The Trunk director’s beautifully graded short has the look of a well-watched VHS tape, which, along with Barnaby Templer’s (Fonic) sound design and Sebastian Duh’s score further ground the audience in the 1980s.
Animation production company Trunk‘s director Rok Predin has created a brilliant and delightful new short, ‘Pok’, to honor the halcyon days of Sunday morning cartoons.
Discussing the short Rok noted, “This is a homage to the types of cartoons we used to watch growing up in the 80s. Everything in this piece from character and layout design, to the music and sound effects was aimed to evoke that distinct feeling of watching your favorite animated shows whilst eating your breakfast.”
Growing up in Slovenia Rok had access to a plethora of European cartoons such as Bojan the Bear, Lolek and Bolek, Mole, Sport Billy and Professor Balthazar. Some of these cartoons often had odd durations and were normally silent or with minimal vocalization, such as with Professor Balthazar, in which the action was communicated by the music alone. ‘Pok’ captures the spirit and passion those cartoons had for a contemporary audience. Rok has a perfect critic in his young daughter, who inspired him to create ‘Pok’ after he saw how she loved watching old cartoons.
Beautifully graded and composited to look like a well watched VHS tape, the short invokes a 1980s vibe. Barnaby Templer at Fonic created the sound design to provide Sebastian Duh’s score with the right ambiance. The combination of a repetitive score and a tinny electronic sound evoke classic 1980s video games to further ground the audience in that bygone era.
The animation was all created using After Effects and has a distinctly cut-out feel that looks hand made. The limitations created by this style of animation ensured the shorts were inventive and full of imaginative leaps to complete the story arcs. Silent and physical the shorts are bursting with that classic brand of humor and stand up to multiple viewings. Rok added, “We’re hoping to develop it further and create more episodes, releasing it online as a web series. Any sponsors are welcome!”
Producer Richard Barnett is also keen to explore ‘Pok’ further: “The shorts have so much scope, ‘Pok’ is such a great character and has endless potential for those classic simple set ups and fun pay offs, it would be great to find some support for them.”
Source: Trunk
