{"id":2820,"date":"2017-12-03T07:35:24","date_gmt":"2017-12-03T06:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/?p=2820"},"modified":"2026-03-06T16:57:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T15:57:40","slug":"rudi-the-racing-pic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/en\/works\/rudi-the-racing-pic\/","title":{"rendered":"Rudi the Racing Pig"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"block-40c987cc-2aec-4518-9be2-950455ecdf04\">Rudi the Racing Pig &#8211; <br>The Series<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fernsehserie<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:58px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Production<\/strong><br>Relevant Film GmbH f\u00fcr WDR<br>2007-2009<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong>Directed by<\/strong><\/strong><br>Rolf Wellingerhof<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Format<\/strong><br>HD 1080\/25P 16:9<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong>Length<\/strong><\/strong><br>19 Folgen x 30 min.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong>Tech specs<\/strong><\/strong><br>S-16 Arri 416&nbsp;<br>Angenieux 7-81mm\/2.4<br>Angenieux 11,5-138mm\/2.3<br>Canon 150-600\/5.6 &nbsp;<br>Zeiss HS 16mm Primes&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" hcb-fetch-image-from=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/mzgGP5HY6hw\" title=\"Rennschwein Rudi R\u00fcssel - Die Serie (Staffel 3)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mzgGP5HY6hw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>From the first to the third (and final) season, I shot a total of 19 episodes of this delightful children\u2019s series, which continued the adventures of \u201cthe fastest piglet in the world,\u201d well known in Germany from Uwe Timm\u2019s children\u2019s book and two feature films. The budget didn\u2019t allow for animatronics or computer animation\u2014all scenes featuring the piglet were shot live. To depict Rudi\u2019s \u201cactions,\u201d we had to rely on \u201cold-school\u201d techniques\u2014clever camera angles, smart shot composition and editing, and a great deal of patience. That\u2019s not always easy when you also have child actors in almost every scene, who are subject to very strictly regulated working hours and each 30-minute episode needs to be filmed in six days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The key to success is good preparation. It\u2019s always advisable to coordinate as much as possible with the director before filming begins, but when children and animals are involved, it\u2019s absolutely essential. Director Rolf Wellingerhof felt the same way, and we were able to take the time during pre-production to plan out every scene in detail\u2014mostly on location\u2014which allowed us to work very efficiently on shooting days. We could coordinate the sequence of setups around the needs of the child actors and animal trainers without worrying about missing a crucial shot or having to give up creative or visual touches due to time constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result, the atmosphere on set was very relaxed and harmonious, and I will always remember those three summers in the Bergisches Land with great fondness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>One of the episodes I shot won an \u201cEmil\u201d in 2008\u2014the prestigious&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201c<strong>award for&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201c<strong>Good Children\u2019s Television\u201d award from&nbsp;<em>TV Spielfilm<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is the jury\u2019s statement:<br>\u201cA grandmother who bakes delicious potato pancakes, a grandfather who always has a solution, and a cheerful father\u2014\u2018Rennschwein Rudi R\u00fcssel\u2019 offers an almost fairy-tale-like idyll in the German countryside, inviting viewers to sit back and enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<strong>The scenery is beautifully filmed<\/strong>, and the lovable characters take the audience along on a joyful journey\u2014headed by ten-year-old Fritz, who lives with his father and his beloved piglet Rudi at his grandparents\u2019 house in the countryside. He finds a friend in Ayla, a Turkish girl, with whom he experiences all sorts of adventures. Of course, there are quarrels and misunderstandings, but everything turns out well in the end. This builds trust and helps young viewers forget school stress and other worries for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn the episode \u2018The Big Race,\u2019 Fritz and Ayla organize a competition between all the village pets. Not all the children get along\u2014in fact, there\u2019s a strong sense of rivalry. But after a lively showdown, not only do the world\u2019s fastest piglet and its owner come out on top, but so does friendship. There are no embarrassed losers or arrogant winners. Everything ends in joyful togetherness\u2014subtly conveying values like respect and generosity. This makes \u2018Rennschwein Rudi R\u00fcssel\u2019 truly outstanding family television.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/100_0985-med.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/100_0985-med.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/100_0985-med.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/100_0985-med-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/100_0985-med-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/100_1252-med.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/100_1252-med.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/100_1252-med.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/100_1252-med-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/100_1252-med-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/343_4385-prt.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/343_4385-prt.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2352\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/343_4385-prt.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/343_4385-prt-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/343_4385-prt-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_0014_2-600.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_0014_2-600.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_0014_2-600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_0014_2-600-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_0555-prt.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_0555-prt.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2356\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_0555-prt.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_0555-prt-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_0555-prt-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/P1000971-prt.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"546\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/P1000971-prt.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/P1000971-prt.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/P1000971-prt-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/P1000971-prt-768x410.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Bild-322-prt.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"529\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Bild-322-prt.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Bild-322-prt.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Bild-322-prt-300x155.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Bild-322-prt-768x397.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/DSC_4900-prt.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/DSC_4900-prt.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2362\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/DSC_4900-prt.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/DSC_4900-prt-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/DSC_4900-prt-768x473.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_3713-med.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_3713-med.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_3713-med.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_3713-med-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_3713-med-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> &#8230; <a title=\"Rudi the Racing Pig\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/en\/works\/rudi-the-racing-pic\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Rudi the Racing Pig\">Mehr &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction","category-works","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding","resize-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2820"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3372,"href":"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820\/revisions\/3372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christopher-rowe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}