Peter and the wolf

Peter and the wolfPeter and the Wolf is a composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936 in the USSR. It is a children’s story originally with both music and text by Prokofiev, spoken by a narrator accompanied by the orchestra.

Outline of story

Peter and wolf tells the story of a clumsy shy boy who changes into a hero. He lives in Russia where wolves roam the woods, he is forbidden to entre the woods by his grandfather who he defies and does so with his best friend a duck. The story follows the boys adventure into the wood that he has been sheltered from.

The latest adaption was produced by Suzie Templeton in 2006, the story is based in nowadays Russia. It depicts modern Russia with the mixture of western things that start to appear there along side with the old elements of Russian culture. E.g. the signage on buildings.

The film is depicted by a combination of realistic and fantastical. Set designer, polish animation director Market Strobercki who worked closely with Suzie Templeton wanted to create a hyper realistic set by minimizing the world’s realistic elements but treating them in an artistic way.

“We tried to create something because pure imagination of the world is pointless” Suzie Templeton

The biggest issue of the project was the scale of the set and art design considering the genre (built in se-ma-far studios). The largest set covered over 170 sq. meters. Puppets were made in two scales most shot using 1.5 scale puppets, and for close up and interior scenes a bigger scale was used.

The film is a combination of stop motion and CGI. Predominantly stop motion, however where is became impossible to make certain objects look realistic e.g. a balloon CGI took over, as it did with snowy weather across a green screen, removing the rigging, and green screening some backgrounds in

There is no narrative in this adaption, only the occasional sound effects from animals. In place of narrative is the music. Suzie Templeton wrote the story to fit the pre-existing form of the composition. The music suggests a certain feeling or characteristic or each individual that makes sense in the bigger picture of the film. In the musical score of peter and the wolf an instrument in the orchestra represents each character.

Peter is represented by a string quartet where a range of tones are covered he is written to be a clumsy awkward and unhappy boy especially at the beginning however despite this he is pleasant and kind hearted; during the film he has moments of happiness that shine through.

A flute represents bird, this is light pleasant and strange character, oily and ragged but smiley and exited.

The bassoon represents granddad, the music is plodding slow and deliberate, there is quite a lot of anger in the music. The grandfather lives in fear, wants to cut himself off from everything, and wants to protect peter from the world around him

Duck (peters best friend) is represented by an obo, the gentle swaying music represents the soft character he is

The clarinet in a low register represents cat, she acts as if she is a great hunter posing a threat to a certain degree

Wolf is represented by by French horns; this sound proud and majestic, wolf is a wild creature and lives up to the music

Suzie Templeton’s adaption was made for children and adults, as it has a darker side to it in comparison with Disney’s animated version in 1946. In Disney the duck who is thought to have been swolled by the wolf appears at the end and it is a ‘happily ever after’, however at the end of Susie Templeton’s adaption the duck is gone forever and peter has lost his best friend.