Lucanus Cervus (film)
Lucanus Cervus, (Russian: Жук-олень) is a 1910 Russian short film directed by Wladyslaw Starewicz. It was the first puppet stop motion animation in history,[1][2][3] consisting of two preserved male stag beetles (Lucanus cervus) their legs replaced by wire, animated fighting one another over a mate.
| Lucanus Cervus | |
|---|---|
| Russian: Жук-олень | |
| Directed by | Wladyslaw Starewicz |
| Country | Russian Empire |
Production
Starewicz created Lucanus Cervus in 1910 while he was director of the Museum of Natural History in Kaunas, Lithuania. He had been commissioned to produce four nature documentaries.
Starewicz 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, Starewicz experimented with making articulated puppets out of dried stag beetle specimens. He fitted them with wires glued to their abdomens by sealing wax, replacing their legs. Starewicz 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. Starewicz would make widespread use of stop-motion throughout his career as a filmmaker and animator. The unusual idea was reportedly inspired by the short film Les allumettes Animées (The Animated Matches) (1908) by French animator Émile Cohl.