Typology of literary script in Russian cinema of the 2000s

The study materials included screenplays by authors who made their debut in the 2000s: M. Kurochkin, I. Ugarov, V. Sigarev, A. Rodionov, A. Novototsky, V. Moiseenko, A. Zvyagintsev, and O. Negin. Since the 1930s Soviet film school had formed a specific type of screenplay, literary script, in which the visual identity of the future film is created through literary means. In the 1990s, a competitive type of script appeared in the Russian film production – it was American screenplay format which implied he abandonment of literary techniques. By the 2000s, Russian film dramaturgy was influenced by three tendencies: the Soviet tradition of the literary screenplay, the new Western American screenplay, and contemporary theatrical dramaturgy of the turn of the century, whose authors began to experiment with cinema during this period. The study of the cinematic language of literary screenplays is conducted using a structural-semiotic method. Elements of cinematic language are analyzed: speech, voice-over, actor's score, character action in the frame, composition. The results of the analysis allow us to conclude the emergence of two new directions in Russian film dramaturgy. The poetics of literary screenplays by authors who transitioned to cinema from theatrical dramaturgy manifest in a quest for documentary realism in characters and their speech, proposed circumstances, setting, and plot, which is reflected in lyrical remarks. The techniques they use, including the theatrical technique of verbatim, have a tremendous impact on contemporary Russian cinema. The concise language of the American format, traditionally associated with the producer model of production, finds its reflection in the authorial film dramaturgy of A. Zvyagintsev and O. Negin, aiming for precision and conciseness in the staging plan. This split marks the actualization of the problem of form, which was acute in Soviet cinema in the 1930s.

script form, literary script, modern Russian cinema, Russian New Drama, American screenplay, Verbatim, screenplay poetics, film language, Soviet filmschool, speech in cinema