da Vinci Code," "War of the Worlds," as well as the Russian "Urga," "9th Company," "Brigada," "Night Watch," "Day Watch," and many others. The devices were also used in the filming of the Ukrainian film "Mamay." Incidentally, one of the best domestic cinematographers, Serhiy Mykhalchuk, who shot this picture, was the first to master the new equipment thoroughly. Now, with experience working with major global companies, he asserts that this equipment remains the best among competitor firms.
The ice has broken
However, one cannot underestimate the business talents of Anatoliy Kokush and his colleagues either. According to the company director, he has to spend about half of his profits on advertising his equipment. And branches of the company "Filmotechnik" already operate in 11 countries, and even in New Zealand. But these complex devices are still assembled in Kyiv, on the territory of the Dovzhenko Film Studio, and parts for them are made at Ukrainian defense and aviation plants.
And to this day, within its native walls, "Filmotechnik" still has problems: the production facility is already cramped and needs additional space. But when asked to allocate square meters at the idle studio, its new director made it clear that this was not profitable for him.
However, the ice has broken. The camera equipment was used by the creators of one of the first Ukrainian adventure projects coming to the big screen in a week — the film "We'll Break Through," made by the production company "PRE." And now "Filmotechnik" equipment is working in Odesa, on the set of Kira Muratova's new film "Two More Stories."
Published in the newspaper "DELO" No. 86 of February 27, 2006.