tATu w Podnebesnoi
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| Original title | tATu w Podnebesnoi t.ATu в Поднебесной |
| Country of production |
 Russia
|
| original language | Russian |
| Year (s) | 2003-2004 |
| length | 45 minutes |
| Episodes | 13 |
| Broadcasting cycle |
Saturdays and Sundays |
| genre | Reality show |
| Theme music | Nas ne dogonjat or Not Gonna Get Us |
| idea | Ivan Shapovalov |
| production | CTC |
| First broadcast | January 17, 2004 - March 2004 on CTC |
tATu w Podnebesnoi (Russian tATu в Поднебесной , in German "tATu under the sky") was a 13-part TV reality series that was broadcast on the Russian private broadcaster CTC between January and March 2004.
concept
The series was conceived as a reality show about the Russian pop duo tATu. A film team led by Russian director Vitaly Manski accompanied tATu and its manager Ivan Shapovalov during the recordings for a second Russian-language album with the working title Podnebesnaya . Manski had already shot the documentary Anatomija tATu the year before , in which he accompanied the singing duo at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 , among others . tATu w Podnebesnoi differed from Anatomia tATu in that the audience was directly involved in the format. For example, it was possible to send in song suggestions, which should then be sung by the two tATu singers Julija Wolkowa and Jelena Katina . In fact, this concept met with a broad response, so that on the day the first episode was broadcast, over 10,000 song suggestions were received. Director Manski described this concept as absolutely new on the Russian market.
series
Contrary to what was originally planned, Wolkowa and Katina hardly appeared on the show. In the first episode, they were only shown for around ten minutes at a photo shoot, the rest of the broadcast time was recorded by comments from celebrities and people involved in the project. Especially tATu manager Ivan Schapovalov used the series for self-portrayal and to present his own projects and work. The two singers soon accused their manager, who was also the producer of the album, of not being concerned about their success, but of mainly wanting to stage themselves. In addition, Katina and Volkova did not like the selected song suggestions, and they accused Shapovalov of not paying them for their work. In the last episode of the series, they separate from Schapovalov as their manager and producer, which also ended the album recordings and thus the shooting. Four songs recorded in the course of the series were later used with a revised sound on the album Ljudi Inwalidy ( Люди Инвалиды ).
Publications
In 2004 Ivan Shapovalov released the album Поднебесная No.1 . Although it bears the popular tATu lettering and refers to the series, it contains only one song by the duo ("Белочка" - Belotschka, in German "Squirrel"). This is a demo recording of Katina.
Also in 2004 the song Я Буду ( Ja Budu , in German “I will”) was released with a music video. The song was recorded as part of the album recordings, the music video consists of video clips from the series. The song and music video did not attract much attention and were barely played by radios and music stations.
Locations
The album recordings took place in the Podnebeznaya Hall on the top floor of the Beijing Hotel in Moscow . Usually there was a café with a view of the city, which had been converted into a recording studio for the period of the album recordings. Ivan Shapovalov had rented the premises until March 14th. The film team also accompanied the two tATu singers in everyday life, such as when they were driving and at home. Recordings made by Manski from 2003 were also incorporated, for example via tATus Promotour in Japan .
success
The series had an average market share. The first episode reached 7% of the audience, which was normal for the commercial broadcaster CTC. With regard to the new broadcast concept of the series, we can speak of a relatively good performance.
Others
The series title is ambiguous: on the one hand it contains the name of the place where most of the broadcast was recorded, on the other hand it can also be translated as tATu in the Middle Kingdom , which in turn is an allusion to Chinese philosophy.
Web links
- Report from Russia News about the series (Internet article)