Vesna Maljanovska

Four Music Videos by Kole Malinov

The object of our research is to present the person whose creative life reflects the development of the Macedonian Television (MTV) music program, a program which only 10 years ago was the only TV media in the Republic.

This paper presents the development of the TV author Kole Malinov through four creative shows produced in the period of 1968-2000. The chosen shows are only a small portion of Malinov’s creative opus. In fact, these music shows reflect the development and progress of the music television shows in general. The inspiration to explore the creative work of this television author originates in his practice of merging several responsibilities: of director, screenplay writer, set design sketches, choice of music, etc. Malinov has worked as an author in all areas of Macedonian Television programs: documentary, education, culture, information, entertainment. Nevertheless, our specific interest directed us to review and analyze only the music area.

The analysis of Malinov’s work proves his presence in all music genres promoted by MTV.

Genres	Number of shows
Popular	57
Folk	8
Classical	136

This author’s opus can be divided according to the types of shows: popular music, portraits, concerts produced by outside broadcast van (OBV), music videos, festivals, music for drama, studio shows.

Kole Malinov’s activities began in the 1960s, when he was an active member of the “Academic Cinema Club”. This club included other great directors: Bozhidar Todorovski-Bodle, Tihomir Bachovski, Mile Grozdanoski. During the former Yugoslav festival of cinema amateurs, Kole Malinov, a student of south-Slavic literature at the Faculty of Philology and also a student at the Faculty of Architecture, presented three films, i.e. participated in all three festival genres: the experimental film Sisyphus, the motion picture Caryatid and one documentary film. This presentation earned him many first prizes and diplomas. His authorship caused the general director of Radio Television Skopje (RTS) Mateja Matevski to offer him a screenplay of his for television production. Thus, Malinov’s project The Day When the Streets Burned (Denot koga gorea ulicite) was supported. The young screenplay writer and director was given the opportunity of choosing the team for the project himself. The team consisted of experienced individuals employed at RTS, as well as of people members of the cinema club. The project was filmed in the summer of 1967, it was edited by the end of September, and registered in the card index in 1968. After its broadcasting in 1968, Kole Malinov became a part-time associate of Radio Television Skopje.

As a director, Kole Malinov went through all the phases of development, from mastering film techniques, through analogue electronics, to digital television. The television works of this author reflect the development of shows and the manner in which they were filmed through the years. From their early days and until the year 2000, television shows have notably expanded. Nowadays television features a large number of new, both average and good video clips.

The manner of expression in the music shows depicts the cultural surrounding in our environment, making known the richness of music through people and events. On the other hand, these shows depict the personal views of the author which do not necessarily agree with the views of the critics. We chose this author because of his contribution in imposing a new style in the screenplays and visualizations of music. His third work features a new approach to videos, based on a more complex dramatic structure.

Kole Malinov did not only consider the show as music entertainment, but also insisted on a more profound theme not directly originating from music. The subject is not only in the music, but also in the associations, emotions and images it revokes.

We decided to present four shows belonging to different time periods and using different technological equipment for production.

A Stagecoach for San Francisco (Dilizhansa za San Francisko)

Viewer Editor (Gledach-urednik)

Amadeus, Loved Also by the People (Amadeus, ljuben i od lugjeto)

A Portrait Framed with Music, Love and Applause (Portret vramen so muzika, ljubov i aplauzi)

Shows using film techniques

MTV’s documentation registers 369 music shows recorded on film. Still, this number is not final, since some shows have simply not been registered because of the frequent moving and ill safekeeping. From a total of 369 shows, we found 13 shows by Kole Malinov.

survey of shows according to years

title/year

Den koga gorea ulicite

Vashata shapka e mnogu ubava gospodine

Ne znam dali si son ili Ljupka

Ajde da si frlame sonca

Dilizhansa za San Francisko

Sheknata zabava na eden blajbinger

Muzichki skech za dva glasa i andante

Panegirichna pantalonada

Strashni machki-sestri kuchkovki

Potraga po pranezhenosta

Kako da se napravi portret na edna ptica

Kantilena

Chetiri emisii so Manjifiko

…

Only three of the above titles have been transferred to beta format: Pagenerichna pantalonada, Dilizhansa za San Francisko and Den koga gorea ulicite.

