Zendo Creative
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The Boxers

In progressAnimated action shortUpdated Sep 23, 2026

A heavyweight and a bear settle it on a frozen lake. Act 1 is cut. Three acts to go.

A stylized fight film, built one beat at a time. Every exchange is staged first in a crude 3D blockout: where the camera sits, how far apart the fighters stand, the arc of a punch. Only then does it get painted and animated.

The weight is added in the edit. Hit-stops are placed frame by frame, and every impact is mixed with distance and room on it, so a punch lands like it happened across a frozen lake, not inside a microphone.

Production log

  • Act 1 cut delivered: the circle, a four-punch combination the bear absorbs, and the hook that sends his opponent skidding.
  • Moved to a frozen lake at golden hour, with a rusted steamship locked in the ice. The bear's final design is locked.
  • 3D blockout built: motion-captured movement, plus the impact and launch sequences staged in greybox.
  • Both fighters designed and locked across seven passes: model sheets, wardrobe, faces.

Process

From blockout to frame

Drag the slider to compare
Painted frame: Opening stance. Camera height, spacing and screen direction are set in 3D before a single frame is painted. 3D blockout3D blockoutPainted frame
Opening stance. Camera height, spacing and screen direction are set in 3D before a single frame is painted.
Frame: The impact. The debris, the fence and the angle of the punch all came from the blockout. BlockoutBlockoutFrame
The impact. The debris, the fence and the angle of the punch all came from the blockout.
Frame: The launch. Physics first, paint second. BlockoutBlockoutFrame
The launch. Physics first, paint second.

More

Clips

The impact, in motion

The painted impact, animated to the timing set in the blockout.