Lucanus Cervus, (russian: Жук-олень) is a 1910

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Ladislas Starevich Ladislas Starevich (russian: Владисла́в Алекса́ндрович Старе́вич, pl, Władysław Starewicz; August 8, 1882 – February 26, 1965) was a Polish-Russian stop-motion animator notable as the author of the first pu ...

. It was the first

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

stop motion animation in history, consisting of two preserved male stag beetles (''Lucanus cervus'') their legs replaced by wire, animated fighting one another over a mate.

Production

Starevich created ''Lucanus Cervus'' in 1910 while he was director of the Museum of Natural History in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. He had been commissioned to produce four nature

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

. Starevich had originally intended to film live stag beetles rutting over a mate, but the stage lighting in use at the time would quickly kill the nocturnal insects. Instead, Starevich experimented with making

articulated An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were sometim ...

puppets out of dried stag beetle specimens. He fitted them with wires glued to their abdomens by

sealing wax Sealing wax is a wax material of a seal which, after melting, hardens quickly (to paper, parchment, ribbons and wire, and other material) forming a bond that is difficult to separate without noticeable tampering. Wax is used to verify something su ...

, replacing their legs. He drew each position of movement and composed each position before shooting the insects with a frequency of sixteen

frames per second A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

, the maximum at the time. Starevich animated these puppets with stop-motion to recreate their fighting behavior as accurately as possible. The result was not only the first recorded use of puppetry in film, but the first use of dead insects as stop-motion puppets. Starevich would make widespread use of stop-motion throughout his career as a

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

and

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

. The unusual idea was reportedly inspired by the short film ''Les allumettes Animées'' (''The Animated Matches'') (1908) by French animator

Émile Cohl Émile Eugène Jean Louis Cohl (; né Courtet; 4 January 1857 – 20 January 1938) was a French caricaturist of the largely forgotten Incoherent Movement, cartoonist, and animator, called "The Father of the Animated Cartoon" and "The Oldest ...

References

External links

* 1910 films 1910s Russian-language films Russian silent short films Russian black-and-white films 1910 short films Films of the Russian Empire {{1910s-Russia-film-stub