Dilizhansa za San Francisko (A Stagecoach for San Francisco)

featuring: Kristina, Ljupka, Nena, Nina, Snezhana, Greta, Lile, Snezhana 2, Zoran and Dimche.

music: Enrico Caruso off, Scot McKenzie off, VIS “Bez-Bis” non off

cinematographer: Blagoja Prlichkov

editing: Spase Tasevski

screenplay and directing: Kole Malinov

organizer: Slobodan Gapikj

assistant organizer: Gradimir Zdravkovski

assistant director: Slobodan Kostikj

music assistant: Dragan Dzhakonovski-Shpato

costume design: Elena Doncheva

set designer: Marinko Boroevikj

sound engineer: Varnava Andreevski, Zhivko Bogoevski, Violeta Kimovska

year of production: 1971 black and white

duration: 42.00

number of film track: 2451/71

beta number: B-23759

The music entertainment show Stagecoach for San Francisco is a story composed of a number of linked music videos which make up a whole. Even though the term “music video” was not used at the time, the manner of animating the song through association is a typical music video approach. The selection of famous music hits from around the globe, broadcast on Radio Luxemburg, was an attempt to introduce the new music trends to the Macedonian listeners and the television viewers.

The basic idea in A Stagecoach for San Francisco is to collect all the old and useless things and ideas and throw them in the junkyard. The leading motto is that of the hippie movement “make love, not war”. It depicts the rebellious youth culture used as the general idea of life and truth. In this show the young group of artists employ a large number of comic citations taken from various Yugoslav magazines, as well as aphorisms written and directed by Kole Malinov. This show has never been broadcast on MTV. It was supposedly banned because of the use of photographs of half-naked girls, even though our sources claim that the show was banned because of the avant-garde approach of the director and screenplay writer. Kole Malinov had covered themes which were taboo for the moral of the time, such as homosexuality, the freedom of women and smoking in public places. The show also features the new western trends promoted by the young population (music, fashion, street image).

The show features music performed by famous Macedonian performers, as well as foreign music hits produced as videos. The influence and popularity of The Beatles is visible through the similar visual production of the Macedonian band Bis-Bez.

Generally, the shots are cut according to the music rhythm or the rhythm of the storyline, but not that of the music.

The flippant style of the story becomes immediately visible. Many actors, ballet dancers, musicians and a large number of extras take part in the show. It is filmed outdoors, in an ambiental atmosphere, using many locations in the city.

Shows filmed on quadriplex

Macedonian Television used quadriplex until the late 1980s. Unfortunately, for several years now MTV does not possess the hardware for playing of these tapes.

Survey of shows on quadriplex

2+1 ne e 3

Proshetka so trkaloto kvintno

Raspeana hacienda

Video Metronom

Od pesna pesna-narodna

Den koga ezeroto reshi da ja menuva dolinata

Ramki za dva isti dozhda – dedicated to Vesta Cekova

EPPelashka – Maja Odzhaklievska

Ohrid Summer 1984

Prikazna za Mara Bureva - Kavadarci

The purpose of our research only allowed us to watch A Walk with the Quint Wheel (Proshetka so trkaloto kvintno) and Viewer Editor.

Viewer Editor (color)

TV Skopje

entertainment program

program editor-in chief: Dimitar Masevski

screenplay and directing: Kole Malinov

music associate: Dimitar Chemkov

editing: Dushica Debarlieva, Radmila Gievska

set designer: Mende Ivanovski

number of tape: the quadriplex master has not been registered

beta: 28150-18153 (the tapes have a 60 minute duration and have two shows recorded on them)

duration: 30-40 minutes

This show is part of a larger cycle produced in 1983/1984. It is a music entertainment show where the viewers make their own shows. The music guests are chosen by the viewers-editor-in-chief and by their family.

The number of such shows cannot be established because only part of them have been transferred in beta format. In part of the shows Kole Malinov is both director and screenplay writer, and in the remaining shows he is only the director. The shows transferred on beta format reveal the favorite performers of the time, since part of the viewers had identical wishes. The chosen viewers were of various professional backgrounds and of different regions in Macedonia. This reflects the variety of tastes in the different generations.

Whereas the older population exhibit a preference for folk music, the younger generations seem to prefer popular entertainers and music groups. If we evaluate the presence of different music genres, we will see that popular music is at the top, followed by folk music, and classical music at the bottom.

These shows are filmed both in the studio and outdoors. The studio recordings include special set designs for each show. The half-video look of part of the songs filmed in the studio is achieved by playing with the set design elements.

The editing principle is identical with that of that of filming, added to the new possibilities of the studio, such as using the switcher through the studio. The wider possibilities resulted in the use of effects, dissolving, double exposition.

Shows on C Format

Most of the shows by the director and screenplay writer Kole Malinov have been filmed on the so-called C format. The total number of shows amounts to 173. This group of shows includes Amadeus, Loved Also by the People.

