One Of A Kind, New Short By Rok Predin
One Of A Kind is the new short film directed by Rok Predin at Trunk Animation. Fans of Rok’s work will recognise his beautiful and distinctive style featuring his signature round-faced people, gorgeously rich lighting and intricate backgrounds.
Starting with a young lad running into a cemetery and what at first looks like a family gathering the film’s narration begins and we learn that the narrative isn’t necessarily set from the perspective of the boy. Working backwards through time as we move along the table , the cast reverts from modern 21st Century man, onto a WWII Soldier, Tudors, Vikings, Romans and Caveman and back to the origins of life. Exploring various aspects of history and the human species including war, love & sex, all with a playful, tongue-in-cheek humour.
Previous films by Rok Predin include Back In The Day, in which he revisits his childhood, a personal experience with fantastic humour, portrayed through his beautifully stylised characters. One Of A Kind holds the same aspects, although holding a deeper meaning about life, the serious aspect is kept upbeat with Rok’s excellent use of humour which makes it so appealing.
We caught up with Rok Predin to ask him a few questions about One of a Kind
The scope that the film covers is enormous and still rather well contained, what influenced you to create this film?
I guess that one always wants to create films that he/she him/herself would enjoy watching. You want to make something that you couldn`t find anywhere else but would really like to experience. In this case I was curious about how it would look if I sat all my ancestors at one table, have them all come together at a dinner party. I was wondering how long would the table have to be, who would order what, who would and who wouldn`t get along ect. I knew that this would be a good basis for a short.
You cast Downton Abbey’s Jim Carter as the narrator, can you explain the roll of the narrator and the message he is delivering?
In the case of this film the narrator was of paramount importance because what we are witnessing is someones fantasy presented as a real event. We needed him to explain this to the viewer because it`s not apparent in the picture. At the same time we didn`t want to be to direct with the information. You only get the whole story when you combine both elements, the narration and the picture. That`s why we were very careful about who to cast for the voice over and we couldn`t wish for a better person than Mr Carter. He was my first choice.
Whilst relatively short in length the film features an enormous cast of uniquely costumed characters this must have been quite a challenge to research and implement in CG!
It was, but it was great fun at the same time. There`s a lot of detail in the costumes and other accessories that make the film much richer. It was my wife Sara Savelj who designed all the costumes and who has done most of the research. My job was to model and texture the clothes based on her drawings. But I have to admit, it was quite a task. I did make sure beforehand that I had the same proportions for all the characters and that I could create a lot of detail with textures alone.
Like Back In The Day the film has a distinct european flavour, do you think working for TRUNK or in the UK has influenced your style in any way?
It probably did but I can`t really say. I don`t think about style much, there are just certain things I like to look at in a certain way I guess. It always boils down to what is best for the picture.