"Pinocchio sneezes just like me"
15-year-old Vitaliya Kornienko has more than 100 film roles under her belt, but it was in the film Pinocchio by Igor Voloshin that she first played not just a boy, but a wooden doll created using labor-intensive motion capture technology. Vitaliya told Izvestia in an interview about the difficulties of working with sensors on the body, the unusual collection of material for the role and the 11-month preparation for the film "Ice 2", during which the actress learned from scratch how to jump complex elements on figure skates.
"These shootings are very different from the usual ones"
— Due to your age, you are considered a young actress, although many adult colleagues could envy your filmography. If I understand correctly, it was at the Pinocchio project that you first encountered motion capture technology. Tell us about this experience. How do such shootings differ from the usual ones and what is the main difficulty?
— I was incredibly happy when I found out that I was approved for the role of Pinocchio. The casting was huge: children of different ages, boys and girls. And I was one of them. I was very lucky to pass the audition!
Of course, such filming is very different from the usual ones. To put it bluntly, I had one or two takes for each scene. I was filmed by a camera in front of my face, which read the points on my face and my facial expressions, plus sensors recorded all body movements. Then there were doubles with a light double, with wooden, plastic Pinocchio, with spheres. And only then the actors played the scene from an empty place. And I helped them from behind the scenes. It was a completely new and unusual experience for me.
The performer of the role of Pinocchio, Vitaliya Kornienko, on the set
— After all, in addition to the dots on your face, you had an image of Pinocchio's face on your chest, and the back of his head on your back.
— Yes, I had a Pinocchio face mask right on my chest. This was done so that the actors would look shorter than my real height, because Pinocchio, in my opinion, is twenty-five meters tall.
A shot from the movie "Pinocchio"
— It probably wasn't easy for the partners either. Are there any features or tricks that you, as Vita Kornienko, have put into this wooden boy?
— Yes, for example, he sneezes the same way I do. He pulls up his pants like his dad Carlo. I don't know how much of this will end up in the film, but I really hope so. And he also laughs as loudly and brightly as our director Igor Pavlovich Voloshin.
A shot from the movie "Pinocchio"
— That's great. Is the story of the pants your observation?
— We came up with this idea together with the director. After the first shifts with Sasha Yatsenko, who plays Papa Carlo, we noticed that his character was constantly pulling up his pants, and we decided that Pinocchio would look like Dad in this. And we also came up with the idea that he would focus on the letter "r" — he's a Burr-r-ratino, der-r-r-r-evyaniy boy.
"They packed me up as best they could: they wrapped me with duct tape, put shoe covers on my head"
— This is not only your first time playing a wooden boy, but also a boy in general. Was it particularly difficult for you? Who were you spying on, whose habits were you trying to adopt?
— Actually, I had a dream even before this project — to play a boy. I created my Pinocchio by watching the men on set, both from the band and the cast. I looked at their motor skills, physics, and how they generally behave.
A shot from the movie "Pinocchio"
— So you were watching adult men rather than just boys?
— Yes, for any. To understand in general how their brains work, so to speak.
— And what observations have you made?
— They are more abrupt in their movements, of course. Especially the little ones. More nimble and probably even more "sonorous". I used these observations to create my Pinocchio.
A shot from the movie "Pinocchio"
— It sounds like almost a psychological study. Can shooting "Pinocchio" be called physically challenging? Were there any particularly heavy shifts?
— Physically— no, I wouldn't say it was difficult. Rather, it's technically challenging shooting for the whole group. It all depended on the weather: if it was raining or snowing, they packed me up as best they could: in raincoats, wrapped with duct tape, put shoe covers on my head so that the equipment wouldn't get wet and nothing would break.
Actually, I was the warmest in this suit. When others needed thermal underwear, jackets, and extra pants, I was comfortable. The suit itself was warm, and it was possible to put something on top without any problems - the moccap equipment did not read it anyway. And during the filming, I even got a little pumped up, because the costume weighed several kilograms, and I wore it all the time.
"I learned to skate from scratch"
— Do you generally like to give yourself physical challenges on the playground? In the movie "Ice 2" I even had to learn to skate on purpose. How long did the training last and how did the training go?
— The training sessions lasted 11 months — during and between filming days. Sometimes I would learn something new right on the set, because many of the scenes were shot on ice. It was an incredibly cool experience.
Actress Vitaliya Kornienko at the premiere of the movie "Ice 2"
— What stunt scenes did you perform yourself? Have you used stand-ins?
— I learned to skate from scratch and in 11 months I mastered what people have been learning for years: screws, flags, swallows, jumps. In general, everything that is possible.
Of course, there was an understudy on the set — this is standard practice for the safety of actors in any complex picture. But I really like extreme things and stunts, so I often tried to persuade myself to do everything myself. My stand-in girl and I often worked together: I could enter a jump, she would perform a difficult element, and I would exit it. And some elements were made entirely by myself, such as screws, flags, etc.
— You've played a lot of girls. If you imagine that all of them exist in reality, which of them would you like to be friends with?
— They are all very different, and, probably, I would like to be friends with all of them. I could understand each of them, feel her inner world, because I created them — together with the screenwriters and directors, of course — and brought them to life. I think I could find a common language with everyone.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