Amadeus, Loved Also by the People

art club

marking the 200^th anniversary of his death

director and screenplay writer: Kole Malinov

classical music sector: editor-in-chief Nada Dimitrova

associates: Aleksandar Papesh, Tatjana Georgieva

editing: Kole Jovanovski

cameramen:

set designer: Vasko Tashkovski

costume designer: Done Miljanovski

actor: Sasho Ognenovski

participants: Marija Stojanova, Skopje Wind Quintet, Vaska Bidzhova Gajdova, Rumen Dimitriev, Evushka Trpkova Elezovikj, Jasminka Nevcheva, Youth Orchestra, Fimcho Muratovski

used music: W.A. Mozart: Requiem: Domine Jesu, Divertimento D-major, The Turkish March, Divertimento for Wind Quintet, Dies Irae, Cherubin’s canzona from The Marriage of Figaro, Sonata for violin and piano E-minor, Prague Symphony, Piano Variations, Eine Kleine Nachtsmusik (transcription), Divertimento D-major

number of tape: C-9071

Production: 1991

Duration: 88.00

This show is a combined overview of Mozart’s music and life. Some of Mozart’s music is presented in the form of music videos and performed by Macedonian musicians, whereas the other featured pieces are concert performances in the MTV studios.

The music video parts use shots from Milos Forman’s film Amadeus. The show also features two hosts and a narrator playing the role of Mozart, as well as occasional clips of Mozart’s letters and ponderings about life.

The studio’s set design is equipped with elements corresponding with the Mozart’s period. Aleksandar Papesh directs the guest speakers to analyze Mozart’s life and opus through their professional background. Thus, the psychoanalyst Miodrag Micev speaks of the problem of identification, the painter Vladimir Georgievski speaks of Mozart as an artistic inspiration, and the philosopher Ferid Muhic speaks of the rapid maturing of the genius and the desire for traveling as the quest for

In order to present the story simply, without extra sensations, the editing is also simple, lacking any additional effects. The show was broadcast exactly on the 200^th anniversary of Mozart’s death. This is what the Macedonian critics had to say of this television edition: “Kole Malinov created a 90 minute story about Mozart from his piano, but also from the Requiem, from The Marriage of Figaro, and from Vienna, Skopje, and Forman’s Amadeus; from Vladimir Georgievski’s art studio, and from the philosophical and psychological ponderings of the genius of Muhic and Micev … All in all, Mozart, Loved Also by the People is a show which captures you: with the idea, the music, the visualization…”

Shows filmed on Beta format

This category includes the shows filmed with the newest technology still used nowadays at MTV. This technology is also partly used in the 1990s, but also in the following decade.

A Portrait Framed with Music, Love and Applause

A Portrait of Nikola Atanasov

screenplay: Mirjana Pavlovska Shulajkovska

host: Mirjana Pavlovska Shulajkovska

editor-in-chief of the classical music sector: Tatjana Grkovska

editing: Kole Jovanovski

director of photography: Ljupcho Petrovski

cameramen: Zoran Pavlovski, Stojan Nikolov

cinematographers: Slobodan Stojkov, Zoran Kapetanovski

set designer: Taki Pavovski

narrator: Blagoja Belichanec

number of tape: B – 34476

duration: 59.99

filming with beta camera: three days, exterior

studio: one timeslot

editing: beta 3/1, 7 timeslots

This show explores the creativity of one of the most renowned Macedonian performers. It is divided into several parts: video music production with music background of works performed by the flutist Nikola Atanasov; studio conversation; studio playback performance (except for one live fragment) and clips from Atanasov’s concert performances.

Although initially the script did not include music video presentation, Malinov stepped in and approached the material visually.

This approach is based on the presentation of several periods in Nikola Atanasov’s life: childhood- related to his place of birth, the period of his professional music growth, and finally, the period of his teaching activities. The above-mentioned segments involves the use of the same techniques as in the music video examples, in addition to the new technological possibilities. The editing includes a large number of effects, dissolve using an effect generator embedded in the switcher. These effects enhance the artistic expression.

The screenplay writer Mirjana Pavlovska Shulajkovska directs the studio conversation, emphasizing parts of the life and work of Nikola Atanasov. The conversation was filmed, then cut in order to appear in fragments.

Part of the show also features subheadings based on the conversation, presented through a series of effects and often used in the opposite direction of the flow of discussion.

Nikola Atanasov chose the music himself, but in agreement with the screenplay writer and according to the existing recordings.

Conclusion

This paper is an attempt at building the historiography of the visualization of music in film and electronic technologies in Macedonia. We have endeavored to recognize a part of Macedonian culture which has not been a subject of musicological research. We hope that this is a satisfactory illustration of the enormous empirical material requiring further in depth research in the future.